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The day after the Wall fell
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November 11, 2009 | 01:08 PM
The following article was originally published in the Village Times in November 1989. The writer was living in Berlin at the time and this was her account of the events that took place the day after the Wall was breached.
West Berlin celebrated on Friday, Nov. 10, the day after the Wall "fell," and East Berliners were allowed to cross into the west for the first time in 28 years.
At Checkpoint Charlie, a major east-west crossing point, a grey-green helicopter hovered overhead, and a line of cars moved slowly through the crowd of about 1,000 gathered at the exit from East Berlin. The jubilant onlookers, mostly West Berliners, cheered and applauded as each East German car drove by.
Drivers and passengers, who had seized the opportunity to breach the Wall, smiled, laughed and waved. A few joyfully honked their horns. Some gave the thumbs up sign. Others held up two fingers to form a V. Many brushed tears off their cheeks, and some were red-eyed, tears streaming down their faces.
"I think I'm going to cry," said one observer as he watched the parade of cars. Every fourth or fifth one was an East German car — a Trabant or Wartburg — that left a trail of grey-black smoke that curled up into the faces of those in the crowd.
Exultant, the onlookers did not even notice. They leaned into the open car windows and handed out gifts — Marlboro cigarettes, chocolate candy, flowers and paper cups of champagne. One woman held up The Berliner Zeitung, a tabloid newspaper. Its three-inch headlines shouted, "The Wall is gone. Berlin is again Berlin."
Many talked to the East Berliners as they drove through the crowd. "Where are you going?" they asked.
"To look around," came the reply over and over. "Ku'damm," the boulevard lined with brightly lit stores and cafes that cut a wide swath through the heart of West Berlin, was the goal of many. A few, who had suitcases tied to the tops of their cars, clearly planned to remain in the west. Most did not.
On the other side of the street, ignored by the crowd, a steady stream of East German pedestrians walked away from Checkpoint Charlie to the closest subway station.
A couple of TV cameraman filmed the events. "This is very important news. Maybe we'll be on TV," explained an American to her three-year-old daughter whom she held up to see the East Germans as they drove off.
Nearby, a young man handed out leaflets printed by a number of German student groups. "Unity, justice and freedom," they read. "A piece of the Wall has been pierced today. That is good, but we stick to our goal the Wall must fall. We are for free elections in East Germany, self determination and human rights for all Germans and the reunion of the two Germanies." At the bottom of each was a coupon— good for a free drink at McDonald's.
McDonald's was not the only business displaying largess. There were signs all up and down Ku'damm. "Free coffee for East Berliners." "Free soup." "Movies at half price for East Germans." "Beer and food, 1:1," meaning that the proprietor was accepting for payment one east mark as though it were one west mark. This was quite a reduction as 10 to 12 east marks were the same value as one west mark.
The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra scheduled a free concert for East Germans, and the city advertised free parking in its garages for all East German cars.
That did not stop the East Germans from parking all over. Their cars hogged sidewalks and blocked bus stops. They formed a solid line along stretches of Ku'damm, defying the "no parking" signs. And West Berlin hospitality, so evident elsewhere, did not extend to the traffic cops. As this reporter watched, two policewomen, neatly dressed in navy, tucked a parking ticket under the windshield wiper of a dusty green Trabant.
East Germans lined up at West Berlin banks to collect their 100 west marks (about $55) in "welcome money" provided by the West German government. The visitors then flooded into the stores where they ogled western goods, and they emptied groceries" bins of fresh fruits and vegetables.
At the Brandenburg Gate, exuberant East and West Berliners climbed on top of the Wall, where they danced, sang and drank champagne.
Throughout the day, curious West Berliners clogged the elevated platforms alongside the Wall, where they could look across into East Berlin. From the platform, viewers could see the area between the Wall and another wall on the east. This was a no-man's land, even on that day. A solitary East German guard walked next to a watchtower, a somber reminder of the impermiability of the Wall less than 24 hours before.
East Germans began to return to Checkpoint Charlie in the late afternoon. Hundreds of pedestrians waited to get back into East Berlin, forming a line five people deep and about 150 yards in length. Many carried shopping bags. Some toted bags of fruit. "How did you like it?" a reporter asked. "Beautiful," replied one man. "Fantastic," said another.
As dusk fell, thousands more were lining up on the east side of Checkpoint Charlie and other crossing points, waiting to get into West Berlin. One newspaper reported that the city was bracing for 500,000 East German visitors over the weekend.
It was, as all the pundits said, an historic day.
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