On This Day in 1989

The Berlin wall was erected in 1961, upon the orders of East Germany’s former leader Walter Ulbricht. Designed to separate East from West Germany, it quickly became a sinister symbol not only of the Cold War but of human oppression. Those who attempted to cross the border in the ensuing years, by means ingenious, desperate and poignant—ranging from driving cars directly at the wall, to climbing it and simply running, or even the use of home-made hot air balloons—risked being shot by guards manning the watchtowers and checkpoints. Many were killed in the process.

On November 9, 1989, however, a midnight announcement from East Germany’s Communist rulers finally allowed the Wall’s gates to be opened. Hordes of gathering East Berliners surged through, to be greeted by ecstatic West Berliners. Almost immediately, a combination of three decades-worth of frustration and a new-found sense of jubilation saw crowds climbing on the wall and wrenching large chunks from it, amid scenes of mass partying and unbridled celebration, beamed around the world on television.