To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a webbrowser that supports HTML5video The Berlin Wall came to symbolise the ‘Iron Curtain’ – an ideological split between the East and the West. But a simple question and slip up by East German Communist Party official Günter Schabowski during an otherwise boring press conference changed the course of Europe’s future. He was outlining new measures that meant citizens could apply for travel permits without any conditions.
A journalist asked: ‘When does this go into effect?’ Schabowski mistakenly answered: ‘Immediately – without delay.’ It later emerged that this information was embargoed until 4am the following day. And with those three words, after 28 years of pain the Berlin Wall became redundant.
Within hours, huge crowds gathered at the border and eventually the guards let them through. What happened afterwards was the merger of East and West, separated for so long by a physical wall. But what mistakes and human stories led to the Berlin Wall eventually falling much earlier than previously planned? Was the fall of the Berlin Wall a mistake? The short answer to this question is yes and Günter Schabowski’s slip up certainly didn’t help.
This encouraged massive crowds of people to gather at the wall because of the expectation that travel restrictions had suddenly lifted. Border guards weren’t given much information from their superiors and so, just like that, the barriers were o.
