Gunter Schabowski: How One Man's Mistake Brought Down The Berlin Wall

By | September 3, 2019

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Left: Gunter Schabowski at a press conference on November 9. 1989. Right: Citizens demolishing the Berli Wall. Sources: DPA/AFP/Getty Images; theimaginativeconservative.org

On November 9, 1989, Günter Schabowski brought down the Berlin Wall. Schabowski was East Germany's press spokesman, and although he did not personally destroy the infamous Cold-War barrier that split the city, he flubbed a statement in a press conference that caused mobs of East Germany's long-oppressed citizens to crash the checkpoints, and the East German authorities' tenuous control over the populace was done for.

At 7 PM on that fateful day, the nervous or inexperienced Günter Schabowski was set to announce that East Berliners, after qualifying through the lengthy paperwork process, would be permitted to travel abroad. But that's not the message he conveyed to the public. 

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People atop the Berlin Wall near the Brandenburg Gate on 9 November 1989. The text on the sign "Achtung! Sie verlassen jetzt West-Berlin" ("Notice! You are now leaving West Berlin") has been modified with an additional text "Wie denn?" ("How?"). Source: W

Günter Schabowski got the East German politburo spokesman job because the previous man, Erich Honecker, was deposed due to his horrible public image. Naturally, at the time, many East Germans were displeased with the East German politburo and hiring Günter Schabowski was an attempt to minimize the oppressive image of the regime. The hiring of Schabowski along with allowing limited visitation was something of an olive branch to the East German people.

Schabowski was no reformer, though -- he had been a lifelong socialist party member, and there's no evidence that he sought to bring down the wall or the East German government. Unfortunately for Schabowski -- but not for the East German people -- he wasn't experienced with dealing with the western press. East German press conferences consisted of reading prepared statements and essentially telling reporters what to write.