TWISTS OF CHANCE · 9 NOV 1989 · EAST BERLIN
The wall stays up
On the evening of 9 November 1989, a tired East German spokesman was handed a note about new travel rules he had not read, and answered a question wrong. The Berlin Wall opened that night by mistake. This is the timeline where he says he will have to check.
You are reading the timeline that almost was · notes marked THE RECORD are real history
9 NOV 1989 · 18:57
The press conference has run an hour and the room smells of ashtrays. Günter Schabowski, spokesman of a Politburo that is improvising its own survival, has a note in front of him about new travel rules. It was handed to him on the way in. He was not at the meeting where they were written. At 18:57 an Italian journalist asks when the new freedom to travel takes effect. Schabowski peers at the paper through his glasses, looking for an answer that is not on it. In our timeline he guessed, and the guess was: immediately.
In the timeline recorded here he does the smaller, safer thing. He says he will have to check.
The atlas keeps other pages near this one
