9. November 1989
37 years ago
In a single evening the border that had split a city for 28 years swung open — and tens of thousands danced on the Wall.
For 28 years the Berlin Wall split the city in two. A belt of concrete, barbed wire and watchtowers separated East from West — and the "death strip" between the walls cost many their lives as they tried to flee. To the east ruled the GDR; to the west lay an island of freedom inside communist East Germany.
Scroll to tear it down↓
On the evening of 9 November 1989, East German official Günter Schabowski held a press conference. Confused, he read out that the border was open — "immediately, without delay". The words went straight out on television, and tens of thousands of East Berliners surged toward the crossings.
At Bornholmer Straße the crowd swelled hour by hour. The border guards had no orders to let anyone through, but the pressure grew too great. Midnight was approaching when the first barrier was raised.
People poured across into West Berlin, strangers embraced, and at the Brandenburg Gate men and women climbed onto the Wall itself as champagne sprayed. What had been a deadly border became a dance floor.
In the days that followed, the "wall woodpeckers" chipped loose pieces of concrete as souvenirs, and soon the Wall began to vanish for good. Less than a year later, on 3 October 1990, Germany was reunified.