Nach dem Mauerfall: Tagesschau vom 11.11.1989

Complete Tagesschau broadcast from Saturday, November 11, 1989. Just over 48 hours have passed since Günter Schabowski's historic words ("As far as I know... it's immediate, without delay...") and the subsequent, surprising opening of the East German border. It is Saturday evening, and an estimated one million East German citizens have already arrived in West Germany and West Berlin – a historic state of emergency the likes of which divided Germany had never experienced before. The joy is overwhelming, the streets are jammed, and the lines in front of the banks are endless. "We've waited 28 years – now we don't want to waste another moment," says one visitor with tears in her eyes. November 11, 1989 – just two days after the opening of the Berlin Wall, a feeling prevails in the West that oscillates between a national celebration, a state of emergency, and a historic shock. Hundreds of thousands of East Germans are once again making their way across the border – no longer in a mass exodus as in the preceding weeks, but openly, officially, and euphorically. By midday, East Germany had already issued 2.7 million visas. In West Berlin alone, nearly half a million visitors are counted, and the city center is bursting at the seams. The Tagesschau news program shows impressive images of newly opened border crossings: Berlin-Jannowitz Bridge, Bernauer Straße, Kreuzberg-Treptow. Construction workers tear holes in the Wall during the night, asphalt is poured at dawn, and people stream westward along makeshift roads. In front of the Brandenburg Gate, tourists climb to the top of the structure, and souvenir hunters hammer pieces of concrete. Even water cannons from the East German border troops cannot contain the euphoric masses—the situation only calms down in the early morning. But the influx of visitors is far from limited to Berlin. Kilometer-long traffic jams form at the inner-German borders: 40 kilometers before Helmstedt, 60 kilometers before Rudolphstein. In Lübeck, Trabant convoys clog the city center; in Hof, the entire city has to be declared a pedestrian zone; Kassel experiences the biggest influx of visitors in its postwar history – shelves are emptied, banks and department stores hand out welcome money because city coffers are depleted. Special trains of the West German and East German railways run at double capacity, the motto in many places: "Just having a look – and coming home tomorrow." At the same time, this overwhelming emotion begins to translate into political action: Chancellor Helmut Kohl calls a special cabinet meeting, and Minister of the Chancellery Rudolf Seiters announces that he will soon travel to East Germany himself. A first meeting between Kohl and East German leader Egon Krenz is even arranged by telephone – before the end of the year, Kohl says. Meanwhile, East German leader Egon Krenz emphasizes on East German television that the decision to open the border is "a sovereign decision of our country" – and stresses that reunification is not on his agenda. At the same time, this intense emotion begins to translate into political action: Chancellor Helmut Kohl calls a special cabinet meeting, and Minister of the Chancellery Rudolf Seiters announces that he will soon travel to East Germany himself. But for many people on the streets, this question has long been answered: The Wall is still standing, but it has lost its terror. It has become permeable. And with it, a system will fall that for 28 years unnaturally separated people, cities, economic and cultural spaces. Source: ARD VHS recording, digitized and made available online to preserve contemporary historical documents. #Tagesschau #November111989 #FalloftheWall #GDR #Berlin1989 #History #ContemporaryHistory #WestBerlin #BorderOpening #HelmutKohl #EgonKrenz #WelcomeMoney #Trabant #TurningPoint #Rewind