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Home , Allied Kommandatura, Bild, Border checkpoint, Chris Gueffroy, City West, East Berlin

THE A Through

An exhibition on presented by NEW CONFLICTS The boundaries of the zones of occupation are already established by the time the “Big Three” meet in in . However, British Prime Minister Winston ZONES OF OCCUPATION Churchill and US Presi- dent Harry Truman are unable to wrest a peace- ful world order out of dictator

The

t the Potsdam has been expecting this from Conference in July early on. He first described an 1945, the Big Three, “iron curtain” falling across the British Prime Minister middle of to divide the A , US President continent in a telegram to Tru- Harry Truman and Soviet dicta- man only four days after the tor Joseph Stalin, affirm that German surrender. they will jointly govern the de- The situation particularly comes feated German . Germany to a head in . The former is divided into zones of occupa- capital of the is tion and its capital, Berlin, is divided into four sectors, forcing split into sectors. The victorious the three victors and additionally powers are each to administer to work together espe- their respective territories single- cially closely in Berlin. But seri- handedly; they agree to decide ous conflicts emerge in Berlin on questions concerning Ger- even within the first months of many as a whole in an Allied the four-power occupation. Be- Control Council in Berlin. As ginning in spring 1946 the dis- relations between the Soviets putes escalate – both publicly in and the Allies rapidly the form of propaganda battles deteriorate, however, so does and behind the scenes in numer- cooperation within the Council. ous covert operations. Hopes for The boundary between the Brit- cooperation among the victori- ish and American zones on one ous powers are quickly dashed. side and the Soviet zone on the Rather than peace reigning in other becomes the line of de- Europe and the world, the Cold marcation between two op- War now breaks out between posed worldviews. Churchill East and . Bundesarchiv, Bundesarchiv, 183-N0415-363, Donath

FAILED EFFORTS The USA, Great Britain, France and the USSR intended THE FIRST BORDER A stream running through the village of Mödlareuth THE APPEARANCE OF UNITY Military policemen from the four victo- to govern Germany jointly. But East-West conflicts escalate within the Allied marks the boundary between the American and Soviet zones. At this point only rious powers in front of the in Berlin. The Soviets and Control Council as early as 1946 signs demarcate what will later become the intra-German border the three Western Allies share responsibility for the four-sectored city CANDY BOMBER children watch a US transport plane arriving at Airport. The three Western sectors of the city are supplied by airlift for eleven months

BLOCKADE Photo: Zauritz

Rescue from on high

he confrontation all overland and water routes between Western from the Western zones of Ger- and many to the Western sectors of Soviet dictatorship is Berlin. Millions are affected as the T starkest in Berlin. In October electricity supply and food deliv- 1946 Berlin holds city-wide free eries from the surrounding region elections – the first since 1932 are also cut off. The East German and the last until 1990. The vot- transitional authority has check- ers express their clear support points built around Berlin and at for the well-established tradition the boundaries between East and

Corbis of and for the West within the city. The three newly founded Christian Demo- Western sectors of the city are DIVIDED Berlin is cut off from overland supply routes. To prevent , East German police intensely monitor the border to cratic Party. The Socialist Unity not entirely cut off from the sur- the Western sectors, including at the Gate Party (SED), composed of the rounding area during the block- of Germany ade; visits are allowed. However, (KPD) and those parts of the anyone caught by the East Ger- which man police smuggling supplies have been forced to merge with into West Berlin faces harsh it, receives only a fifth of the penal ties. US Military Governor votes. However, the Soviets Lucius D. Clay defies Soviet refuse to confirm the June 1947 threats. Taking up the daring sug- election of Mayor . gestion of a British officer, Clay When introduces arranges for the three Western the German (DM) as its sectors of Berlin to be supplied LOGISTICAL FEAT Without any advance preparation the British and US new currency a year later, the by air, effective immediately. The militaries organize an efficient airlift in summer 1948, the likes of which the commander of the Soviet garri- airlift begins. Airplanes loaded world has never seen. The occupiers of West Berlin become its protectors son in Berlin opposes resolving with supplies are soon landing

dpa the currency issue in Berlin. every few minutes. In , When the three Western sectors the Soviets sheepishly give in, FORAGING HELPS Hunger drives the people of West Berlin to forage for food outside the city. They trade their last possessions for something then begin using the DM, Stalin once again allowing access to to eat. But whoever is caught doing so can expect severe punishment reacts with a total blockade of roads to and from West Berlin. Getty Images dpa

STRONG WILL US Governor Lucius PEACEFUL VICTORY In May 1949, the releases the two D. Clay does not back down a single million people of West Berlin from the captivity in which it has held them. inch in the face of Soviet pressure The Western powers have won the first battle of the

CLEAR SIGNAL On 9 September 1948, hundreds of thousands of West Berliners assemble before the ruins of the to against the blockade HELPLESS RAGE Demonstrators throw rocks at Soviet tanks on CLASS WARFARE 17 June 1953. Throughout the GDR, the ruthlessly steamrolls the popular uprising against the Communist regime

THREATENING GESTURES , Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR, threatens the West. At a press conference in in May 1960 he demands that the Allies withdraw Party policies from West Berlin against the people

he Socialist Unity tanks roll in and crush the pro- Party, the ruling party tests; at least 55 people are of , killed. decides in 1952 to The popular uprising comes T as a shock to the ruling party. implement . In the years prior it has established its The party initially dictatorship in East Germany reacts with concessions, which with Soviet backing. Germany are meant to defuse the situa- has been divided into two states tion and improve the supply sys- since 1949. As living conditions tem. At the same time, however, steadily improve in the West State Security (better known as German Federal , the the ) is being built up. COLLECTIVIZATION Propaganda sign in Marxwalde (Neuhardenberg). Slogans proclaiming a free decision in the name of Socialism belie the ruling party in the East wages By 1958 the party feels reinvig- reality of brutal coercion class warfare against its own orated. At the Fifth Party Con- Corbis population. Farmers are pressed gress it announces that it will into agricultural collectives, pri- continue implementing socialism vate businesses are brought to in all sectors of society. The their knees through ever-rising party does not limit itself to taxes and Christians are perse- ideo logical campaigns. Agricul- cuted. When a ten percent ture is forced to collectivize. Pri- increase in worker productivity vate businesspeople as well as is decreed in June 1953, con- trades people, bakers, butchers struction workers take to the and many of the remaining pri- streets of in protest. vate merchants are dispos- On 17 June the protest spreads sessed or forced into production throughout the GDR. Some one cooperatives. Christians are million people protest on the once again harassed in the streets of more than 700 cities GDR. Agricultural production and towns, calling for free elec- falls sharply and the supply situ- tions and an end to the dictator- ation comes to a head. By the EMPTY SLOGANS With empty promises, the ruling party attempts to FACE OF DICTATORSHIP A Soviet tank rolls over in ship. Communist party rule is on early 1960s, the party has led win over the people of the GDR to its goals. But daily experience contra- Berlin. The comes out of its barracks to crush the uprising the brink of collapse. Soviet the GDR into another crisis. dicts the party’s grandiloquent proclamations Bundesarchiv, Bild Bundesarchiv, 183-72750-0005, N.N.

MARTIAL The GDR National People’s FALSE IDYLL The border within Germany is sealed off in 1952. Armed Army marches in East Berlin on 1 May GDR guards square off with the West German (left) across 1960 the

OUTRAGEOUS DEMANDS When East German workers demand free elections, the party realizes that its power is in grave danger. The flees to the Soviet High Command outside Berlin WESTWARD

Exodus from the GDR

ith the ruling party governing against the interests of its W own population and living conditions decaying once more, the number of people who defect to the West rises sharply in the late . Their destination is West Ger- many, where freedom, demo- cracy and the West German “economic miracle” await them. to defect is espe- cially common among the young and the well educated. But reaching the West has been difficult for quite a while. The intra-German border has been sealed with barbed wire since 1952; checkpoints are strictly monitored. East German border police have also closed off the border surrounding Berlin. The border within the city, by con- trast, though monitored, is not INTO THE UNKNOWN This girl is to grow fully sealed thanks to the shared up in freedom. Her responsibility of all four Allied parents are giving up powers for Berlin. Several their home and most underground and city train lines of their possessions in order to give their cross the boundaries between child a better chance East and West Berlin. Anyone in life. It’s a wager that who approaches the border pays off in most cases clearly carrying luggage, how- ever, risks being arrested. Nonetheless, the Centre in West Berlin is soon filled beyond capacity. Some 12000 arrive in West Berlin per month in 1959, a number that rises by half in 1960. By the summer of 1961, up to 2400 men, women and children per day are venturing a new start in the West with no more than a few suitcases. Anyone who is recognized as a political refugee either receives a flat in West Berlin or is flown to West Germany. Because the Western Allies handle civilian air transport, the flight to West Germany is a safe one for defectors from the GDR. The demand by Soviet party head Nikita Khrushchev and GDR party General Secretary to control air dpa traffic to and from West Berlin A FINAL FAREWELL? The stream of defectors is DISINGENUOUS At a press conference on 15 , GDR party leader Walter WEARY A woman rests on a endless. Here, a family arrives at the Berlin-Marienfelde Ulbricht claims that “Nobody has any intention of building a wall.” Nonetheless, the bench from the strain of the journey is a transparent attempt to Refugee Centre number of defectors continues to mount westward close this loophole.

THE LAST GAP As the border between West and East Germany is now closed, West HAEMORRHAGING TALENT The young and the well-educated are especially inclined to leave the GDR in the 1950s. Farmers too flee en masse Berlin is the only remaining option for those hoping to flee East Germany. From there they in the face of forced collectivization. The ruling party needs to stop the citizens of the GDR from “voting with their feet”. But instead of undertaking can fly onward to West Germany reforms, Ulbricht, Honecker and their comrades look to shut off West Berlin CONSTRUCTION OF THE WALL

DEPLOYMENT Members of the para- military “Combat Groups of the Working Class in East Germany” barricade the on 13 – allegedly to preserve peace. For decades to come, the GDR will use this propa- ganda photo to justify what it calls the “anti- protective barrier”

13 August 1961

he time comes in the Berlin has been closed off and middle of the night surrounded by armed guard bet ween 12 and posts. 13 August 1961: the From spring 1961 onward, the T flood of refugees had posed an lights go out around 1.05 am. The brightly illuminated Branden- existential threat to the GDR. burg Gate, a sym bol of the unre- This is the argument GDR party solved question of Germany, leader Walter Ulbricht has used suddenly plunges into the dark- to convince Nikita Khrushchev ness of a balmy summer night. that West Berlin should be fully Visible only as silhouettes, sealed off. Party security head armoured vehicles roll through perfectly dis- HEAVY EQUIPMENT Workers’ militias in armoured vehicles block off the Classicist gate as uniformed guises what is dubbed “Opera- routes of passage through the Brandenburg Gate. Out of sight, GDR battle soldiers form a cordon along the tion Rose”. Although the opera- tanks stand guard border between the central dis- tion requires extensive tricts of and . In prepa ration, involving thou- these moments armed GDR sands of soldiers, police offic- forces are deployed not only ers and members of the “work- here but all around the three ers’ militias”, not a single detail Western sectors of Berlin. Drag- of the imminent action reaches ging barbed wire across streets, the public ahead of time. Scat- ruins and parks, they seal off the tered rumours draw the atten- roughly 80 then-existing official tion of the West German Intelli- checkpoints. gence Service. But political in East Berlin and the leaders in and West Berlin GDR are now permitted to cross cannot imagine that the GDR the border to the Western sec- would actually dare to violate tors only with a special pass – the city’s four-power rule by UTTERLY APPALLED The building of the Wall comes as a total sur- for all intents and purposes, they closing off the border between prise. The “Berliner Morgenpost” publishes a special edition ONGOING REINFORCEMENT A single layer of barbed wire is not documenting the appalling turn of events. “East Berlin sealed off”, the are not allowed to cross it at all. the Eastern and Western sec- enough: Only a few hours after the first barricades have gone up, GDR headline proclaims By around 1.45 am all of West tors of Berlin. border police begin enhancing the border fence

OPEN VIOLENCE With raised bayonets, GDR border guards force protesters from West Berlin back over the border to PARTY HEAD WALTER ULBRICHT (arrow) sees for himself – and in doing so the West is photographed by Western journalists SHOW OF DETERMINATION At , a crossing point for foreigners, tanks demon- strate US military strength in the autumn of 1961. Massive battle tanks also line the Eastern side of the border. By luring the Soviets into a show of force, Kennedy’s astute special envoy in Berlin, Lucius D. Clay, is making them admit that they are behind the building of the Wall

The Allies’ reaction

he West is caught un- lin and the right of self-determina- awares by the building tion for the people of West Berlin. of the Wall. But West Kennedy’s speech does not men- Berlin’s three protecting tion East Berlin. The Germans, T however, are not prepared to powers see no reason for severe retaliation. Western leaders react accept the border closing. West coolly: US President John F. Berlin Mayor writes Kennedy goes sailing off Massa- to Washington: “Inactivity and chusetts, British Prime Minister pure defensiveness could elicit a goes hunting in crisis of confidence with regard to Scotland and French President the Western powers.” In response relaxes in the to Brandt’s warning, Kennedy Champagne region. All three view sends his vice-president Lyndon the closed border as no more B. Johnson to Berlin, names than the embodiment of an exist- Lucius D. Clay Special Presiden- ing political reality. As Kennedy tial Envoy to Berlin and adds 1500 succinctly puts it, "We’re going to GIs to the US garrison in West do nothing now because there is Berlin. The UK and France also no alternative except war.” send military reinforcements. The Americans pay scrupulous Tanks demonstrate the Allies’ pro- attention to making sure their tective presence. The Allies begin rights are not infringed upon. In a to regain the trust of West Berlin- televised speech on the Berlin ers, especially when Kennedy vis- crisis on 25 , before the its the city in and Wall is built, Kennedy signals to makes his famous proclamation Khrushchev what the West would “.” But the radi- and would not accept. Indispen- cal alteration in the legal status of Berlin due to the building of the

sable for the US President are the Getty Images presence of the Western Allies in Wall is not officially laid down until DISAPPOINTED The 16 August 1961 edition of the BILD-Zeitung gets HIGH-LEVEL VISIT The joint appearance of US Vice-President to the heart of West Berliners’ feelings: a sense of abandonment by their West Berlin, unobstructed paths the 1972 signing of the Four Lyndon B. Johnson and Mayor Willy Brandt on 20 August 1961 offers protectors of access to and from West Ber- Power Agreement on Berlin. hope to the people of West Berlin dpa bpk

SNIDE GESTURE GDR party head Walter Ulbricht (second from right) ICH BIN EIN BERLINER John F. Kennedy’s visit to West Berlin on 26 June 1963 is THE AGREEMENT (from left) French Foreign Minister Maurice Schumann, shows Nikita Khrushchev (centre) the barriers in Berlin on 7 . only a few hours long. He rides through the city with West Berlin Mayor Willy Brandt British Foreign Secretary Alec Douglas-Home, Soviet Foreign Minister The Soviet strongman waves cynically to the West and Chancellor . The trip makes Kennedy a legend to the people of and US Secretary of State William Rogers sign the Four West Berlin Power Agreement on Berlin on 3 June 1972 SAYING GOOD-BYE Two mothers and their children bid each other farewell across the barbed wire on Heidel- berger Straße on 13 August 1961. The photo, which is not posed, is seen around the world

DESPAIR

Suffering and yearning

he building of the Wall tification. But the GDR politburo does not only split Ber- soon cuts off this privilege lin – it also divides fami- because many East Germans are lies and friends. In the escaping the GDR with smuggled T West German IDs. For the next first days after 13 August there are still gaps in the barrier. two and a half years the people of Thousands of East Berliners seize East and West Berlin live in this opportunity. In the first twelve almost total separation. Only let- hours alone, three dozen young ters and telegrams still make it people reach freedom in the West across the border, always strictly by swimming across the Land- monitored and often days late. wehrkanal, the Heidekampgraben Until the autumn of 1961 people and the Britzer Zweigkanal. In crawl through sewer tunnels to these early days, cemetery and the West, bravely trudging factory along the border through faeces. As late as Sep- also offer relatively easy access to tember 1961, well-coordinated West Berlin. Escape becomes groups make it across the border much more difficult beginning on in broad daylight in some spots 15 August 1961, when a concrete- by squeezing through barbed and-brick barricade replaces the wire that has been cut. tangle of barbed wire in the city Harrowing scenes play out at the centre. Several dozen bricklayers border: Young newlyweds in the conscripted into building the Wall West bid farewell to their parents manage to escape to freedom; in the East; fathers who’ve numerous border guards also escaped see their wives and Conti-Press desert. Until 23 August 1961, children for the last time for many HISTORIC LEAP On 15 August 1961, GDR soldier Conrad Schumann SUCCESSFUL ESCAPE This young man fought his way through the takes advantage of an unobserved moment. Several still photographers barbed wire in the north of Berlin. He has escaped with only superficial West Berliners are able to drive years; fiances and siblings must and a cameraman capture his escape; the image becomes a symbol of injuries to his head. Helpers from West Berlin bring him to safety into East Berlin if they show iden- say their good-byes. the divided city Paris Match LAST MESSAGE A bricklayer passes a note across the Wall to a THROUGH THE FENCE Wherever possible, East Germans take advantage of gaps young West Berliner. Whoever is caught in such an act faces harsh in the barricades to escape. Young and old alike, for the sake of freedom they sacrifice interrogation and lengthy imprisonment everything they cannot carry with them

VIEW OF THE OTHER SIDE Two older women in West Berlin try to catch a glimpse of their relatives on the other side of the Wall ESCAPES

RIDDLED WITH BULLETS Manfred Massenthe and several friends armour a bus and attempt to break through the barricades at the Invalidenstraße border checkpoint on 12 May 1963. But just short of their destination the driver is hit by a bul- let and loses control of the vehicle. Long prison sentences ensue

Bravery in desperation

n violation of principles of human rights, the GDR regime does not permit its I citizens to leave the country for the West. Applications for exit visas to relocate to the West are often denied, and the filing of such an application has negative career repercussions and leads to Stasi harrassment. For many the only remaining option is to try to escape. BURROWING UNDER THE WALL Bruno Becker is one of the first The motivations are multifarious: Berliners to hit upon the idea of digging a tunnel under the Wall. Twenty- eight people, many of them his family members, escape to freedom They include political repression, through the tunnel on 30 lack of economic prospects, and the desire to reunite with family. Just as varied are the methods of DINGHY TO FREEDOM Using a wooden slat as a paddle, Detlef escape. Aspiring defectors drive the “remainers” – those who Lenk makes his way across the on 20 . He is heavy vehicles straight through receive permission to visit the rescued after 36 hours border barricades, crawl through West but never return from their laboriously dug tunnels, take to visits. the air in hot-air balloons or air- Trying to escape is highly risky. planes, and cross the Baltic Sea Far more attempts fail than suc- in rubber dinghies on surf boards ceed. Those who are killed or even by swimming. Many include , shot dead defect via neighbouring Eastern in February 1989, and Winfried Bloc countries with falsified pass- Freudenberg, whose improvised or are smuggled across the gas balloon crashes in March border in car boots. But the larg- 1989. They are the last to die RE-PURPOSED A bulldozer is the perfect vehicle for breaking through the border. Neither fences nor trenches can stop it, as a GDR soldier de- est group of those who escape to attempting to cross from Ger- monstrates on 18 the West are what the Stasi call many to Germany.

CROSS-COUNTRY Three privates in the GDR National People’s Army ESCAPE PLANE Despite strict , a technician manages to steal an airplane WESTWARD WITH THE WINDTwo families of four successfully break through the border barricades in this armoured reconnnaisance ve- belonging to the “Society for Sport and Technology”, flies it over the death strip and escape to West Germany in a homemade hot air balloon in September hicle on 28 June 1963 to reach the West German region of lands near the West German town of Köditz on 12 May 1962 1979 SEEMINGLY NORMAL In this posed scene, three tourists view the Brandenburg Gate from the East. The entire square in front of the Gate, , is a no- access zone – there is no chance of East Germans reaching the West here.

LIVING WITH THE WALL

Living in the shadow of the border

n the East, border guards areas – they will remain stand- block off residents’ view ing until 1990, and some of of the Wall as much as them still exist today in a legal- possible with screens and ized form. I Growing up in the shadow of no-access zones. Things are different in West Berlin, where the Wall, West Berlin children the Wall is integrated into daily play “border police and defec- life. artists use it as a tor” rather than cops and rob- massive canvas, camping bers. Their games mimic reality enthusiasts treat it as a week- so closely that the “defector” is end refuge and bars often “shot dead”. Children NARROW PASSAGE On Bethaniendamm in the Kreuzberg of Berlin, a mere four metres lie between the Wall and the facades of West run improvised beer gardens process the inhumanity uncon- Berlin buildings beside it – all as if there were sciously, adults often not at all. no Wall. The perilous Wall run- But people only appear to have ning through the heart of this adjusted to the new reality. In major city is soon of more truth many of them suffer from interest to tourists than to what psychiatrists and neurol- those who live with it. The pop- ogists call “Wall sickness”. ular imagination of West Berlin This is a condition marked by focuses on the death strip only psychosomatic disorders, when news of another shooting often accompanied by depres- comes. Because the actual sion and the feeling of being barricades are set a few “walled in”. After the building metres back into the Eastern of the Wall, West Berlin is zone, there are lawless zones known for one of the highest in the middle of the city which suicide rates of any city in the dpa West are not per- world. The rate of suicide and WALLED IN The area known as the “duck’s beak” is an enclave of the FALSE IDYLL Five West Berliners enjoy the sunshine beside the Wall in the East German town of in West Berlin. GDR border guards are mitted to enter. Numerous ille- attempted suicide is, however, Kreuzberg district. Most residents of the walled city adjust their lives to the continually perfecting the border barricades here gal buildings go up in these even higher in East Berlin. omnipresence of the border Bundesarchiv, DVH 60 Bild-GR31-09-024, N. N. DVH 60Bundesarchiv, Bild-GR31-09-024, N.

OASIS OF LEISURE Many West Berliners soon PROVOCATIVE JOKE A West Berliner HUMAN NEEDS Even border guards need to heed the call of nature realize that they can enjoy nature and tranquillity right floats along the canal on an inflatable some times. A GDR soldier snaps a photo of his superior urinating on an next to the Wall. A section of the first border fence is plastic island, under the critical eye of a GDR anti-tank blockade in the death strip visible in this picture observing from a REVOLUTION

NO MORE HOLDING BACK 70.000 demonstrators protest against the ruling party in the East German city of on 9 October 1989. Seeing the size of the crowd, the police and the Stasi do not inter vene. From this point forward, the free-

dom movement, not dpa the regime, is the one leading the way

“We are the people!”

oviet leader Mikhail allowed to travel onwards to the Gorbachev’s reforms West as the East German Party change the world. In leadership obliviously celebrates S the West they awaken the 40th anniversary of the GDR, hope for an end to the , blossom into a mass in the East for . movement. The words of visiting But the GDR regime has a low , opinion of Gorbachev’s “Life punishes those who come and campaigns. A too late,” now become a beacon dispirited mood prevails in the of hope. Hundreds of thousands economically depressed GDR. take to the streets in Leipzig, In May 1989 opposition forces Berlin and other cities. The slo- NEW HOPE Austrian Foreign Minister and his Hungarian coun- dpa prove that results of the recently gan of this is ter part cut through the barbed wire on the border between PUBLIC PROTEST With candlelight vigils in churches, civil rights advo- their countries on 27 June 1989. Ever more holes open in the Iron Curtain held local elections have been “we are the people.” New political cates undermine the GDR leadership’s attempt to hush up their protests. tampered with. Government lead- configurations form. Other politi- Reporting in the also plays a part ers respond with wilful ignorance cal parties break away from the and repression. The number of ruling SED, which in turn removes applications for exit visas climbs. Honecker from power. But his In the summer thousands decide successor has little to take a one-way holiday. Some to offer in response to the travel to , where the Iron momentum of the unfolding Curtain has become permeable events. To temper the growing along the border with , pressure on them, the new state while others occupy the West and party leadership decide to German embassies in issue new regulations permitting and Warsaw. When they are travel to the West. Süddeutsche Zeitung

SEIZING THE MOMENT At a “pan-European breakfast” on the Aus trian border near , Hungary, on 19 August 1989, 400 East Germans flee across the border in front of rolling television cameras INDIRECT PROTECTION By 1989 the GDR regime no longer dares to have members of the opposition “disappeared”. Western photogra- phers and cameras are present at many protests Archiv Bürgerbewegung Leipzig, Rainer Kühn

WORDS OF DELIVERANCE On the balcony of the West German Em- SYMBOLIC PHOTO Mikhail Gorbachev and Erich Honecker set an bassy in Prague on 30 September 1989, West German Foreign Minister appointment during celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the GDR. The Hans-Dietrich Genscher announces to a crowd of thousands of fleeing Gorbachev quote “Life punishes those who come too late” becomes the East Germans that they are permitted to travel onwards to West Germany slogan of the moment

A CHANCE IN PRAGUE Thousands of East Germans flee into the West German Embassy. Even the Czech police cannot hold them back WATERSHED MOMENT The hated Wall has fallen. Thousands scale the Wall and celebrate the event of the century at the Brandenburg Gate. Ordinary daily life grinds to a halt across Berlin

THE FALL OF THE WALL

9 November 1989

t exactly 6.53 pm, the chorus of calls for the at the international checkpoint to be opened. press centre in East At the in Bonn, A Berlin, politburo MPs rise from their seats and member Günter Schabowski strike up the German national announces the decision of the anthem. The strains of “unity GDR leadership “to implement and justice and freedom” a regulation today that allows have barely faded away when every citizen of the German the first East Berliners receive to leave permission to cross the Born- through border crossings of holmer Straße border. the GDR”. In response to a One by one, the other border journalist’s question about checkpoints open, including when the new travel regulation the famed Checkpoint Charlie. will go into effect, Schabowski Honecker’s successor Egon leafs through his papers and Krenz will later say that the answers erroneously, “imme- pressure was simply too great diately, without delay”. too withstand. With these words, party func- Normal life grinds to a halt in tionary Schabowski opens Berlin. Hundreds of thousands the floodgates. As soon as of people from both sides of Western news agencies have the city celebrate at the broadcast the surprising checkpoints, on the Kur- announcement, countless fürstendamm and in front of East Berliners begin streaming the Brandenburg Gate, the towards the border check- symbol of the division of points. By 9 pm, and Germany. After 28 years, the Wartburgs are backed up Wall has fallen.

Bundesarchiv, Bild Bundesarchiv, 183-1989-1109-030, Lehmann along Bornholmer Straße. Only a year later, the GDR Schoelzel Having received no orders, will no longer exist: Germany PRESS CONFERENCE Responding to a question about when UTTER MADNESS At the Bornholmer Straße border checkpoint, Trabants and the new travel regulation will take effect, politburo member the responsible border officer is reunited in peace and Wartburgs make their way across the Bösebrücke to West Berlin. Here, too, the Günter Schabowksi mistakenly says “immediately, without delay” does not know how to reply to freedom. crowd is ecstatic Schoelzel Kaiser / Photo: Caro Kaiser / Photo: Caro Kaiser / Photo: Caro

BARRIERS LIFTED It cannot happen fast enough: Joyful East WORDS OF WELCOME Thousands of West HACKING AWAY AT THE WALL Berliners run across the Bornholmer Straße border checkpoint Berliners have also come to welcome the East Ger- On this night nobody has any problem into the Western part of the city mans and to join them in celebrating with this act of force

EXUBERANT Two young women give themselves over to their excitement