Bornholmer Straße border crossing
Encyclopedia
The Bornholmer Straße border crossing was one of the border crossings
between East Berlin
and West Berlin
between 1961 to 1990. The crossing was named after the street on which it is located, Bornholmer Straße. The actual border between East and West Berlin ran along railway lines which was crossed by the Bösebrücke.
The Bornholmer Straße border crossing played the historic role of being the first border crossing to be breached during the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989.
was broadcast at 8:00pm on 9 November 1989, thousands of East Germans began gathering at the Bornholmer Straße border crossing , demanding that border guards immediately open its gates to let them through to West Berlin.
The surprised and overwhelmed guards made many hectic telephone calls to their superiors about the problem but it became clear that no one among the East German authorities would take personal responsibility for issuing orders to use lethal force. As a result the vastly outnumbered soldiers had no way to hold back the huge crowd of East German citizens. In face of the growing crowd, the guards finally yielded.
At 9:20 p.m., in order to relieve some of the pressure created by the crowds, the guards let the first few people leave for West Berlin, although the head of the passport control unit Lieutenant-Colonel Harald Jaeger had their passports stamped invalid, thus expatriating the passport holders without their knowledge. By 11:30 p.m., however, the crowds had grown so large that he – still without official orders – finally raised the barrier. In the hour that followed, around 20,000 people were able to cross the Bösebrücke bridge without being checked.
By then, similar large crowds had gathered at the other border crossings and controls were similarly lifted.
Berlin border crossings
The Berlin border crossings were created as a result of the postwar division of Germany. Prior to the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, travel between the Eastern and Western sectors of Berlin was totally uncontrolled, although restrictions were increasingly introduced by the Soviet and East...
between East Berlin
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
and West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
between 1961 to 1990. The crossing was named after the street on which it is located, Bornholmer Straße. The actual border between East and West Berlin ran along railway lines which was crossed by the Bösebrücke.
The Bornholmer Straße border crossing played the historic role of being the first border crossing to be breached during the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989.
Events of 9 November 1989
Immediately after news of East Germany's somewhat mistaken announcement on the removal of border controls by Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) official Günter SchabowskiGünter Schabowski
Günter Schabowski is a former official of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany , the ruling party during most of the existence of the German Democratic Republic...
was broadcast at 8:00pm on 9 November 1989, thousands of East Germans began gathering at the Bornholmer Straße border crossing , demanding that border guards immediately open its gates to let them through to West Berlin.
The surprised and overwhelmed guards made many hectic telephone calls to their superiors about the problem but it became clear that no one among the East German authorities would take personal responsibility for issuing orders to use lethal force. As a result the vastly outnumbered soldiers had no way to hold back the huge crowd of East German citizens. In face of the growing crowd, the guards finally yielded.
At 9:20 p.m., in order to relieve some of the pressure created by the crowds, the guards let the first few people leave for West Berlin, although the head of the passport control unit Lieutenant-Colonel Harald Jaeger had their passports stamped invalid, thus expatriating the passport holders without their knowledge. By 11:30 p.m., however, the crowds had grown so large that he – still without official orders – finally raised the barrier. In the hour that followed, around 20,000 people were able to cross the Bösebrücke bridge without being checked.
By then, similar large crowds had gathered at the other border crossings and controls were similarly lifted.