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Episode 3: Three Minutes of Courage: The Berlin Wall's Accidental Fall

Episode 3: Three Minutes of Courage: The Berlin Wall's Accidental Fall

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 The Berlin Wall, which had divided East and West for 28 years, fell not through careful diplomacy or planned policy, but because of a confused press conference and a border guard's split-second decision. Reeves traces how on November 9, 1989, East German spokesman Günter Schabowski mistakenly announced that new travel regulations were effective "immediately" rather than the next day as planned. As thousands of East Germans gathered at crossings based on this misstatement, Lieutenant Colonel Harald Jäger at the Bornholmer Strasse checkpoint faced a critical choice: use force or open the gates. His decision to allow passage triggered a chain reaction at other crossings, leading to the Wall's peaceful fall. Through interviews with witnesses from both sides, the episode examines how this unplanned opening accelerated German reunification and the end of the Cold War, demonstrating how even the most imposing barriers can collapse when their underlying legitimacy fails.
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