Bornholm, Island of the Burgunds.
11.30 p.m.
On Bornholmer Strasse, the situation is becoming a threatening one for the passport inspectors. Thousands of people are pushing towards the border crossing point. The "valve solution" has proved to be unwise. When some are allowed to leave the country, the others who have to wait push and shove even more. When the wire fence in front of the border crossing is pushed aside, the border guards fear for their lives. Lieutenant-Colonel Harald Jäger decides to open up everything and stop checking passports. Thousands of people pour into the border facilities, overrun the checkpoints, go over the bridge and are welcomed enthusiastically on the West Berlin side.
History.
9 November (Thursday)
![After the barrier is opened, people and cars crowd onto Bornholm Bridge in the night from 9 to 10 November]()
9.00 a.m.
Four officers from the Ministry of the Interior and the State Security Service meet in the Interior Ministry at the request of the Politburo to draw up new regulations on leaving the country. The group soon agrees that, in future, all restrictions regarding applications to leave the GDR permanently should be dropped. The officers consider it irresponsible, however, to force all those wanting to leave the country to take on the status of emigrants. They want to preserve the GDR. For this reason, they include regulations regarding the right to "private trips," i.e. visits, in the Council’s resolution, along with those concerning permanent departure.![Gerhard Lauter, Colonel in the Volkspolizei]()
Applications are still to be made for permission to travel or leave the country. The State Security Service expects the general populace to react with a rush – but a rush on the relevant authorities (the Volkspolizei district offices), not a rush on the border.![Gerhard Niebling, Major-General in the Ministry of Security]()
10.00 a.m.
Start of the second day of the SED Central Committee meeting.
12.00 midday
During a smoking break at the Central Committee meeting, members of the Politburo confirm the draft travel regulations drawn up by the officers. They are passed on to the Council of Ministers.![SED General Secretary Egon Krenz, 9 November 1989]()
2.30 p.m.
During the regular break at the Central Committee meeting, SED General Secretary Egon Krenz meets the prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Johannes Rau. West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl arrives in Poland for a state visit of several days.
3.00 p.m.
The implementing regulations for the travel bill are given the final touches by the Interior Ministry and the State Security Service.![International press conferenc: Schabowski announces a new travel regulation, 9 November 1989]()
4.00 p.m.
Egon Krenz reads out the draft travel bill, which he now has as a draft resolution of the Council of Ministers, including a press release, to the SED Central Committee5.30 p.m.
Krenz hands the draft resolution of the Council of Ministers and the accompanying press release to Günter Schabowski, who is at present acting as spokesman for the SED Central Committee.6 p.m.
Beginning of an international press conference with Günter Schabowski, broadcast live by GDR television and radio.![Tom Brokaw, NBC reporter]()
6.53 p.m.
Schabowski announces the new travel regulations. When asked by a journalist when the regulations are to go into force, Schabowski answers: "As of now; immediately!"7.05 p.m.
The news agency AP issues the news flash: "GDR opens border"; DPA at 7.41 p.m.: "The GDR border … is open." The agency reports become the top news during peak news time on television and radio until 8.15 p.m.. The current affairs programme "Tageschau" reports "GDR opens border".8.15 p.m.
According to a progress report by the East Berlin Volkspolizei, altogether 80 East Berliners have gathered at the border crossing points Bornholmer Strasse, Invalidenstrasse and Heinrich-Heine-Strasse. Instruction to the border guards: to put the people off till the next day and send them back.![Harald Jäger, Ministry of Security passport control]()
8.47 p.m.
End of the second day of the SED Central Committee meeting. Until now, the party and state leaders have not noticed the events occurring around them: neither the press conference, the media response to it, nor the rush on the border crossing points that is starting.
9.10 p.m.
End of a Bundestag sitting.![Helmut Kohl, West German Chancellor]()
9.30 p.m.
End of the state banquet in Warsaw. West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl hears of the events in East Berlin.Between 500 and 1,000 people have gathered at the Bornholmer Strasse border crossing point. The State Security Service decides on a "valve solution", i.e. to let people through the border gradually.![George Bush, US President, May 1989]()
9.34 p.m.
In Washington, US President George Bush and Secretary of State James Baker hold a press conference. They have heard about the events in Berlin from agency reports.The governments in London and Paris are as surprised as all others by the news agency reports.![Hubert Védrine, adviser to the French president]()
10.00 p.m.
After the end of the Central Committee meeting, Egon Krenz has gone to his office in the Central Committee building. His main concern is that the Central Committee has not voted the way he wanted for the Politburo. Several of the candidates he has proposed have been defeated. Then he receives a call from Erich Mielke informing him of the situation on the border.This is not a clear instruction from Krenz. Neither Krenz nor Mielke announce any further instructions during the night. As Major-General Gerhard Niebling from the Ministry of Security recalls, there was no order, for the Ministry of Security at least, to open the Wall. And the National People’s Army and the commanders of the border troops do not receive an order to do so either.![Fritz Streletz, Colonel General in the Nationale Volksarmee]()
10.28 p.m.
A last attempt to put a brake on the developments is made on the late-night broadcast of "Aktuelle Kamera" on GDR television: "At the request of many citizens, we inform you again about the new travel resolution issued by the Council of Ministers.
First: private trips can be applied for without having to give reasons for the trip or proof of family relationships. In other words: applications have to be made for travel!" The newsreader follows this demand with the information that the passport and registration authorities "will be open tomorrow at the usual time" and that permanent departures were only possible "after they have been applied for and received permission."
10.42 p.m.
Television host Hanns Joachim Friedrichs starts off the ARD current affairs programme "Tagesthemen" with the following words. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. One should be cautious with superlatives; they tend to wear out fast. But this evening it is permissible to risk one: this ninth of November is a historic day: the GDR has announced that its borders are open to everyone as of now; the gates in the Wall are wide open." A live report from the Invalidenstrasse border crossing point shows the opposite – it is still closed. But after the "Tagesthemen", a mass rush on the border crossing points begins. A fiction spread by the media takes hold of the masses – and becomes reality.![Bornholm Strasse border crossing: controls stopped, 9/10 November 1989]()
11.30 p.m.
On Bornholmer Strasse, the situation is becoming a threatening one for the passport inspectors. Thousands of people are pushing towards the border crossing point. The "valve solution" has proved to be unwise. When some are allowed to leave the country, the others who have to wait push and shove even more. When the wire fence in front of the border crossing is pushed aside, the border guards fear for their lives. Lieutenant-Colonel Harald Jäger decides to open up everything and stop checking passports. Thousands of people pour into the border facilities, overrun the checkpoints, go over the bridge and are welcomed enthusiastically on the West Berlin side.
By around midnight, all the Berlin border crossings are forced to open, sometimes by West Berliners (at the Invalidenstrasse crossing point, for example).12.00 midnight
In the Soviet embassy in East Berlin, the envoy and deputy ambassador Igor Maximychev debates whether to inform Moscow that the border has opened. He decides not to do so to avoid any knee-jerk reactions.![The border regiments of the Mitte Border Command]()
12.20 a.m.
The commanders of the National People’s Army (NVA) are confused and do not know what to do. They prepare for all options, including the military one. At 12.20 a.m., they put the Berlin border regiments, around 12,000 soldiers, on the alert level "increased readiness for action". Because no more orders are given during the night, the commanders of the border regiments suspend the measures on their own responsibility.![The border regiments of the]()
1.00 a.m.
Between 1.00 and 2.00 a.m., thousands of West and East Berliners get through the Wall at the Brandenburg Gate and walk over Pariser Platz square and through the gate. People dance for joy on the Wall. The cement embankment remains occupied by several thousand people. The whole square echoes to the tapping of the "Wall peckers". They chip away at the Wall on the western side with hammers and chisels. People go in droves to the Kurfürstendamm, which turns into one big party venue until the early morning.2.00 a.m.
The political and military leaders of the GDR do not make any public appearances during the night. The Interior Ministry announces that, as a "temporary measure", the border can be crossed upon presentation of identity cards until the next morning at 8.00 a.m.. This information is broadcast in the news on Radio DDR I from 2.00 a.m.
Reports on developments at various border crossing points and at the Brandenburg GateAt the Bornholmer Strasse border crossing point, a lonely East German policeman, surrounded by a cluster of people, explains to a woman from East Berlin that she can go over to West Berlin, even though the travel regulations that have actually been decided upon required people to have a passport and visa to do so. At 8.30 p.m., the same policeman had told waiting people through the loudspeaker of a squad car that it was not possible "to let you depart here and now."- Deutsche Welle, documentary film material: after the Wall has been opened at the Bornholmer Strasse border crossing point, an East German policeman explains the travel regulation that was actually meant to come into force on 10 November 1989 to a woman from East Berlin, 10 November 1989 (RIAS TV) (in German)
In November, 133,429 GDR citizens move to West Germany.
Four officers from the Ministry of the Interior and the State Security Service meet in the Interior Ministry at the request of the Politburo to draw up new regulations on leaving the country. The group soon agrees that, in future, all restrictions regarding applications to leave the GDR permanently should be dropped. The officers consider it irresponsible, however, to force all those wanting to leave the country to take on the status of emigrants. They want to preserve the GDR. For this reason, they include regulations regarding the right to "private trips," i.e. visits, in the Council’s resolution, along with those concerning permanent departure.
Start of the second day of the SED Central Committee meeting.
12.00 midday
During a smoking break at the Central Committee meeting, members of the Politburo confirm the draft travel regulations drawn up by the officers. They are passed on to the Council of Ministers.
During the regular break at the Central Committee meeting, SED General Secretary Egon Krenz meets the prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Johannes Rau. West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl arrives in Poland for a state visit of several days.
3.00 p.m.
The implementing regulations for the travel bill are given the final touches by the Interior Ministry and the State Security Service.
Egon Krenz reads out the draft travel bill, which he now has as a draft resolution of the Council of Ministers, including a press release, to the SED Central Committee
Krenz hands the draft resolution of the Council of Ministers and the accompanying press release to Günter Schabowski, who is at present acting as spokesman for the SED Central Committee.
Beginning of an international press conference with Günter Schabowski, broadcast live by GDR television and radio.
Schabowski announces the new travel regulations. When asked by a journalist when the regulations are to go into force, Schabowski answers: "As of now; immediately!"
The news agency AP issues the news flash: "GDR opens border"; DPA at 7.41 p.m.: "The GDR border … is open." The agency reports become the top news during peak news time on television and radio until 8.15 p.m.. The current affairs programme "Tageschau" reports "GDR opens border".
According to a progress report by the East Berlin Volkspolizei, altogether 80 East Berliners have gathered at the border crossing points Bornholmer Strasse, Invalidenstrasse and Heinrich-Heine-Strasse. Instruction to the border guards: to put the people off till the next day and send them back.
End of the second day of the SED Central Committee meeting. Until now, the party and state leaders have not noticed the events occurring around them: neither the press conference, the media response to it, nor the rush on the border crossing points that is starting.
9.10 p.m.
End of a Bundestag sitting.
End of the state banquet in Warsaw. West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl hears of the events in East Berlin.
In Washington, US President George Bush and Secretary of State James Baker hold a press conference. They have heard about the events in Berlin from agency reports.
After the end of the Central Committee meeting, Egon Krenz has gone to his office in the Central Committee building. His main concern is that the Central Committee has not voted the way he wanted for the Politburo. Several of the candidates he has proposed have been defeated. Then he receives a call from Erich Mielke informing him of the situation on the border.
A last attempt to put a brake on the developments is made on the late-night broadcast of "Aktuelle Kamera" on GDR television: "At the request of many citizens, we inform you again about the new travel resolution issued by the Council of Ministers.
First: private trips can be applied for without having to give reasons for the trip or proof of family relationships. In other words: applications have to be made for travel!" The newsreader follows this demand with the information that the passport and registration authorities "will be open tomorrow at the usual time" and that permanent departures were only possible "after they have been applied for and received permission."
10.42 p.m.
Television host Hanns Joachim Friedrichs starts off the ARD current affairs programme "Tagesthemen" with the following words. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. One should be cautious with superlatives; they tend to wear out fast. But this evening it is permissible to risk one: this ninth of November is a historic day: the GDR has announced that its borders are open to everyone as of now; the gates in the Wall are wide open." A live report from the Invalidenstrasse border crossing point shows the opposite – it is still closed. But after the "Tagesthemen", a mass rush on the border crossing points begins. A fiction spread by the media takes hold of the masses – and becomes reality.
On Bornholmer Strasse, the situation is becoming a threatening one for the passport inspectors. Thousands of people are pushing towards the border crossing point. The "valve solution" has proved to be unwise. When some are allowed to leave the country, the others who have to wait push and shove even more. When the wire fence in front of the border crossing is pushed aside, the border guards fear for their lives. Lieutenant-Colonel Harald Jäger decides to open up everything and stop checking passports. Thousands of people pour into the border facilities, overrun the checkpoints, go over the bridge and are welcomed enthusiastically on the West Berlin side.
By around midnight, all the Berlin border crossings are forced to open, sometimes by West Berliners (at the Invalidenstrasse crossing point, for example).
In the Soviet embassy in East Berlin, the envoy and deputy ambassador Igor Maximychev debates whether to inform Moscow that the border has opened. He decides not to do so to avoid any knee-jerk reactions.
The commanders of the National People’s Army (NVA) are confused and do not know what to do. They prepare for all options, including the military one. At 12.20 a.m., they put the Berlin border regiments, around 12,000 soldiers, on the alert level "increased readiness for action". Because no more orders are given during the night, the commanders of the border regiments suspend the measures on their own responsibility.
Between 1.00 and 2.00 a.m., thousands of West and East Berliners get through the Wall at the Brandenburg Gate and walk over Pariser Platz square and through the gate. People dance for joy on the Wall. The cement embankment remains occupied by several thousand people. The whole square echoes to the tapping of the "Wall peckers". They chip away at the Wall on the western side with hammers and chisels. People go in droves to the Kurfürstendamm, which turns into one big party venue until the early morning.
The political and military leaders of the GDR do not make any public appearances during the night. The Interior Ministry announces that, as a "temporary measure", the border can be crossed upon presentation of identity cards until the next morning at 8.00 a.m.. This information is broadcast in the news on Radio DDR I from 2.00 a.m.
Reports on developments at various border crossing points and at the Brandenburg Gate