The fall of the Wall
The fall of the Wall, on 9 November 1989, came as a complete surprise to Manfred Matthies. The demonstrations in the weeks preceding it filled him with fears as he anticipated a violent crackdown on the protesters coming any minute: “the tanks will be here any minute because that’s just how it works in the east.” On the night of the opening, he observed the crumbling of the Wall at various places throughout the city. At the border crossing on the Kochstraße, cigarettes were being handed over the Wall while the border police stood by and watched. At the Brandenburg Gate, Matthies stood on the wall together with others and soon the rumor was spreading that the border would be opened at the Bernauer Straße. Indeed, the citizens of East Berlin were allowed to cross the border that night: “this huge Trabi train covered in a cloud of vapor rolled in through West Berlin. The people were excited. It was a single celebration. People were blowing their horn and clapping on the roofs of the cars.”