Guenter Schabowski dies

[sarisataka]

Bureaucrat whose blunder brought Berlin Wall down dead at 86

Berlin (AFP) - Former East German bureaucrat Guenter Schabowski, who died Sunday aged 86, went down in history for a slip of the tongue in 1989 that inadvertently brought down the Berlin Wall.

The former spokesman of the Politburo central committee of East Germany's ruling communist party died in the reunified capital, his widow Irina told news agency DPA.

After months of mass protests against regime and East Germans fleeing in their droves via Czechoslovakia and Hungary, the Politburo asked the government in 1989 to prepare a law loosening restrictions on travel outside the country.

It was at the end of an evening press conference on November 9 when Schabowski pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket and read out a decree stating that visas would be freely granted to those wanting to travel outside or leave the Stalinist state.

http://news.yahoo.com/bureaucrat-brought-berlin-wall-down-dead-86-152556905.html

I still remember the reporting of this- the night The Wall fell.

[riversedge]

1. I actually remember when I was--in a school hallway walking with a

colleague between classes. She said--did you hear the wall being torn down. I said--what are you talking about -then she nearly shouted it--THE BERLIN WALL IS COMING DOWN. all traffic stopped. -and we all cheered. Strange how we can recall certain events such as that.

[Historic NY]

2. Wait so it wasn't St. Ronnie.............

boy thats going to leave a mark.