With Berlin Wall's fall, a new history began

East German Politburo member Gunter Schabowski

It was his remark that brought East Germans to the wall on Nov.9, 1989. It was an apparently premature announcement that travel restrictions were now lifted for East Germans wanting to go into West Berlin.

"It is for me a day to which I look back with satisfaction and with a certain pride,” said Schabowski, 80, in a recent interview with a German newspaper. "There are people who certainly respect my role at that press conference as an attempt to overcome the division between East and West. I am glad.

"The Left Party is of the opinion that Schabowski is a traitor and pork dog. But there are a sufficient number of people who say to me: ‘Schabowski, I shake your hand.’”

Lt. Col. Harald Jaeger

With an estimated 25,000 East Germans wanting to cross at Bornholmerstrasse and 30 guards with their fingers on the triggers of their weapons, Jaeger decided to let the crowd cross freely.

"I’m happy that the only thing that flowed was fear-induced sweat and not blood,” Jaeger said.

The officer said he had been in a cafe at 7 p.m. when he heard Schabowski’s news conference. The effect of the announcement was immediate, he said.

"At first there were just a handful of East German citizens there, but by the minute there were more,” he said. "It went from hundreds to thousands, who chanted, ‘Open the gate!’

"We no longer had the situation under control,” said Jager, 66. "At 11:20 pm, I then ordered the crossing gate to be opened and to allow everyone to leave without inspecting their papers.”

Barbel Reinke

Reinke was among the first to make the crossing.

"I was afraid of this wall of soldiers that night. My nerves were shot,” she said.

She went ahead and stepped across the white line separating East from West, daring the guard at the gate to shoot. He didn’t. She hailed a taxi and asked to go to a large shopping area.

JIM WILLIS, CORRESPONDENT

Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall stood for nearly three decades, the most potent symbol of Cold War divisions. Its collapse helped herald the wider collapse of communism across eastern Europe. The East began construction of the barrier on Aug. 13, 1961, in an attempt to stop the flight of people to the West. By 1989, the wall stretched nearly 100 miles around West Berlin, including 30 miles through the city itself. Nearly 12 feet high in places, the barrier featured hundreds of watch towers, miles of anti-vehicle trenches, bunkers, barbed wire, signal fences and other obstacles. Following is a timeline of events:

• 1945: World War II ends. Berlin — located deep inside the Soviet eastern sector of newly divided Germany — is partitioned into American, British and French sectors in the West, and the Soviet sector in the East.

• 1949: Two new German states are formed: East Germany — officially known as the German Democratic Republic; and West Germany — the Federal Republic of Germany.

• 1952: Concerned at the stream of people flowing to the West — an estimated 2.5 million fled between 1949 and 1961 — East Germany closes the border between East and West Germany, but crossing is still possible at points.

• June 15, 1961: East German leader Walter Ulbricht declares, "No one intends to erect a wall.”

• Aug. 13, 1961: East German troops begin sealing off the eastern sector of Berlin with barbed wire and roadblocks to begin building the Berlin Wall.

• Aug. 24, 1961: First person shot dead trying to escape. Guenter Litfin, 24, was killed by East German border guards near the downtown Charite hospital. At least 136 people died trying to cross over; thousands more escaped successfully.

• 1962: Work begins on second-generation wall, including a fence about 100 yards farther inside East German territory to create a closely controlled "death strip” between the two barriers.

• June 26, 1963: President John F. Kennedy visits the divided city, proclaiming solidarity with West Berlin with the famous words: "Ich bin ein Berliner.”

• 1965: Construction begins on third-generation wall, using concrete slabs.

• 1975: Work begins on fourth-generation wall, using interlocking concrete segments and also adding watch towers and other defenses.

• Jan. 19, 1989: East German leader Erich Honecker declares the wall could last another 100 years.

• Summer 1989: Thousands of East Germans flee to West Germany through Hungary.

• Nov. 9, 1989: East Germany opens the Berlin Wall checkpoints.

• Oct. 3, 1990: East and West Germany are reunified.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS