The man who opened the Berlin Wall

East German border guard who gave the order to open the Berlin Wall speaks about his historic decision 25 years on

“My world was collapsing and I felt like I was left alone by my party and my military commanders” Photo: JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/GETTY

By Justin Huggler, Berlin

4:03PM GMT 06 Nov 2014

“At 11.30pm on November 9, 1989, Lieutenant-Colonel Harald Jäger was faced with a stand-off. For hours, some 20,000 East German protestors had amassed at Berlin’s border crossing demanding to be let through.

Lt-Col Jäger gave the order to 46 armed guards at his command to open the barrier and stand aside.

It was the moment the Berlin Wall fell.

The other border crossings followed Lt-Col Jäger’s lead, and thousands of jubilant East Germans poured into West Berlin, among them the future Chancellor, Angela Merkel. Some even began to climb over the wall. Its years dividing the city were finally over.

But as the crowds rushed through his checkpoint, Lt-Col Jäger wept, he told reporters – from a combination of relief that the confrontation had ended without violence, and despair that the communist ideal he had served for much of his life had failed…”

Read the full article via The Telegraph here.