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What specific event caused the Berlin Wall to fall peacefully?
Question
#45647. Asked by AlbertCamus. (Mar 24 04 12:26 PM)
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bloomsby
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At about 7.30pm on 9 November 1989 a spokesman for the GDR government said on television that all restrictions on foreign travel by GDR citizens were lifted with immediate effect. Vast crowds gathered near the Brandenburg Gate (on the East Berlin side) and demanded their right to travel to West Berlin. After initial bewilderment the East German border guards let them cross.
(This had been preceded by several weeks of demonstrations demanding, among other things, freedom of travel. "Visafrei bis nach Hawaii" - "visa free travel, all the way to Hawaii" had been one of the key slogans.)
[Mar 24 04 7:05 PM] bloomsby writes:
A little postscript. The official East German statement still mentioned the need for exit visas, that is permission to leave to the country. However, the statement was rather confused, and a large number of people decided to test the willingness, then and there, of their government to let them travel, without having to get permission from the authorities.
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