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Article: 1989: The fall of the Berlin Wall: the wall not only divided Berlin, it was a powerful symbol of the cold war. When it came crashing down 20 years ago, it literally changed the map of the world.(TIMES PAST)
- Article from:
- New York Times Upfront
- Article date:
- October 5, 2009
- Author:
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[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
For several hours on the night of Nov. 9, 1989, an East German border guard named Harold Jaeger hesitated. With astonishment, he had watched a Communist official say on TV that East Germans were now free to travel without getting special permission.
He had no idea what was going on. In the almost three decades since the Berlin Wall had gone up in 1961, Jaeger had stood guard there. "That wall was my life," he recalled in an interview. "I'd defended it for 28 years."
But shortly after 11 p.m., in the absence of instructions from superiors and in the face of a growing crowd, Jaeger gave the order to open the gates at his ...