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When the Wall Fell: The November Night That Changed History

Si erdhi deri te shembja e Murit të Berlinit më 9 nëntor 1989? Një konferencë shtypi, një deklaratë e papritur dhe një natë që ndryshoi botën.

2024-11-09 22:30:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The Berlin Wall was the symbol of the division between East and West, between communism and capitalism: The wall erected in Berlin in 1961 by the dictatorial regime of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The western part was an area of ??155 km surrounded by concrete and barbed wire, but still people in this area could move freely. West Berlin was, therefore, an island of freedom in the middle of the territory of the communist GDR.

On the contrary, for the majority of East Germans who were so close to the West for decades, West Berlin was like a dreamland. This changed in a flash on November 9, 1989, when a new law on foreign travel was announced at a live televised press conference in East Berlin. On the basis of this law, trips to the West would also be allowed - the law entered into force immediately!

Footage of people cheering at open border crossings in Berlin was broadcast around the world. They marked in an exciting way the actual end of the German division. A year later, on October 3, 1990, the politically divided country after the end of the Second World War celebrated reunification. This historic world event was made possible only after the four winning powers of the war agreed: the western democratic allies USA, Great Britain and France on the one hand, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on the other.

When the Wall Fell: The November Night That Changed History

Günther Schabowski's press conference, East Berlin, 9.11.1989: At this conference, Schabowski announced the opening of the border, marking the beginning of the process of German reunification after the fall of the Berlin Wall. This historic event marked the turning point on the night of November 9-10, 1989.

The magic words "Glasnost" und "Perestroika"

Decisive for these changes were the releases made by the then head of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, who took power in Moscow in 1985. The director of the Berlin Wall memorial, Axel Klausmeier, shares this opinion. He emphasizes that the policy of opening (Glasnost) of Gorbachev and that of reconstruction (Perestroika) marked the break from the so-called "Brezhnev Doctrine", which determined that the European countries united in the "Warsaw Treaty" should not deviate from the course, which the Kremlin determined.

Klausmeier summarizes the end of this dogma: "Whatever happens in the brotherly socialist states, these states are responsible for themselves." Unlike the previous decades, the Soviets did not intervene, when the reform movements increased in Poland, Hungary and the GDR. Before Gorbachev, the freedom movements in the countries of the Eastern Bloc had been brutally defeated by the USSR: In 1953 in the GDR, in 1956 in Hungary and in 1968 in Czechoslovakia.

When the Wall Fell: The November Night That Changed History

The end of the monopoly of power in Poland

Human rights defenders throughout Eastern Europe felt encouraged to impose Glasnost and Perestroika in their countries as well. In Poland, in the summer of 1988, there were contacts between the communist leadership and the Solidarnost unions, which were officially banned. An important stage on this path was also the parliamentary elections in Poland in June 1989, where for the first time opposition candidates were also allowed. However, the rulers who ruled for decades in advance made sure to win two-thirds of the votes.

Signs for a turn were also added in other places. In Hungary, the government in May began to remove the surveillance complexes on the border with Austria. In this way, the road to freedom was opened in this part of the Iron Curtain. Hundreds of GDR citizens left their country through this road.

At the same time, in the summer of 1989, several thousand East Germans took refuge in Western embassies in Eastern European countries. Dissatisfaction grew day by day, along with the pressure on the GDR regime in East Berlin. From September in the city of fairs. Leipzig, every Monday tens of thousands of citizens protested in the streets. The climax was marked by the march on October 9, when 70,000 people took to the streets peacefully protesting to demand change in the GDR.

When the Wall Fell: The November Night That Changed History

"We have won"

The slogans of the demonstrators were "We are the people!" and "No violence!". Since it was not known how the GDR regime might react, the fear was extremely great, as many witnesses of the time have stated to the director of the Wall Memorial. Berlin, Klausmeier. While there was no intervention against this demonstration, the opposition did too the feeling: "We have won."

On November 9, the tipping point was finally reached: Günter Schabowski, the head of the Socialist United Party (SED) in East Berlin announced the new law on foreign travel. With this statement, he inadvertently caused the fall of the Berlin Wall and paved the way for reunification./ DW