Looking back: the fall of the Berlin wall
Updated on 09 November 2009
Jon Snow and the Channel 4 News team broadcast live from Berlin the night the wall fell. Watch a selection of our reports from that night and the days that followed.
East Germany experienced its first day of freedom in 28 years after the Berlin wall, symbol of the east-west divide, fell on 9 November 1989.
At the time, West Berlin mayor Walter Momper expressed surprise at the small number of East Germans who elected to stay in West Germany since the relaxation of travel restrictions. He believed that the majority of GDR citizens were not keen on reunification.
In a live report from the Berlin wall on 13 November, Jon Snow interviewed Dr Hans Joachim Giessmann of East Germany's Institute for International Politics.
Dr Giessmann said the East German government had lost its sense of direction and confidence but was beginning to redress the situation. He also criticised the former regime's efforts to set the political debate according to its own dictates and allowing no dissent.
On 9 November 2009 citizens thronged all the official border crossing points, overwhelming officials' as they tried to cope with exit procedures. There were expressions of joy by people from both sides of the wall, as well as emotional reunions between families long parted.
At the historic and symbolic Brandenburg gate thousands of youths from east and west climbed onto the wall in defiance of border guards. Nik Gowing reported the story for Channel 4 News.
In one spot, dozens of West German young men pulled on a rope of chains to bring down the wall, a symbolic breach in the edifice that had separated millions and claimed hundreds of lives.
The wall crumbled as sledgehammers were wielded by men not born when the wall was first put up. West German riot police stopped the multitude surging onto communist soil, but by then the crowd had made its point.
The East Germans closed the wall, but the whole section of the Brandenburg gate had cracked. Half a mile away the wall was breached in two places, this time officially, and East Berliners streamed across. Bill Neely reported the events for ITV's Weekend News bulletin.
