Guenter Schabowski, East German who announced Berlin Wall opening, dies
Guenter Schabowski, a senior East German official whose cryptic announcement that the communist country was opening its fortified border precipitated the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, died Nov. 1 in a Berlin nursing home. He was 86.
His widow, Irina Schabowski, confirmed his death to the German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
Mr. Schabowski, who was a spokesman for the Eastern German Politburo, delivered his halting words at the conclusion of a plodding evening news conference on Nov. 9, 1989. He offhandedly said East Germany was lifting restrictions on travel across its border with West Germany. Continue reading at the Washington Post.
Read AGI’s analysis of the fall of the Berlin Wall
Twenty-five Years after the Fall of the Wall: A Strong Germany in a Weak Europe?
