Journalist Who Triggered Fall of Berlin Wall Dies

Riccardo Ehrman's 1989 question prompted thousands to flock to wall
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 15, 2021 4:53 PM CST
Journalist Who Triggered Fall of Berlin Wall Dies
In this early Friday morning, Nov. 10, 1989 photo, Berliners from East and West crowd in front of the Brandenburger Gate standing atop and below the Berlin Wall.   (AP Photo/Jockel Finck, File)

Italian journalist Riccardo Ehrman has died at age 92—32 years after he asked a question that changed the world. Ehrman was Italian news agency ANSA's East Berlin correspondent in the fall of 1989 as protests against the communist East German regime gathered steam. At a Nov. 9 press conference, Ehrman pressed Politburo member Gunter Schabowski about a relaxation of border controls Schabowski had not been briefed on, the BBC reports. "You mentioned mistakes," Ehrman said. "Don't you think that it was a big mistake to introduce this draft travel law that you announced a few days ago?"

Schabowski denied a mistake had been made. Reading from a note he had been given before the press conference, he said East German citizens would be allowed to leave the country "without prerequisites." When pressed by Ehrman and another reporter, Schabowski looked through his papers uncertainly before saying that as he understood it, the change would take effect "immediately, without delay." After the press conference, thousands of East and West Germans rushed to the wall; overwhelmed border guards opened checkpoints.

In a 2009 interview, Ehrman said that while East Germans immediately realized the importance of the statement, other journalists were slow to react. He wasn't, saying he rushed to call ANSA with the news flash "The Berlin Wall has collapsed.” "ANSA had an amazing 31 minutes advantage over the competition," he said. "I must also add that, as colleagues later told me, in ANSA there were some who immediately said 'Riccardo has lost his mind.' Luckily for me and for Germany and perhaps even for the world, I had not gone mad." Ehrman was born in Florence in 1929. When he was 13 years old, he was sent to an internment camp for Jews, which was liberated by the British Army in 1943. His final posting for ANSA was Spain, where he remained after his retirement. (More Berlin Wall stories.)

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