There was once a Wall...

Just 48 hours after the borders were opened, the so-called "death strip" had lost its power to terrify. Berliners celebrated in front of, behind and on top of the concrete wall that had divided the city. East and West Germans were one people again.

On May 2, 1989, Hungarian soldiers began to dismantle several sections of border fence between Hungary and Austria. These were the first gaps in the Iron Curtain, the ideological border between Eastern and Western Europe since the end of World War II.

On May 7, 1989, the people of East Germany voted in parliamentary elections. The results were predictable, because once again they were faked. The incumbents claimed to have won 98 percent of the vote. Only this time the opposition resisted. A day later demonstrators took to the streets of Leipzig.

The Warsaw Pact summit in Bucharest, July 1989. Gorbachev revoked the Brezhnev Doctrine, suspending the Soviet Union's right to intervene in the affairs of its socialist neighbors. From now on, Moscow's allies had to find their own solutions to national problems. A taboo had been broken.

The traditional summer holiday in Hungary becomes a turning point in the lives of thousands of East Germans. From Dresden to Usedom, they had heard about the porous fence along the Austrian border. Carrying all their belongings, whole families walked across the green line to freedom as fast as they could. The border soldiers just looked the other way.

The gardens of West German embassies became particularly popular holiday destinations in the summer of 1989. The buildings were soon full of East Germans, and the hygiene situation was occasionally appalling. At the high point of the refugee tide in Prague, there were almost 5,000 people camping in the garden of the Palais Lobkowitz.

Hans-Dietrich Genscher would later call it the most moving experience of his life. On September 30, 1989, the West German Foreign Minister told thousands of GDR citizens that they were free to travel to West Germany. It is the emotional climax ahead of the actual fall of the Berlin Wall. Click "More" to hear the jubilant response to his announcement (in German).

On the 40th anniversary of the founding of the GDR, the people found their courage. Leipzig became a protest city, the Monday demonstrations taught those in power in East Berlin to fear. At the end of September, 8,000 people took to the streets. By mid-October the numbers had grown to 70,000. By the end of the month, 300,000 people were demonstrating against the Honecker government.

At the start of October, the Prague embassy was full of East Germans once again, as was its counterpart in Warsaw. It was a time of hectic, and covert, diplomacy between Bonn and East Berlin. More than 6,000 GDR citizens eventually moved to West Germany via the embassies.

The internal erosion of the GDR was far gone by its 40th birthday. While at the start of the wave of protests, the various opposition movements were merely pushing for reforms, by October their aims were much broader: free elections, open borders, prosperity. Honecker remained stubborn, but Gorbachev knew the game was up.

Erich Honecker, head of state and party, remained utterly myopic until the very end of his political life. On October 18, the until-then unchallenged Honecker was dropped by both the party and the state council. "Crown prince" Egon Krenz took over and tried to keep the GDR alive with promises of reform. Too little, too late.

At the start of November, the protest movement reached the East German capital. Several hundred thousand people protested against their own government. Their slogan: no violence. It was and would remain the biggest demonstration in the 40-year history of the GDR.

The demos on Alexanderplatz in East Berlin were broadcast live - a sensation that underlined the powerlessness of the Krenz government. The opposition demands struck at the core of the socialist state. Freedom to travel, the freedom of the press, and the freedom of assembly were key. And the Stasi's crimes were not to go unpunished.

A few words that changed the world. A tired and ill-prepared GDR official, Günter Schabowski, stumbled over his words as he announced a temporary new travel regulation for East German citizens. After being expressly asked for clarification, Schabowski said the opening of the border was valid "as of now." Click "More" to hear him say the words that opened the Wall (in German).

The night of November 9, 1989 was an experience often described as unreal and dream-like. Within 48 hours, hundreds of thousands of East Germans had gone over to West Berlin by bike, on foot, or in their Trabants - the East German state-manufactured car. Checkpoint Charlie became a carnival site.

Four days after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germany's TV audiences, both East and West, could watch in astonishment as an old predator transformed into a puppy. Erich Mielke, head of the Stasi and hard-liner at the politburo, practically groveled as he asked for understanding in front of the East German parliament. It was a pathetic final appearance of an old man with blood on his hands.