The unexpected fall of the Berlin Wall explained
Learn about the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail © Vasile Bobirnac/Dreamstime.com; © Badboo/Dreamstime.com; German Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv), Bild 183-1989-1118-018/Robert Roeske
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Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail Prints and Photographs Division/Library of Congress, Washington D.C.; © Coatchristophe/Dreamstime.comLearn about Helmut Schmidt's political career.
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Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail © Markwaters/Dreamstime.com; © Leklek73/Dreamstime.comLearn about Helmut Kohl's political career, including his role in the reunification of Germany.
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© Civil War Trust (A Britannica Publishing Partner)The rallying cry is, "no taxation without representation."
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Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, MainzOverview of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
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Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail © oxinoxi/stock.adobe.com; German Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv), Bild 183-1990-0318-046Learn about the first free parliamentary elections in East Germany in 1990, which resulted in the election of Lothar de MaiziÚre as the first democratically elected prime minister of East Germany.
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Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail © Dance60/Dreamstime.com; © Konstantin Gushcha/Dreamstime.comLearn how Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms in the Soviet Union unleashed forces that ended the Cold War.
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Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, MainzJohn F. Kennedy visiting West Berlin in June 1963 and delivering his âIch bin ein Berlinerâ (âI Am a Berlinerâ) speech.
News •
Germany news: Germany marks fateful date of November 9
• Nov. 9, 2026, 10:11 PM ET (Deutsche Welle)
37 years after fall of Berlin Wall: How divided are Germans today?
• Nov. 9, 2026, 9:02 AM ET (Deutsche Welle)
Berlin Wall pieces go on display in northeast Arkansasâ National Cold War Center
• Nov. 8, 2026, 12:15 AM ET (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
Transcript
NARRATOR: The border crossing Bornholmer StraĂe - on the 9th of November, 1989, this place makes history. For 28 years, the wall has divided Berlin. Over 100 people died during their attempts to make it across the border.
ANDREAS RUDOLPH: "Every sparrow could fly from here to there, but it was easy for them - no controls and no problems. But the citizens here in the East werenât allowed to do that."
NARRATOR: But in the summer of 1989, the Iron Curtain that separates the East from the West becomes more permeable. Thousands of East Germans flee across the Hungarian border. More and more GDR citizens want to leave their country. The ruling Socialist Unity Party wants to reduce the pressure and is ready to grant freedom to travel as announced in a press conference on the eve of the 9th of November. Itâs a sensation, covered live on TV.
SABRINA BERNHĂFT: "I somehow couldn't believe it and went to get my mother. And she said, 'No, that's not possible.'"
NARRATOR: What Schabowski had overseen was that the announcement had been intended for the following morning. The border soldiers arenât informed when masses of people want to make use of the new right to travel that very same evening. When the pressure becomes too great, the officers open the barriers at the Bornholmer StraĂe.
HELGA UNKRODT: "'Itâs true, theyâre letting us through.'"
NARRATOR: Most simply canât grasp what is happening.
GDR CITIZEN: "This is finally our hour, the hour of freedom."
NARRATOR: Itâs a freedom, which the people of the GDR managed to win for themselves.
GDR CITIZEN 2: "Anyone sleeping now, is simply dead."
RUDOLPH: "That was really significant, even moving."
NARRATOR: At the Kuâdamm in West Berlin a celebration of the new togetherness takes place that night.
GDR CITIZEN 3: "I cant really describe that feeling. Right now, absolute bliss."
GDR CITIZEN 4: "All the indignity over the years, itâs all over."
UNKRODT: "We were almost drunk with happiness. We were laughing and crying at the same time. And it really was wonderful."
NARRATOR: The wall has lost its horror, overcome by a peaceful revolution.
ANDREAS RUDOLPH: "Every sparrow could fly from here to there, but it was easy for them - no controls and no problems. But the citizens here in the East werenât allowed to do that."
NARRATOR: But in the summer of 1989, the Iron Curtain that separates the East from the West becomes more permeable. Thousands of East Germans flee across the Hungarian border. More and more GDR citizens want to leave their country. The ruling Socialist Unity Party wants to reduce the pressure and is ready to grant freedom to travel as announced in a press conference on the eve of the 9th of November. Itâs a sensation, covered live on TV.
SABRINA BERNHĂFT: "I somehow couldn't believe it and went to get my mother. And she said, 'No, that's not possible.'"
NARRATOR: What Schabowski had overseen was that the announcement had been intended for the following morning. The border soldiers arenât informed when masses of people want to make use of the new right to travel that very same evening. When the pressure becomes too great, the officers open the barriers at the Bornholmer StraĂe.
HELGA UNKRODT: "'Itâs true, theyâre letting us through.'"
NARRATOR: Most simply canât grasp what is happening.
GDR CITIZEN: "This is finally our hour, the hour of freedom."
NARRATOR: Itâs a freedom, which the people of the GDR managed to win for themselves.
GDR CITIZEN 2: "Anyone sleeping now, is simply dead."
RUDOLPH: "That was really significant, even moving."
NARRATOR: At the Kuâdamm in West Berlin a celebration of the new togetherness takes place that night.
GDR CITIZEN 3: "I cant really describe that feeling. Right now, absolute bliss."
GDR CITIZEN 4: "All the indignity over the years, itâs all over."
UNKRODT: "We were almost drunk with happiness. We were laughing and crying at the same time. And it really was wonderful."
NARRATOR: The wall has lost its horror, overcome by a peaceful revolution.
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