Exactly 31 years ago, the Berlin Wall fell, which is one of the most important events in recent history. On that day, a new world order was established. In January of 1989, Erich Honecker, the long-time ruler of East Germany and the German Democratic Republic (GDR), publicly predicted that the Berlin Wall would exist for another 50 to 100 years. By the end of that year, Honecker and his Communist Party had disappeared from the historical scene.
The communist regime of the GDR was anything but the least democratic. Citizens rebelled and began to leave the country en masse, in the hundreds of thousands, and those who remained organized demonstrations
Mural with characters by Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker drawn on the Berlin Wall
The main patron of the GDR was the USSR, which had its problems at the time. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev even warned Honecker that the one that does not change over time will fail and that East Berlin cannot count on Moscow's unconditional support. The whole of Eastern Europe was in change, it was clear that socialism was collapsing and that the West was winning the Cold War.
East Germany, that is, the regime that ruled that country, historically known for its authoritarianism and the omniscient and omnipotent secret service of the Stasi, could no longer control its own destiny. And after so many years of repression, the citizens were moved by a reckless statement by an official, a media representative
Citizens of the GDR move to West Germany with their "warburgs"
Those words were uttered by Günther Šabovski, who told the press about the wrong conclusion from the previously held meeting at the press conference, and stated that one can immediately move freely from East to West Berlin. The citizens rushed in, the police missed them after a small hesitation, and so the Berlin Wall practically fell.
This building, a symbol of division, was erected in 1961 and was extended in the following years. The citizens of the GDR fled through it in the most ingenious ways, but many died there. The last victim was killed during an attempt to escape in 1989, at the end of which the Berlin Wall itself fell.
A wall of remembrance dedicated to the victims near the Berlin Wall
Brilliant writing skills