The Berlin Wall Fell Because an East German Spokesman Misread a Press Note

On November 9, 1989, the East German Politburo met to decide what to do about the country's collapsing border situation. After protests across East Germany and a wave of citizens fleeing through Hungary into Austria, the leadership agreed on a new travel regulation that would let East Germans apply for permission to leave from any border crossing. The press conference announcing the new rules, held at 6 p.m. that evening, was given to Günter Schabowski, the Politburo press spokesman. Schabowski had not been at the morning meeting where the regulation was finalized. The note he was handed at 5:55 p.m. did not include the planned implementation date.

Reading from the bottom of the note in front of cameras from East and West, Schabowski announced that the regulation would let East Germans "leave the country through any border crossing." An Italian journalist named Riccardo Ehrman asked when this took effect. Schabowski paused, looked uncertain, and said: "Das tritt nach meiner Kenntnis sofort, unverzüglich in Kraft" — "As far as I know, that's effective immediately, without delay." The actual policy was supposed to take effect the next morning, with formal application procedures in place. Within minutes, West German news anchors were reporting that the wall was open. East Berliners walked to the checkpoints.

At the Bornholmer Straße crossing, Lieutenant Colonel Harald Jäger, the senior officer on duty, watched a crowd grow into the thousands while his superiors in the Stasi and the border command ignored his calls for orders. At about 10:45 p.m. he gave up trying to reach anyone in authority and ordered his men to stop checking documents. The crossing opened. Within an hour every other Berlin checkpoint had followed. By midnight, East and West Berliners were drinking on top of the wall.