Divided: Why We're Living in an Age of Walls

by Tim Marshall

Without guidance from its Russian masters, the politburo was making policy on the hoof. It decided to allow East Berliners to apply for travel visas to visit West Germany. This was a process that could have been managed, and the Communist authorities might have been able to buy time and engineer ways of staying in control, but one of those small details that can change history got in the way. The man tasked with announcing the visa decision on 9 November was the Minister of Propaganda, Günter Schabowski. He had just returned from holiday, had not attended the meeting at which the policy was decided, and had no idea of any of the details of the process, which included briefings for border-guard commanders the following day so they could follow orders. When he was asked ‘When do the new regulations begin?’ he hesitated, and then replied, ‘As far as I know immediately, right now.’ There were already thousands of East Berliners at the wall; within hours there were tens of thousands on both sides.