What Day Was the fall of the Berlin Wall?

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East German authorities announced that citizens could cross the border freely, and crowds began dismantling and crossing the Berlin Wall the same evening, effectively ending nearly three decades of a barrier that had divided the city since 1961.

The fall of the Wall is widely treated as the symbolic turning point of the end of the Cold War in Europe, preceding German reunification the following year.

The announcement itself was reportedly the result of an East German spokesman misstating the effective date of a new travel policy at a press conference, an accidental trigger that historians widely credit with setting the night's events in motion sooner than officials intended.

East and West Berliners reportedly used hammers and chisels to chip away pieces of the wall as souvenirs in the days that followed, fragments of which are now displayed in museums and private collections worldwide.