On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. In honor of the upcoming 25th Anniversary of this event and the 24th Anniversary of German Reunification, I put together this presentation.

1. 25th Anniversary:
Fall of
the Berlin Wall
Darryl Heron

2. In 2014 the World Celebrates...
25th Anniversary of the Fall of the
Berlin Wall (November 9, 1989)
& 24th Anniversary of
German Reunification
(October 3, 1990

3. If every decade is a generation,
two & a half generations only know
Berlin and Germany as they are
today
It is difficult for them to imagine it
any other way...

4. After World War II
Germany
was divided into
East and West...
German Demorcatic Republic
(GDR, East Germany) &
Federal Republic of Germany
(FRG, West Germany)

5. The world
accepted
a divided Berlin

6. The Wall divided a city,
but it also represented
a Cold War wall
between East and West...

7. Construction of the Wall
begain on August 13, 1961
& over the years it went through 4
versions*
-Wire fence (1961)
-Improved wire fence (1962-1965)
-Concrete wall (1965-1975)
-Grenzbauer 75, or the Border Wall (1975-1989)

8. Berlin looked
like this...

9. For those of us that didn‘t live in a
divided Germany, it is hard to imagine,
families being torn apart, sometimes
not seeing each other for years (if at
all)
It it easy to forget the human element
behind the history...

10. Without a whole lot of notice to the
outside world...
There were lots of revolutions in the
then Communist Eastern and Central
Europe
Momentum seemed to be building in
1989.
There was something in the air...

11. Basic Timeline*
Date Event
August 19,1989 Hungary basically disables the physical boarder with Austria
September 1989 13,000+ East German escaped to Austria via Hungry
Similar events happened in Czechoslovakia
October 18, 1989 Longtime leader of East Germany Erich Honecker resigns &
replaced by Egon Krenz
November 4,
1989
500,000+ gather at the Alexanderplatz Demonstration
November 9,
1989
In agreement with with Czechoslovak government Krenz to allow
refugees direct crossing between East & West German crossings
effective next day
Günter Schabowski, not properly briefed of the agreement, holds
press conference & reads note he was given. Tells press the
agreement was effective immediately

12. Basic Timeline Continued...*
Date Event
7:17 pm & 8 pm Anchorman Hans Joachim Friedrichs said on air „This is a
historic day. East Germany has announced that starting
immediately, its borders are open to everyone. The GDR is
opening its borders...the gates in the Berlin Wall stand open“
After hearing the broadcast, East Germans gathered at the check
points and the Wall, waiting for the gates to be openned as they
had been promised
After several frantic phone calls guards were ordered to only let
the „more agressive“ people through, putting a special stamp on
their passports, banning them from returning to East Germany
10:45 pm Without orders for deadly force being issued, guards yielded
opening the checkpoints
East & West Berliners danced on the Wall in celebration

13. Do you feel
the history?

14. The date the Wall fell
is considered to be November 9, 1989
„Official“ dismantling started on June
13, 1990 and ended in December
1990*

15. Now...
there are memorials
where the Wall
once stood

16. November 9, 1989
the Wall fell...
And the world was not going to be
the same again!

17. After the Wall fell,
East and West Germany negotiated,
planned, worked, and the once
„unimaginable“ Reunificaton of
Germany took place at
12:00 CET on October 3, 1990

18. Every year on October 3rd,
Germans celebrate
that their country is reunited

19. This is what the historic
Brandenburg Gate
looked like to me
in May 2012

20. There is much to celebrate
on the 25th Anniversary
of the Fall of the Wall
and in the
Reunification of Germany...

21. While we celebrate this triumph of the
human spirit and the reunion of
families, friends, and countrymen...
Let us not build any new walls and
remember that the human race
emerged from this dark time in history
and we can triumph again...

22. There is plenty of resource material on
the Wall, German Reunification, and
the Revolutions of 1989
Why not check the resources
mentioned in the Wikipedia entries and
boarden your own discovery and
reading from there...

23. Be Sure to Check Out…
About.me
http://about.me/darrylheron
LinkedIn:
http://de.linkedin.com/in/darrylheron/
Darryl Heron‘s presentations on SlideShare
http://www.slideshare.net/darrylheron
Check out my online Portfolio
http://de.slideshare.net/darrylheron/my-portfolio-darryl-heron
Email me:
mailto:darrylheron@about.me