On 9th November 1989, The Fall of the Berlin Wall

Let´s know some curious facts about the Fall.

The Politburo led by Krenz decided on 9 November to allow refugees to exit directly through crossing points between East Germany and West Germany, including West Berlin. On the same day, the ministerial administration modified the proposal to include private travel. The new regulations were to take effect the next day.

Günter Schabowski, the party boss in East Berling and the spokesman for the SED Politburo, had the task of announcing this; however, he had not been involved in the discussions about the new regulations and had not been fully updated.

Shortly before a press conference on 9 November, he was handed a note announcing the changes, but given no further instructions on how to handle the information. These regulations had only been completed a few hours earlier and were to take effect the following day, so as to allow time to inform the border guards, however  nobody had informed Schabowski. He read the note out loud at the end of the conference. One of the reporters, NBC´s Tom Brokaw, asked when the regulations would take effect. After a few seconds´ hesitation, Schabowski assumed it would be the same day based on the wording of the note and replied: "As far as I know effective immediately, without delay". After further questions from journalists he confirmed that the regulations included the "As border crossing towards West Berlin", which he had not mentioned until then.

The Demolition.

The date on which the Wall fell is considered to have been 9 November 1989 but the Wall in its entirely was not torn down immediately. Starting that evening and in the days and weeks that followed, people came to the wall with sledgehammers or otherwise hammers and chisels off souvenirs, demolishing lengthy parts of it in the process and creating several unofficial border crossings.These people were nicknamed

"Mauersspechte", wall woodpeckers.

Source:Wikipedia

Tasks:

A. Read the text and watch the video to state the facts.

B. Rewrite the following sentences from the text in other words. The meaning should be the same as that in the sentence above.

1. The Politburo was  led by Krenz.

Krenz________________________________

2. It was known that the spokesman for the SED Politburo had not been involved in the discussions about the new regulations.

The spokesman ________________________

3. It is said that he had not been fully updated.

He___________________________________

4. He was handed a note announcing the changes.

A note_________________________________

5. He was given no further instructions on how to handle the information.

They  didn´t ____________________________

6. It was said that the regulations had only been completed a few hours earlier.

The regulations _________________________

C. Watch some of the photos I took of the Wall and the Checkpoint Charlie  in my visit to Berlin in 2006. What do they remind you of? Choose one and describe it.