Today 20 years ago the Berlin Wall opened: East-Germans were able to visit West-Berlin. In November 1989 Berlin was a city of freedom and hope. One of the first crossings was the Potzdammerplatz. After the fall of the wall this open space turned into one of the biggest building pits of Europe.
Berlin November 1989 - Reichstag
Berlin November 1989 - Potzdammerplatz
Berlin November 1989 - Potzdammerplatz Berlin November 1989 - Brandenburger Tor
Berlin November 1989 - Brandenburger Tor
Berlin November 1989 - Brandenburger Tor
Souvenir hunters or people trying to demolish the wall?
Berlin November 1989 - Reichstag
Berlin November 1989 - Brandenburger Tor
Berlin November 1989 - Reichstag
Berlin November 1989 - Reichstag
On November 9 1989 East-Germans were free to travel to the West. A few days later I happened to be in Berlin. The Wall was open. There was a ‘hole’ on the Potsdammer Platz. A long row of people was waiting in the big open empty space.
The Wall had opened, but the infrastructure that kept East-Germans inside was still there. The guards, the towers, the barbwire, the mines, the ‘no man’s land zone’, the spooky and unrealistic atmosphere of separation and repression. On the west side people were attacking The Wall to get memorabilia, tearing it down with hammers and chisles. There was the anticipation of change, everybody (including the press at the Brandenburger Tor) was waiting for The Big Opening. People selling t-shirts, buttons.
During those days I shot some pictures. It is kind of nice to post them here in remembrance of that period, when the world really changed. They art taken near Checkpoint Charlie (from the scafolding overlooking the old wall) and near the Brandenburger Tor.
Berlin November 1989 - Checkpoint Charlie
Berlin November 1989 - Brandenburger Tor
Berlin November 1989 - Brandenburger Tor
