As a journalist, a reporter's fondest dream is to be at the right place at the right time—covering the biggest story around the globe that day or week or month.

That happened to me on November 9, 1989.
I am now a retired journalist, and I was there at Checkpoint Charlie just before midnight when it all happened.

I arrived in Berlin on November 7 after an overnight flight from Washington's Dulles Airport. I was in Berlin on an assignment to cover the political crisis then taking place in East Germany, or the so-called German Democratic Republic (DDR)—East Berlin being the DDR's capital. But nobody, and I am sure not even the East German regime itself, had any idea that the Berlin Wall—the most recognizable symbol of the Cold War division of Germany and Europe—would be gone within 48 hours.

I stayed at a hotel in West Berlin, and every day went to East Berlin by S-Bahn from the Zoo station to the Friedrichstr. station where we went through a document check worse than I had ever seen before. Anyway, on the late afternoon of Nov. 9, after the usual 6-p.m. (noon EST) briefing at the international press center in East Berlin, I decided for some reason to walk to the Checkpoint Charlie crossing. With my American passport, it was a bit of a hassle, but not really that much of a problem. Once I walked past the Checkpoint Charlie military post, I took a cab back to my hotel in West Berlin. On the way, the cab driver—and Berlin cab drivers are great conversationalists—asked me if I had heard that the Wall was going to open at midnight. I was taken aback and asked who had said that, and he answered that everybody knew because the SED boss in East Berlin (a high party official by the name of Günther Schabowsky) had announced it during a press briefing for the international press in East Berlin. I was at that briefing and Schabowsky didn't exactly say that. He said something to the effect that East German citizens with the proper documents could go directly to West Berlin and West Germany through the existing crossing points, rather than through third countries such as Hungary and then Czechoslovakia.

But be that as it may (and this is how history is made sometimes), people BELIEVED the Wall would be opened and that is what's important.

I called my office in Washington, D.C., and told my editors that something big could happen that evening regarding the Berlin Wall. Sure enough, at about 10 p.m. (4 p.m. EST), people began to gather at or near several of the crossings, and the rumor grew that the Wall would be opened at midnight.

I arrived at Checkpoint Charlie at about 11 p.m., and the atmosphere was already festive there—on the Western side. But people were also lining up, though much more subdued, on the Eastern side. Some people were climbing on the Wall; others started cheering and dancing; and the crowds grew as midnight approached. The people there were mostly Germans, but I also saw some American soldiers and heard English and even Spanish spoken in the crowd.

When midnight came, the people on the Western side shouted at the "Vopos" (East German police and guards) to lift the barriers. The guards said they didn't have any orders to that effect, but eventually—I would say within a matter of 15 to 20 minutes—they gave up, threw their hats into the air and lifted the barriers. That was it!

I remember clearly that East Berliners carefully and even fearfully crossed over the line in front of the allied shack at Checkpoint Charlie and slowly walked into West Berlin—they seemed surprised and shocked that no one stopped them and asked for their ID cards. When they crossed over (entire families), they were hugged and kissed and greeted with cheers and tears by the waiting West Berliners. Some gave them money ("Westmarks," to be sure) and told them to enjoy themselves because it was a happy day for them all.

It was indeed, and historic.

This was the scene at Checkpoint Charlie, but I found out later that similar scenes were taking place all up and down the Wall, especially in the area of the historic and pivotal Brandenburg Gate. A bit later, I saw and heard enterprising young Germans already chipping away at the western side of the Wall for souvenirs. I still have mine.

It was a day and a night I will never forget

From Juan Walte
Alexandria, Virginia

Photo © Press and Information Office of the Federal Government