colorful as well. coming up next is our documentary about the night of the berlin wall came down in the meantime all the latest news the information available as always on our website that's d.w. dot com or you can follow us on twitter at d w news a call aspen i'll be back with more news for you shortly but what. the terms of the book is the game here for d.w.i. . we have plenty to talk about of the list as our coverage. for you. so all we have. let's have a look at so many of them probably look so you don't want to miss. the w. . east

berlin november the 8th 1989 surveillance cameras operated by the east german secret police the stars he showed suspicious activity right by the wall of the brandenburg gate. the officer requested information about a tall man asked picked up on the images. you know they're undergoing what we call. the suspicious mast was being a reacted by an american television broadcaster which had sent its top reporter to berlin. at the same time in the east german ministry of the interior. a kamel of the people's police was given a secret mission by his superiors.

if he was to write a paper intended to save the country from disaster at the last minute but the notes got out of control and changed the world. and 120 no it was an overcast november day it wasn't raining but it was dull. helps took the heart of you i hate november i hate this weather it drags down my mood. i'm good at this it was fortunate our embassy had a soaring pull a 3040 minute swim gave me enough energy for the rest of the day.

we have but trish was a carpenter in east berlin for him the 9th of november began like any normal workday but the mood in east germany had deteriorated dramatically over the past few months. 89 was a year of tension everyone felt the tension increasing the secret code was the candle in the window that we looked where the candles were and there were more and more of them that was telling us there were so many in 89 everything really came to a head. in the north and the situation in east germany escalated rapidly monday demonstrations riots beating rampages on the part of the security forces the regime taught it as it tried to defend itself against its own citizens in.

east berlin on the morning of the 9th of november 1989 a camera team from the west set off to document the showdown in the east german capital but the journalists found a city that seemed to sleep there was no sign of change yet. this unique 40th was shot just a few hours before the biggest drama in east germany's history. at the same time in west berlin this medical student didn't yet know he would play a historic role that day. i was just preparing for the final. examination of my day was quite structured i got up early had breakfast and then sat down to study every now and again i listen to the radio and watch t.v. so i wouldn't entirely miss out on what was happening in the world and the. person

was after they perceive it. on t.v. he had been watching the dramatic events unfolding in eastern europe. and the east german authorities were alarmed at those events somebody had to fix the situation. that somebody was get a senior official in the ministry of the interior none for his level headed approach. it was on the 1st of july 989 i was made the head of the central department of passports and registration with i knew there were big problems people wanted to travel to other countries i knew about id cards and passports but i didn't have much specialist knowledge i had to rely on my staff it quickly became clear that it was mainly political decisions that were needed mission pretty sure try to understand. more you know. that the so large among the day's

agenda was travel regulations. your voice of the. sun ted riggs hospital in east berlin. just a few 100 metres from his office he had plucked fish began his shift in the hospital carpentry shop. the news of the day didn't mention a word about travel policy carrying reports only of party meetings even though the citizens of the country were trying to leave in droves. her father's going on to cook here i know as it were. the man went on holiday it's a hungry he crossed the wall into the west from there another person sold everything he had inherited a large bakery from his father and a house he let the state have everything so long as they let him go. so hopefully last mission. we

knew that this was all my motto so i am and you have to remember all that i have gone out for i have spent most of the year on whatever point or another fly off to the dissolution of the soviet empire for the other point to germany we had more information that we never had before to go back and forth to the east tom brokaw was planning a live report for the us for the afternoon of november the 9th. we had made arrangements to get a satellite feed from the brandenburg gate to watch those live for that night we had booked a satellite and i made arrangements to see her boss again and we have that arrange for white 5 o'clock the afternoon as i remember. like most party high ups can tell schabowski lived on the party room estates nearby lynn he'd been through some difficult weeks. this one of your aunts. was it was

frightening for us i have to say of course we saw the television images and that was the impulse for us to bring about a decision to defuse the situation the visa is about so on and shelf and the communist party chief had led east germany into a rut schabowski and fellow politburo members forced him to step down. but the issue of freedom to travel was still an insoluble problem for the new leader. the 1st step of the government that was created after deposing hanukah was to create a travel law with the aim of relaxing the situation. schabowski was the only member of the party put it bureau to address the popular protests. each worked to bring about reforms in the system. but the people didn't want to

believe him anymore. since the early morning the western camera team had been watching the events in plans and fleet week signing 2 districts in east berlin. the journalist asked people about the most important topics of the day the right to travel freely and the policies of the new leadership. they have to resign all of them there's no point they keep on talking about a loss of trust but they've never had a trust. something will change but not what the majority want it won't be enough we have a view of the world even though we've never been able to look at the world for ourselves . at the interior ministry for top experts including 2 stars the officers were working on the problem of the right to travel. they had to come up with ideas for the politburo the mass exodus was

threatening the country's very existence. the stasi officers presented a draft version of new travel regulations and what form it. was shocked by the suggestions. as well and finished and they had proposed the regulation permitting permanent departure meaning that from the 10th of november anyone would have been allowed to leave the country for good but they still wouldn't have been allowed to leave and come back leave and just see a bit of the world or stroll through west berlin or visit their relatives. again that meant no freedom of travel just 3 days earlier lauter had had to defend the government's half hearted stance in the east german media against opponents like greegor get. out i became the scapegoat of the nation he didn't want that to happen

again. i said this would be the final straw this would break the camel's back. so he refused to accept the half measure. a largely discussion followed in which larger called for everyone to be given the freedom to travel. the officials knew the people of east germany were still fleeing via hungary in czechoslovakia they knew things couldn't stay as they were but they couldn't agree on a solution. after a few kilometers further north was the bornholmer strasse a crossing point between east and west berlin one of the busiest border posts in the divided city lieutenant colonel started work at passport control at 8 am. all the more homo strasser crossing point was basically the purpose of my life

everything happened my entire professional life was there i really felt i had a calling to fill a position. for a beautiful movement. on the 9th of november was a normal thursday there wasn't much travel activity around 200 west germans came in just under a 1000 from west berlin would stop counting east german citizens. a normal day in divided berlin at least that's how it seemed. what no one knew was that the working group was in the process of making a momentous decision on travel policy. on their own initiative. and the other officers changed the brief given them by the politburo an unprecedented occurrence in the east german state. on top we saw this as one of our last opportunities to

stabilize the situation in east germany but we didn't want to force the people to leave the state forever they had work they had a home had a car maybe a boat on a lake they would have come back we wouldn't force them to leave forever that was our idea and for most of us that's wassup saw them develop that idea completely contradicted the orders from above nonetheless the 4 men opted to issue the much more permissive travel regulations. we simply formulated this decision completely differently we wrote that simple trips and permanent departure were immediately allowed for everyone without the previously necessary checks and approval procedures doctors or people would have to do was to request a passport and a visa the idea was to gain time and allow a controlled opening of the borders for christmas. at the same time the west german

chancellor had left the country had more to call was in poland on an official visit . we flew to warsaw on an air force plane in the morning and had the standard welcome ceremony to. it. then we had our 1st talks and were put up in a polish government guest house. trish wasn't especially politically minded but the big question of his country's future was on his mind. as a for travel freedom was a big issue because there were many family connections to west germany and west berlin some weren't allowed to go to their parents' funeral it was all very arbitrary you never knew what answer you'd get it was unpredictable. you know. but

for the credit. they did al you're not there we're good buddy cheerful sales fiscally that was when dictated the crucial paper to his secretary good eyes to galvanize all of the details in half the pot how is it read that private journeys to foreign countries could be applied for without preconditions printed order for the falling dollar theme song in. the new travel regulations were not to be made public until the next morning that way passport and registration offices would have time to prepare for the onslaught of people. that's what it was decided that none of this would be made public until 4 o'clock in the morning on the 10th of november nothing would have happened before then when exposed. a.

lunch break in delhi. west berlin medical student benedict seated in my are headed to the university canteen. fish was informing himself about the situation in the country all the news was about one topic only the tense congress of the east german communist party central committee the highest party organ. they wanted to do something new would create trust they got in crane's who actually was a day of hanukkah's. that didn't give anyone hope that there would be improvement because the ideology remained nothing changed change could only come about if something old broke to make room for the new cup would you like about me a call. in the central committee building top party officials were discussing the

future of east germany as always behind closed doors. just one person wasn't inside the party's new spokesman contest. too often voters tradin going for the media i was responsible for dealing with the media i'm choosing my words carefully because the expression guiding and instructing the media had been replaced i was in touch with the media on that day to tell them what could come up in the central committee was our. us that wallace be on board i also acted as their contact with the central committee he sparred lost in some far from it the. ski set up an international press conference for that evening. a reporter from the west german tabloid bit peter brinkman came especially from hamburg. we

become going on well i got a call from the west berlin mayor's office someone said i should come to berlin something was happening what was. it was that i thought if i was going to be there i should sit in the front row i put my jacket over my seat and kept checking to make sure it was still live because i really wanted to sit right in front of the microphone i had no idea what was going to happen but everyone was hoping something would happen get over it or off the. this was perceived. only a few meters away in east germany's interior ministry get helped a lot as working group had completed its job of drafting the paper on travel regulations. to spark it in this package was then brought to the party central committee it's

around noon and it was given to the driver who was told to hand it straight to egg on cranes that was a difficult situation that we had to assume that those who commissioned it namely the political road would read it and check it and say this wasn't what we ordered and i was nervous i didn't know what would happen and whether i'd still have my job tomorrow what opus or more guns on those. at around noon the driver took the paper to the central committee building 1st of all to the politburo the members were having a cigarette break they waved aloud as travel regulations through without objections the 1st hurdle had been overcome. in the early afternoon east german leader to go on transmit with west german politician your highness how to talk about the future of in a german relations after the meeting kinds went back to the central committee was loud as a note altered the agenda for that so that as minister the chairman of the council of ministers has suggested

a regulation which i want to read out now because it will have such an effect that i don't want to pass it without 1st consulting the central committee the following transitional regulations regarding trips and permanent departures will be implemented with immediate effect that it was rounded off personal trips to other countries can be applied for with out reasons such as family events or the like. eyes on this one shot as a bond commission will be granted at short notice and court travel permits will only be declined in exceptional cases. if you guys mom are all of us whatever we do we won't do it right this is the only solution that allows us to avoid doing everything via 3rd states which isn't good for our international reputation our products. no one in the room appeared to understand the momentous

import of the paper they didn't realize it would allow all these german citizens to travel that's the only explanation of why the draft was passed without much discussion at the end times also said the information should be withheld until the following day. it would be tight the attached press release regarding the transitional regulations is to be published on the 10th of november. but the one member of the central committee who was absent at that moment was going to shut off ski. visions that i wasn't there i wasn't out that central committee session because it's a. shop of ski didn't return until about half past 5 just before his press conference but when i returned to the central committee meeting all of these things had already taken place i sat down next to kranz on the discussion continued we spoke quietly and he pushed the note over to me he told me to take it with me to

today's press conference and then the smith india with a good plaza quote but it's. going to cleanse fair to mention an important detail to schabowski that it was to be embargoed until the following morning. i didn't know anything about the news in doggo i had no idea. and so good to schabowski went to his press conference. he has to be back at the international press center in berlin with a live report a tradition that was started yesterday is to be continued every evening after the end of the day sessions of the central committee of the socialist. unity party a representative of this committee will talk to each german and foreign journalists to answer their questions as you can see huge numbers are assembled here them it's in the data and on. one of the journalists present was american news anchor tom brokaw. i'm pretty

drawstring this point 5 o'clock i've formed a monarch so i said as our satellite. capability still there they said yes we're also getting a crate out there to protect our over a high shot all that time peter brinkman had managed to defend his seat. that moment waiting for the room was crammed full nobody knew anything nobody had the faintest idea but everyone felt something was up but we had to be there for whatever was going to happen today victor. at the same time in warsaw how much code was meeting let fall winter. if we had to talk with will end soon during this talk he said mr chancellor the events taking place in east germany will lead to german reunification of food for those of us for lens or was convinced this would come about. as the working day near detained in east

berlin the television journalists from the west had managed to get all the way to the government quarter and they were observing east german officialdom much were. the people's police knew their job to keep everyone and everything in its place. 6 pm in east berlin. trish and just wife rita had choir practice that night on the program christmas carols. we had in fact we had finished work for the day and were glad it was thursday so we could go and sing in the choir and slowly prepare songs for

christmas we had to start those rehearsals in november if not in october already we thought we received we had weiqi meetings during which we rehearsed hymns and all of the other things you sing in church we sang at the service on sundays the who took turns on. the streets. the. arab. at 6 o'clock on the dot com to shut off opens the press conference. a man. been brutally introduced himself as secretary of the central committee. he also introduced his colleague comrade helga lapse and a member of the central committee and head of the teacher's union on floors it's

going to accept inducements you can talk for not a word about the travel regulations only party my language it was all waffle so it went on for half an hour it was dreadfully boring and all the other journalists felt the same thing. you. know my isn't the best way of. going but of on going i was tired it was way better than i would care about having already offers drawing auditors bureaucratic work. the tenet colonel house was just about to have supper in the neighboring canteen. only to watch all of the television was on in the canteen but nobody was watching all this thing i saw the press conference was being broadcast and i thought i'd listen to what was being said in case there was any news or good news could occur

any day and there weren't that many party press conferences. people in west berlin could also receive east german television medical students ben it exceeded my i was watching the live broadcast of the press conference. that he supposed he then started reporting on the day's count topics i wasn't really taking him seriously at 1st i just thought he's sitting there saying whatever it's now going to hurt us. just a few minutes before the end of the press conference there was an unexpected twist to the film. chicago st john security. an italian journalist recount was invited to ask a question should i freaking out going to the concept to cut a tree can do him and was standing to the left. he'd arrived early to couldn't get a seat any more he was 2 meters away from me and only 2 meters to the right of.

mr schabowski you spoke of mistakes because don't you think the draft travel bill you presented a few days ago was a big mistake which that for free to get are these are only that moment i remembered i had wanted to talk about the issue of the travel regulations. these are. this is what a. decision has been made today recommendation of the political row has been accepted that the passage of a permanent departure be taken from that draft and come into effect. then he started searching amongst his papers and couldn't at 1st find a note he'd been given by a gong krentz he had this big pile of papers with him which i could see because i was sitting at the front to win as well for as us that's the guy i reached into this pile and was looking for the note i was supposed to read out

a colleague came to help me out so well if somebody handed him a piece of paper from the polar bureau and he took out of the crisis and a writer. and i a waiter described us in the new york times as if a martian had arrived on that stage with a message because it seemed to have come from some other reality to be told the journalists they should have been given the statement then he read it. as a plea bargain eisenach and also personal trips to other countries may be applied for without giving any family all other reason commission will be granted at short notice of their lair in west berlin benedict seat of my and his flatmate later were taken aback by what they were seeing on television. before it was shocking appears to us my didn't believe what i was hearing at 1st i thought it was a way of damping down the demonstrations in east germany to give the people a token gesture but i didn't know what to think of it has come to this recognition

and it's. just going to be made as one of the border crossings between east and west germany and wolf at this point i called out when. just as far as i know immediately. but i was shocked immediately i leapt up and left my supper i really wanted to know what this rubbish was all about . it was the fog i think of interest. as it's true permanent departures can take place at all of the border crossings into west germany west belin. you. moved. me back at the east german interior ministry not because i remember very clearly it was at 6 minutes to 7 the ministry of justice called to suggest the wording and i was able to convince him that our wording made more sense at 3 minutes to 7 i was

still on the phone to him and hadn't realized that at 6 minutes to 7 going to have presented the document to the world the government hadn't even taken a final decision which was. a few minutes later i left his office in the firm belief that his news and bargo was being maintained. that says that. i had failed the truth or give in the meantime the press conference had come to acclaim its end there. but none of us really knew what to do and nobody drew the real conclusion that this was it was cause for us to think of. the american and british reporters were confused they suspected the

interpreters had made an error in translation coverage via a shop on thursday asked for the english text to be read out in case there was a problem fixed as it was a life of a game for us but god what did this mean with the war be opened how would the border police react these were all important questions one alice comes with you 5. seconds before all of a gun made an urgent phone call to his superior it was all. your watching schabowski been talking about the top off because it was a star not always a lot of the real he said to me. you're calling me because of that rubbish i said yes that's exactly why i'm calling he said you know the orders east german citizens are only allowed to leave under the current conditions meaning they need a passport and a proper visa otherwise they're to be turned back. into torture for. the

east german leadership heard nothing about any of this because the politburo the ministers and all the top party officials was still at the central committee meeting none of them had seen schabowski press conference. at the same time in warsaw helmut kohl was also in the dark about the events in east berlin the west german chancellor was the guest at a banquet. the room was a bugs and ensure basket full of paper put it back as walking and left the stage i want out ran up stairs with my camera crew and were a small room with mr ross who was completely cormack or could you know i. used to have a piece of paper he said i do i said will read it again but it took it out put on his glasses read it again and i said that that means citizens from the east can go out of the war any way that they want to. further forced to leave judea.

by a. transit. through another country it is possible for them to go through the war some point but it is possible for them to go through the border. i ran downstairs there was a course of american newspaper correspondents who are friends of mine and i looked at them and i said it's true the war is down. a few minutes later the news programs on both east and west german television reportage what had happened. according to police bureau membership of east german citizens wanting to leave their country no longer have to take the de to of via czechoslovakia permanent departures can occur by all of the border crossings between east germany and west germany and west berlin and invest. shortly after press conference the western

camera crew will filming in a pub in east berlin people were drinking a toast to the new regulation. you'll be talking about yourself all. the way i don't know what to say i used to cry every day now we're all happy. it's great what's just happened nobody here was expecting but. they celebrated the unexpected news with beer bubbly and rock'n'roll. the soviet envoy only heard about the new regulation from the television. came as a shock. come to on people the scruples we hadn't known anything about it on board we were watching television. it was disappointing and

we were if you like or a bit angry. book. me to you the tension was rising all the time on. the danger that someone would lose their nerve it was quite high you know been pushing. the border crossing point chutzpa on her mushed us out. of it i didn't have to wait long for people to arrive after i'd been there for our own 20 minutes the 1st came and asked if they were allowed out. the officer asked if they had a passport in a reserve part of united plane resume no they said but he said we were allowed to leave no. observe what our lives were. and it was now that the explosive nature of schabowski snopes became clear while its author was sitting in

the theater. ringback shutter for these i had theater tickets for that evening to see a run into folks buy goods or the incredible thing about this play which was sold out like so many was that the people couldn't laugh any more because it was such a parody of the actual situation that it was absolutely serious discussion plants. and later catch fish finished at choir practice and walked back home to plants are banning. their swallow. it was quiet in the streets there was no excitement most people were watching television western television with football matches on what was a good reason to switch on the t.v.

i was in town the answer was. a west german television station was broadcasting a match between stuttgart and by in munich. by now the meeting in the central committee had come to an end. going to schabowski was also finishing work in his office it had been a long day the man who had announced the new travel regulation left the central committee building to go home to eventually the gated community where the politburo members lived. and. hundreds used to and it's often been because our guest and all but when i arrived in fond litz i saw that the windows were all dark which meant that the majority of the political row members slept through these eventful hours. increasing numbers of people were making their way to the border crossing at bonheur mushed us or they were convinced they were now allowed to travel. but

border security hadn't received any new instructions the officer tried to tell the crowd he couldn't let them through. but the people could no longer be turned back so easily. miles i was mental at the moment that more and more people were arriving they came on foot in cars and by tram they weren't aggressive at this point but they were very firm in their demands not to please. me i. made another worried phone call to his superior cannot see going on asking for instructions a lot of the moveable through my superior told me on the phone that he'd call the ministry he'd get hold of either the minister or is deputy he said i could listen to the conversation. as it were to me out of use of type he wanted to show me that

at this point there would be no hope or no rescue from above or the kind that i told him don't. no one in the ministry wanted to believe what he was telling them. to look at the question came back was i capable of making realistic evaluations or was i acting out of fear at that point i'd had enough if there are thousands of people out here he said listen to them yourself. when i got the receiver back i could hear the man and hung up i didn't know what to think and i couldn't understand that they didn't believe me the world as this big i am that mom your kind dog fiction. in the western half of berlin the news from east germany was spreading as well. towards 9 o'clock we became curious britain i went to the border crossing on invalid and strasser that was

closest one and it could be reached relatively easy from charlottenburg and. at that point 140 kilometer long border around west berlin was still closed every when . people were now arriving at the border crossing up on her mushed in ever increasing numbers. made up his mind he tricked out the young mom. the model i live by wouldn't usually have been authorized to call the alarm because i wasn't senior enough but i considered it necessary to go on with the entire evening we had to be prepared that people would come and storm the border.

longest i was called back by colonel seguin home he told me this is what's going to happen all of the people provocatively showing up at the border loudly demanding to leave may leave all of them fight for the policy over for the over top of all as well as a bunch of all before i was to stamp the photograph in their passport which would allow them to leave but it would prevent them from coming back again until i was fired as to retighten. to do finish the law i live i wasn't allowed to explain this to the people that they were only to be told about this when they tried to reenter and. then they would be told they were not allowed back in and i was in the community because in other words it was to be a journey with no return. home

. from. kidnapped from the streets taken to secret prisons matelot leaving a trace. tortured. in turkey this is the fate of many comments of the government among those detained is mustafa knew months his wife has been trying for months to find him she is fighting for his release for something that is still in my. 30 minute spondee w. . bush selling sex as

a. think is for girls and blue is for farms industry makes lots of money with gender stereotypes because more and more women and men are saying that states. so some businesses are now looking young conformity. made in germany 90 minutes on the double. you fronts dear antone and here's a see here. my 3 grandchildren sleep on troubles when i was in france is ages germany was split in 2 and remain divided for decades when your mother was born in 1969 the war was already 8 years old and you know my grandchildren were born after

the war film born to me trying to name 3 generations one family on a journey through recent german history. starts nov 6th on d. w. . this is news and these are our top stories the u.s. house of representatives has voted to formally proceed with the impeachment process against president saleh trump the resolution sets out the ground rules for public hearings not a single republican voted for the measure here. the so-called islamic state has confirmed the death of its leader ababa car daddy daddy died when u.s. forces raided his compound in.