Friday, November 7, 2014

Angela Merkel walked out of East Germany 25 years ago!

25 years ago Angela Merkel was working as a physicist in East Germany. At the same time, Putin was a Colonel in the KGB in East Germany as well. However, they likely never met until she was Chancellor of Germany 16 years later.

Berlin Diary: Fall of the wall, 25 years on

'I was surprised to know that the Wall almost did not fall on November 9'

Robin Chatterjee, Senior Associate Editor
live coveragePublished: 09:29 November 8, 2014

Image Credit: EPA
Balloon pillars are erected at dawn along the former course of the Berlin Wall in the government district of Berlin, Germany, 7 November 2014. The lanterns are part of the 'light limit 2014' project on the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on 09 November.

On Sunday, November 9, 2014, it will quarter of a century since the Berlin Wall came down. The reunification that followed was a triumph for the German nation. Gulf News Senior Associate Editor, Robin Chatterjee, is in Berlin to cover the 25th anniversary of that historical event.

Pictures from Checkpoint Charlie

A building that once overlooked the West from East Berlin, with no windows to stop people looking out.

The Trabi, a popular East German car.

Items on sale at Checkpoint Charlie on Friday.

Some more of the merchandise available.

Fancy a bite? Typical German food on sale.

A street scene in Berlin on Friday.

A Checkpoint Charlie souvenir shop.

The US side of Checkpoint Charlie, in West Berlin.

Young men pose an American soldiers.

Tourists take pictures of the recreated scene.

Entry into East Berlin and the world of Communism.

Attractions at the former site of the Berlin Wall.

The accidental opening

12:40pm, UAE time: Speaking to a group of Germans who have descended upon Berlin for the Wall's 25th anniversary festivities, I was surprised to know that the Wall almost did not fall on November 9. A certain gentleman named Gunther Schabowski, the Central Committee spokesman for the SED, stumbled clumsily following a question from a reporter called Riccardo Ehrman from Italian news agency ANSA and made history personally. Apparently, Schabowski was putting the world's media to sleep through a briefing detailing the GDR's new travel regulations. There were rumours that something big was on the cards, but the climax was taking a long time coming. Some journalists walked out of the hall and just as the briefing was coming to a close, Ehrman took the mike and asked Schabowski pointedly: "When does this come into effect?" This was at 6:57pm. Schabowski's reply was recorded as the most famous stumble in Germany's post-war history. "It begins, to the best of my knowledge.....ummmm....straight away, immediately."

At 7:02 Reuters broke the flash reporting: "Departure via all East German border crossings begins immediately." Minutes after that, a sea of humanity were already gathering around the designated borders that separated two countries. Schabowski's reply had inadvertently managed to open the border.

Who was doing what on the day the Berlin Wall fell 25 years ago?

12:16pm, UAE time: The West German chancellor Helmut Kohl was on a state visit to Warsaw. The Bundestag was in session in Bonn. Soccer fans were preparing for the next round of the German Cup where Stuttgart was to face German Munich. Berlin was getting ready for parties: the awarding of the Golden Wheel for the best car of the year and German Chancellor Angela Merkel was preparing to go to the spa in East Germany followed by a visit to the pub. Merkel who was then working at the Academy of the Sciences and Humanities as a physicist had, according to records, also planned to visit the local pub that evening. ‎ A small luxury that she allowed herself after spa treatments. At around 6:57pm that evening the Wall was history. All programmes had been cancelled. Merkel, who was ambitious enough to ring her mother and tell her that "if the Wall falls we'll go eat oysters at the Kempinski Hotel in West Berlin," had to reschedule that programme as well. She went to the Bornholmer Strasse border crossing and at 7am the next day dutifully went to work. 16 years later she became Chancellor of Germany.
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