Shit Happens (or what really brought the Berlin wall down)

The SED had decided to take drastic actions, hoping to attain funds in the form of large credits from West Germany by introducing a new rule allowing all East Germans to apply for Visa to cross over into the west. A bold and cunning manouver. You'd think the Politburo would have handled it with care. Twenty years later, as we look back on the chain of events that brought the wall and the entire Government down, it's hard to believe it happened the way it did.

How a blunder finished off the Wall

When the Berlin Wall opened on 9 November 1989 Brian Hanrahan was the BBC News reporter on the ground. This year he's been back to talk to some of those whose decisions made this key moment in 20th Century history possible.

From the safe distance of 20 years, the opening of the Berlin Wall can be seen as inevitable - the natural consequence of changes that were reshaping Europe. But for most of 1989 it was unthinkable.

And the decision itself was an accident - intended neither to happen the way it did nor to spark off the tumultuous changes that followed.

I heard the inside story of what started this extraordinary rush of events from one of those who made the decision in the East German Politburo - the communist party's ruling body.

Hans Modrow was a communist reformer in the Gorbachev mould. He had only just been given a place on the Politburo as East Germany's leaders tried to head off the demands for change that were sweeping the country. But as a new boy his opinions counted for little.

He remembers an agitated discussion about the travel restrictions - the laws which banned most East Germans from leaving the country and which had sparked off the popular discontent.

At the end of it the party leader, Egon Krenz, suddenly produced a new set of regulations. From now on it would be much easier for East Germans to travel.

What annoyed Mr Modrow was the autocratic way in which the Communist Party still did business. "We couldn't change anything, he says, We sat there like stupid little boys. We just had to do what we were told."

'Blurted out'

But now came a blunder that would bring down the Berlin Wall and the East German state with it.

The intention was to announce the changes overnight and phase in the new rules the next morning. Instead one of the Politburo members, Guenter Schabowski, blurted out the plans during a televised press conference - and compounded his error by adding the new rules would come into force "immediately".

Live press conferences were a novelty in communist days, and Mr Schabowski was becoming something of a celebrity through his appearances. Mr Modrow is still scathing about Mr Schabowski's preening in front of the media.

"The order wasn't to be published until 0400 in the morning. But Mr Schabowski didn't notice. He went into an international press conference. And he was so arrogant and full of himself. We had no idea this was happening."

source

Slow train coming....

A number of events preceeded this one but the blunder that could be called a spark...ignited immediate reactions on both sides of the wall. Friends who had been visiting from the east were still reluctant to speak about certain things but I was curious and many of my questions were eventually answered. It must have been chilly outside as I recall one short exchange with a friend. I asked her how long she thought the DDR would hold up. She was shaking as she said ...."not... much... longer...". The pressure was unbelievable. All they really wanted was the right to travel - at least to the west to visit friends and relatives. The number of special visas being handed out had increased over the years. It was almost evident. But still, it caught us all by surprise.

The blunder....

Schabowski hadn't attended the Politburo meeting. It was his job to confront the press and to pass the propaganda on. As a Journalist by trade, Schabowski didn't have as much say as Egon Krenz did as General secretary of the SED Central Committee. Krenz was a marionette like our Obama. Schabowski had the power of the press (and all that came with it).



"the new rule takes effect immediatedly, without delay" - said Schabowski.

West media immediately picked the ball up and ran with it.



"The East German Govt. has announced that their borders are as of immediately open for all persons. The gates in the wall are wide open"

My personal reaction....

That's all it took as time and weather played no role whatsoever. It was a free for all, in and around Berlin and at each and every regular border crossing station. It took us one solid day to get up the mojo but off we went in our Citroen 2CV, our then two year old son, my wife and I. We headed for Meiningen as heavy traffic had been reported for the other border stations. It was a long drive and we were very excited as we arrived.



If you've ever seen a 2CV, you can probably guess how we must of looked to the East German border guards on duty that day. I'm sure they were expecting BMWs, Mercedes and Audis ....but a 2CV? One of the guards stepped out of the shack to get a better look. It was already dark and that particular station was rather quiet...so we had a few minutes to check each other out, if ya know what I mean. There was no mistake, he was deeply impressed with our little french car. It was certainly not what an east German would expect a west German (or an American in this case) to be driving as the 2CV has a number of similarities with the east German Trabi.

He asked for our passports and fed them through the slit to his colleague behind the bullet-proof window. That's when the laughter broke out. The guard said "the lady and the child may enter straight away....you'll have to come back tomorrow....if we're still here!" We had a good laugh, I gave the guards a couple of packs of Camel Filters, expressed good wishes and we headed home.

The rest is history. Today's celebrations help us to better understand what happened and above all, how it happened. Seen from the eyes of Das Volk, it was our decision. We made it happen. Now if we could only make it happen again. Hmmm. Just a little secret if you can keep it to yourselves: Germany is reunited. Das Volk aber nicht. Eines Tages.....one day.

Schabowski's Zettel;