a lot of balls thanks for watching. come along and follow the adventures of the famous naturalist and explorer. to some the bridge and the next on the fun boards 250th birthday were remarking on a voyage of discovery. expedition voyage on d. w. .

bush jr those are mostly good 6 pm on the 9th of november 1989 going to shut off he opened a press conference about the meeting of the communist party central committee you know some hundreds of journalists had come hoping to hear news about east germany's latest decision on letting its citizens travel kind toward for not a good 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. should be asking john such urgency gets asked by an italian journalist a condo am i was invited to ask a question should not freak him out i can put a concept on my free conduit ehrman was standing to the left he derives silly he couldn't get a seat anymore schabowski mr schabowski you spoke of mistakes don't you think the draft travel bill you presented a few days ago. it was

a big mistake for the state for free to get out of this and all it was it was that moment i remembered i had wanted to talk about the issue of the travel regulations . this is what a. decision has been made today the recommendation of the political euro has been accepted is that the passage of doubt permanent departure be taken from that draft and come into effect. 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 if the media has been trying to tell the journalists they should have been given the statement then he read it. as a very bad guys enough and i was a personal trips to other countries maybe a point for without giving any family all other reason. it's just your.

own and are just coming made as all the border crossings between east and west germany. 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 a. lot worse in the fog i think of interest. it's true permanent departures can take place at all of the border crossings into west germany west berlin. with the man in charge of the border crossing at bonheur must pass or have made an engine phone call to his superior what had shut off skip been talking about is there 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 am 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 have to be turned back. 5 intellectually. the east german leadership heard nothing about any of this because the put it pure and the ministers and all the top party officials posted at the central committee meeting none of them had seen schabowski press conference. at the same time in warsaw how much cold was also in the dark about the events in east berlin the west german chancellor was the guest as a banquet. the room was a box and then sure boss he pulled up the paper put it back as walking and left the stage i want out ran upstairs with my camera crew and were a small room with a sharansky who was completely calm and collected down our eyes you still have

a piece of paper here so 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 each can go out of the war any way that they want to they are not further forced to leave judy. 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 and out of the course of american newspaper correspondents were a friend of mine and i looked at them and i said it's true the wall is down. a few minutes later the news programs on both east and west german television reportage what had happened. with nothing on it according to police bureau

membership of east german citizens wanting to leave their country no longer have to take the d. to a via czechoslovakia standing permanent departures can occur by all of the border crossings between east germany and west germany and west berlin. shortly after the press conference a west german camera crew was filming in a pub in east berlin where people were drinking a toast to the new regulations. 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 ok. they celebrated the unexpected news with beer bubbly and rock'n'roll.

the soviet envoy only had about the new regulation from the television. came as a shock. become defunct you booked me 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 for years book. me to you the tension was rising all the time for no. thing the danger that someone would lose their nerve was quite i could never been pushed to. the border crossing point upon her mushed ass and. over 50 that 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 and a resume out of it as i explained in resume no they said but he said we were allowed to leave no room. and it was now that the explosive nature of schabowski is no became clear while its author was sitting in the theater. ringback which other fatigues i had theater tickets for that evening to see a run of 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 but lance. the innocent child black fish and his wife rita were just finishing choir practice

afterwards they walked down to the plans how about district. of all. was quiet in the streets there was no excitement most people were watching television western television so there's a football match was on and that was a good reason to switch on the t.v. on to. a west german television station was broadcasting a match between stuttgart and buy in munich. by now the meeting in the central committee had come to an end. going to shut bosky 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 family the gated community where the politburo members lived. and. hundreds and it's often been.

when i arrived in van litz i saw that the windows were all dark which meant that the majority of the political row members slept through these eventful hours is a desire. increasing numbers of people were making their way to the border crossing it on her mushed. 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. the people could no longer be turned back so easily. the mind's eye of the money out 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 on him not to please. you know i don't think it. was.

made another worried phone call to his superior cannot see going on asking for instructions to me available 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 what kind of a good little. no one in the stasi ministry wanted to believe what he was telling them. to look at the question came back was i capable of making realistic a valuation is or was i acting out of fear at that point i'd had enough it's in there are thousands of people out here he said listen to them yourself. when i got the receiver back i could hear the man had 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 item that i'm your kind dog tricked. 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 the 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 trick at the end on.

the model i was there i wouldn't usually have been authorized to call the alarm because i wasn't senior enough but i considered it necessary to go on and on with the in try evening we had to be prepared that people would come and storm the border good. i was called back by colonel seguin home he told me this is what's going to happen all of the people productively showing up at the border loudly demanding to leave may leave all of them fight for the policy over the 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 fly this through stockmann. i wasn't allowed to explain this to the people they were only to be told about this when they tried to

reenter. then they would be told they were not allowed back in the community because that's one way trip was known as the safety valve solution. had no idea about any of that although their flat was just 2 blocks away from von hire mushed us and i got my money my husband like to watch every football game and i was annoyed when he wanted to switch the television off so i said no i want to watch the news but i thought that was decisive. good evening we should all be weary of using too many supportive because they quickly lose their force but today's superlatives are appropriate today the 9th of november is a historic day east germany has announced that its borders would be opened immediately to anyone but. we thought we weren't hearing right we looked at each

other and we live close to the bornholmer strasse a border crossing so we went to check it out it was real and we wanted to see this sensation we got dressed and headed to. the situation of the border crossings in berlin is currently quite confusing unclear here is invalid and strong so nothing has happened all evening on the west side people are still waiting for the 1st people from east berlin to come over the short visit to the years and of course mr. then the safety valve solution was applied at bonheur mushed casa does he wanted to use the trick to relieve pressure on the border and also to get rid of possible dissidents he shot and passed fish fell into the trap. the saudi border shoot is great to us all the people standing there we went all the way to the front to the heart of the window open and someone

said what do you want those documents i asked whether he knew that the border was open now i was faced with that we said we wanted to cross. the line or ask for our passports in a really brusque way but instead through your presence here is where i. got our staff were doing our passports and off we went you know what the noise. what they didn't know was that the stamp meant they were expatriate it. i was so excited my legs were shaking i was scared because i didn't know what would happen i knew and he was the last thought that all this is that it was this really a good thing we did in order walked across very slowly and did it when i was there with me. when i go in civilian it's quite

a way from the order to the bridge we were completely on our own we couldn't see anyone there was nobody around. usually these border crossings were very proudly lit but here it was dark. there was a sentry box and a fence with dogs behind it anyone who tried to escape here could expect to be arrested or shot peter but that fish felt very apprehensive. the news of schabowski snow was also spreading in west berlin the 1st people from that side of the war began arriving at the brandenburg gate u.s. news anchor tom brokaw was preparing for his broadcast we've been kind of keeping track for german television about what was going on i know a lot of students have come from the west got up on top of the wall and there always thought they were back again and there was a story. just a horrible like i was so i got up hard to watch and it was chaos i couldn't hear myself. it was all west german chancellor helmut kohl was trying to get

a picture of the situation in berlin. at that time in poland you couldn't just find a telephone in a guest house to make a call we had a floor mounted instrument with a crank lever that you had to turn the lever to create the line to the situation room in the chancellery. get sent. to all that was needed so we could be connected to the people the chancellor wanted to talk to in this concert question but. shortly after 11 we shot and lit up our fish one half way across the still empty bridge at the bottom harm us last a crossing. my mind when i held on to my husband and we walked across together then he let me go and waved his hat out of joy. cup recently of course if we were so happy imagine i said we're not even retired and we can cross over oh well how is

that barbed wire for twirled around if she gets dizzy easily so i didn't do that for long so i threw up by hand up that we didn't know what we were going to do next it's what i want to. become the who got control and they came across all alone and there was nobody else around i asked how they got here. they told me they'd gone up to the little building and got stamps in their passports they said they were allowed to leave east germany because i couldn't believe it but that's what they told me so. i thought that's all for us to get off he asked if we wanted to stay. i said stay the wall is open and we live right there. so i told him we live there and he

said he live there that was our home. or dog and then he invited us to. their condo. paycheck really took a couple on his own private tour of west berlin by night. as you do it as well you know as we were driving through west berlin wall nothing was going on but everything was normal city was calm there was advertising and everything was brighter but there were many people around why we wasn't like the west berliners were already dancing in the streets of this was it on sort. of on hard must pass a border crossing hardly a dozen men left about 500 people go through to the west they included those whose

demands to leave are the loudest i'm sorry we're just standing nearby. but the vast majority of the people waiting still not allowed to leave. were being made a mockery of what could have stayed at home got some sleep instead would have come of i mean told about this it's ridiculous out of oz i didn't see the idea that suddenly a piece of paper showed up at the border schabowski snow which was making the rounds. as it would communicate off itself all i do and keep our eyes near fishel notes says personal trips out of east germany can be applied for without giving any reason just say this about talk that. the situation was escalating. you want to dance will not and it was a myth about how and they came so close to our colleagues that they could have grabbed the guns they were carrying which would have been dreadful. and. that's not

the. sorcery through. the market. when you bring up the middle out of them students will often get beaten by asked my colleagues to step into the office and tell me want to should do they told me i should know i was the boss' office. i asked if i should let the people out or have them shot here god doesn't compute this very. in the soviet embassy officials fear the west. bowser should not. waste money for important. when such developments occur you know that if it happens just once if just a single shot is fired or the border police get health it with stones just once you

get them the situation can get out of control very quickly it should be easy to throw your own guns schmoo at that point west berlin medical students benedictine and my and his flatmate better weeks the invalid mistrusts a border crossing. and come when we arrived we saw many people standing within the border facilities which hadn't been possible before the mood was quite jolly some people had brought food and cooks were flying into the air sick or in fuel moved here with the invalid and stronger border crossing we've let ourselves be swept along with the actions of many people from west berlin or pushing their way across the border beyond the wall far into east berlin territory the east german border police are sitting in their watch toes watching the goings on sometimes even with smiles on their faces so in these mom and that was the 1st time i fully realized something was happening as had previously been unimaginable. and it's not quite

possible to see from here how close the people are getting to the checkpoint. systems are going to make the crowd work their way further towards the border facilities until we were right at the barrier immediately behind it was a group of peoples police and side fun for politicized and. those waiting at bornholmer strasse were beginning to run out of patience. he wanted to get out immediately. on the other side of the bridge the 1st east german citizens were returning from their trip to west berlin but technically they'd be next patrick. you go from the north i got a call from the 1st guard house by the bridge he said a young couple wanted to re enter but the woman had the passport stamp on

a photograph and i said so what he replied they have their children at home. playland. just brought up a meal a cannot charge of. the cups and i live love and i said it no longer mattered whether the people had the stamp on their photograph or not they are up to boston dollars and lovely for them and if they could all come back in again to view our lives for god at that moment i really didn't care what a party i was really angry at is when they think it would. involve up. to 28 years they said being part of the border dividing east from west. just like this one with everything put together created the motive for my actions i thought i've had enough i started making decisions on my own i gave instructions to have the barrier opened an area 6 to allow all east german citizens to leave

without being checked but they could all leave for all i could.

cannot go to be on the up and then went to the former west german border office that's where i started after all in that hut in 1964 go to i just wanted to cry. it was to have no doubts but i had to be on my own but i can't describe it any more but it was the worst and best thing that ever experienced both at the same time for the shy kids or the fractious one to hold sway and have dug into it by the sword like fire but i was out of luck with your not i someone else the captain beat me to it and he was trying to level the effect of him i couldn't really join him. i had to talk to him and come in dawn with an eye on the even though he was 2 years older

than rail at a wider. view now as the other joint people poured over the border shouting we'll be back again hot lotta who had written a note schabowski had read had left the theater and was just returning home. looks like i got. it i don't. want to lose our son welcomed us with the words that you should make a call the phone's been ringing off the hook it was you minister and then he said by the way the borders open and. the kinds of all i could think was something must have gone terribly wrong with i didn't call the minister he wouldn't be able to help me over the phone i drove to the ministry i didn't know the time how all this had come about we had only worked out the paper that morning and making it public

was not supposed to happen before 4 in the morning next day it would have been around 6 in the morning before the 1st news programs broadcast the information so i knew something had gone very very wrong if you have a 6 almost previous thread but i'm expressing optimism was helpless comes gunfights could offset. by midnight the border was open at other checkpoints as well as the entire leadership us a bennett exceed a mile used the border guards confusion to find a way through. this time just another car went through and as the barrier went up a handful of people just ran into east berlin the moment at that moment i had no concerns or fears that something could happen even though i knew that breaching border regulations could be extremely dangerous so plans for. but these 1020 people had made his across in 24 if you don't get involved if i did and so

then it exceeded my and his friends crossed into the east from the west. in las vegas. mentioning the city was completely devoid of people nobody was on the streets we started shouting in calling for people to come out we even rang doorbells we. were deflated when nobody opened but we saw people at the windows and we got the impression they were uncertain and were scared to open. so we decided to go and see what was happening at the brandenburg gate motor tossed opposite. the brandenburg gate an iconic landmark in the divided city and symbol of the cold war here the east german state didn't want to give in to popular pressure so easily several 100 border guards were in position.

to brandenburg gate could be seen from the soviet embassy. of the 1st official we were looking out of the windows. usually empty den linden avenue was filled with people on their way to the brandenburg gate they knew just as much as we did that there was no border crossing at the brandenburg gate but. none the less people from west berlin were flocking to the brandenburg gate ignoring police warnings. of the brandenburg gate and we were waiting. for people of literally coming through the wall they have not yet seen the doors were shouting it was strictly. going to east german guards came and hose everybody off the wall.

on the east berlin side the border guards barricaded the gate against the fast growing crowd of people there. was a recall there was a steel fence in front of the brandenburg gate. to the border police officers were behind it of course they tried to end. simulator's but as soon as we got to the barrier the 1st person jumped across the people's police officers grabbed him and tried to hold onto him but there were only 2 of them and we all climbed over one by one. and i mentioned a little. because you were dished i jumped over the steel fence and ripped my right hand then i ran towards the brandenburg gate they called out stop the stretch between the place where the hotel are don't know stands where the barrier was and the brandenburg gate was quite long with a lot of common but then

a larger number of people's police came marching out under the brandenburg gate and they lined up there we didn't know how they would react and how dangerous they'd be sitting on its knees. or if it's this way that made me think what are we doing here and it really has nothing to it i mean if you're. out in front good to schabowski got an alarming phone call from delhi. there's a part of this or i i said what a mess why is communication been so bad in the last few days i hadn't understood yet this it was a fundamentally muddled situation because when i heard the news i was horrified because i knew that it could lead to confrontation which had to be prevented without fail then i drove into a 1000000000 that i get far very shortly after midnight schabowski reached the hina china's tasa border crossing.

over as i was getting out of my car a civilian came towards me i assumed he was from the start he told me they're letting them through now no incidents so. there was nothing more schabowski could do with the trails back hoe. in west berlin talkies east. german guests to a pub called house of 100 beings. for the very most then we were in a pub and vilma store where they had more than a 100 kinds of beers that was incredible for us and it tasted better than our beer . some people heard what we were talking about what's happening they said did we hear right. i said yeah we're from over there the wall is open you look at our id we've just come across that made an impression the 1st thing they said was oh

what a shame we've got nothing here for you they wanted to give us something. and they know. it's easy and they said in the news that all those people who have stamp in their passports wouldn't be allowed back into east germany. proper out fish had a fainting fit and we had to rush back to the border. to go he was so worried about her family and that she wouldn't be able to see them again you know. get a 4000000 the ability. that. allowed us office in the east german interior ministry the found was ringing off the hook finished and i was sitting there completely alone the staff on duty in the ministry had no idea and every call that came in about this matter was put through to me which caused a huge queue that if i had to jump from one green button to the next to try and

answer questions for sort of talking to bob just one very different people were calling i think the american embassy called very early on asking what was going on in this country as a 3rd party district and a municipal leaders called asking what was going on in this country if they knew the borders had opened in berlin. up your magazine for somebody and you kind of pick on private citizens to hold enterprises to. i can't remember any more. concessions are. even for. the most minimal at midnight we had to assume a measures have been decided we couldn't take anything back anymore because the borders were open life had caught up with us it might and i quote. only at the brandenburg gate was a border guard still trying to stem the tide of events it was a last show down between the state and the people.

i'm going to leave to these and there was this woman these are border police officers with impassive faces when living across she was elderly she was crying i just want to go to my children she cried let me go just once i'm going to come back again just me to my games come out so good that's yeah he did it and i swear on my children's lives and they're with the army too they do their duty just like you do both of them have for 3 years. and one of them wants to study to become a teacher in this republic our republic is all of that so hard to understand it at. first and i thought this won't last they won't manage this can't go on an emo of me. finally they left a woman through. everyone

in the west was also waiting for the crucial moment. yeah 1 point one young man from east popped up. and he was the 1st one of the crowd went. wild. so we go on there the last war i have before us and good evening was don't screw this up. you're a wire from the royal was on the march to start night and this was half way what you say i am very sorry for another new policy and i was there by the east german government now for the 1st time since i was a regular night in 61 people will be able to move through freely.

it is i then i touch the columns and i had to admit i just don't crying i was so emotional i cried like a baby even now it makes me emotional to think about it i was touching these columns would only been able to see from a platform in the west it was an incredible feeling but yes. that night picked up anchorman and benedict seat of my mind the only ones who had a posse of their lives. starts in my city and he turned into a big party people were coming in that bathrobes and pajamas they walked through the brandenburg gate with tears in their eyes he was very emotional. for the 1st time in decades to bridge at dawn her mushed aso was open again. tens of thousands of people flooded into west berlin that's night. on.

the translation blatche fish returned to the bridge but no one asked them for their passports they realized the wall had come down for good to. be and it was only when he kept we've never had to fight like that in our lives we were used to accuse but we were the only ones going into east berlin. we were in the middle where the hearts were and on one side were cast on the other people some with buggies it felt like the whole of east germany was moving because everyone was scared the borders would close again they were carrying so much. month obvious reason then i met with my deputy who kept telling me i had to do something because i was the boss no he said harold it's finished. i didn't know

right away what he meant i said what is it and he said with east germany it's finished lawyer principals were able to. establish 4 o'clock in the morning that was the moment when the news embargoed good to shop of ski's note was supposed to have ended. it was only now that the people were meant to find out about their new freedom to travel that at least had clout as planned. again it was lauter who had to deliver an explanation on east german television because the party bosses were silent. as for all that. in the. thousands of thousands of citizens were waiting for this decision they took the opportunity and went to the border crossing points without using the published channels in order to prevent dramatic situations at the

crossings of the border troops and passport offices have acted and bureaucratically and have permitted citizens to cross the border immediately for. the kinds of a motorist. to. be turned out fish caught how many early hours of the morning a little while later they went to work as usual. east berlin the day after the fateful announcement the country was no longer saying . when i came home i said to my wife i opened the border she told me not to talk such rubbish and walked off with a lot. to

the point of strong opinions clear positions international perspectives it's 30 years since the fall of the billing goals germany is celebrating but the mood is tainted with dismay many in eastern germany say they've been left behind and feel like 2nd class citizens so what's going wrong find out from to the point short. 90 minutes on d w. it's time to take one step further

and face the possible. time to search the unknown and fight for the truth. time to overcome boundaries and connect the world it's time for a d.w.i. . coming up ahead miles. lisa bloom. book travel net amazing time.

this is t w news coming to you live from berlin hong kong student who fell during a protest donahue's this marks the 1st student death during the anti-government campaign and sets the stage for more protests also coming up. hits back at france's emmanuel mccall after he says the transatlantic alliance is experiencing the.