Fall of Berlin Wall was a result of an “clerical error” by an officer.
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“He simply announced that every East German citizen would be granted permission to travel to West Germany in a simple and unbureaucratic manner.
But he phrased it in a little long-winded and complicated way that almost no one realized what it actually meant!
Fortunately, a reporter from the Netherlands (?) then asked when the new travel regulations would take effect.
Minister Schabowski couldn’t find the information in his notes and then stammered out the famous words: “As far as I know… that’s effective immediately, without delay.”
Within minutes, East Berliners began heading to the border crossings.
Perhaps the story would have unfolded quite differently without this reporter’s inquiry”
“For the record his mistake didnt end the cold war; it, quite literally, sped it up, but it was happening anyway.”
“The man in question is Gunter Schabowski. On Nov 9, 1989, he was handed a note about new travel rules just before a live press conference. He hadn’t attended the briefing, so he didn’t realize the plan was for a slow, permit based rollout starting the next day.
When a reporter asked when the rules started, Schabowski shuffled his papers and guessed: ‘As far as I know. immediately, without delay.’Within minutes, thousands of East Berliners rushed the checkpoints. The border guards, having received no orders and being massively outnumbered, eventually just opened the gates to avoid a riot. By the time the government realized the mistake, people were already on top of the wall with hammers. And this is how, Berlin Wall fell.”