THE BERLIN WALL: 10 YEARS LATER

	November 9,1999
	The Berlin Wall came down 10 years ago today. There were celebrations to commemorate the historic events that led, among other things, to a United Germany. We have a report from Gaby Rado of Independent Television News.

GABY RADO, ITN: People old enough to remember the fear and the heartbreak of the wall gathered at what became known as the Death Strip at Bernara Strasse. Here many died jumping or running from East to West. Around 1,000 Germans perished under the wall before history took its remarkable, unexpected turn ten years ago. MAN: I was here ten years ago, and I didn't really believe what happened. I thought there was just... it's just a dream, and I wake up and it's gone. And then I saw all the problems we have to solve, and there were more risks than people remember now. But it worked. GABY RADO: The first some former East Berliners became aware of the news is when a western relative turned up at their doorstep. SIEGRID ARNOLD: He rang at my flat, and he said, "the wall is open." And he is coming to visit me. And I got up, of course, and I said that we can thank Mikhail Gorbachev. And I had a bottle of Soviet champagne, and we drank that Soviet champagne. GABY RADO: Ekaterina Batal brought her daughter Nadia along to show the nine-year-old how lucky she is growing up in today's Germany. Ekatina herself lived in East Berlin. She remembers watching TV with friends that evening. EKATERINA BATAL: We heard that the wall is open. And we looked at each other, and we said to each other, "what are we doing here? Let us go." So we went to Checkpoint Charlie, and we had to celebrate with all the people that were standing and waiting to go to West Berlin. GABY RADO: And there were a lot of people? EKATERINA BATAL: There were tons of people. I never have seen so much people before. GABY RADO: In fact, the wall shouldn't have been open that night at all. The Communist Politburo had decided that they'd lift all travel restrictions on East Germans starting the next morning. But one of their leaders mistakenly blurted out the news at a televised evening press conference. The people then took matters into their own hands. Today at the Reichstag, which was then an abandoned shell, the newly installed German parliament received three visitors who were already figures from the past. For Mikhail Gorbachev, Helmut Kohl and George Bush, November 1989 was a high point their careers never again reached. GEORGE BUSH: During the summer of 1989, the tide of history had turned in favor of liberty, so by the time the fall arrived, I believe we were already, as the song says, "watching the world wake up from history." Change was in the air. History will be very kind to Mikhail Gorbachev, but never will I lose any of the affection and admiration I hold for him personally. GABY RADO: Mr. Gorbachev was the only one to strike a mildly discordant note, saying the new world order promised by the opening of the wall was still very far from turning into reality. The tenth anniversary of the wall coming down is somehow like Checkpoint Charlie, a landmark on the way from one era to another in the long-term process of change in Germany and Europe. That all started on November 9, 1989. EKATERINA BATAL: I think it was a good thing, because it was the development, you know. And everything would change, a new chance for a new beginning. GABY RADO: What that change would eventually lead to for the people of Europe is still far from clear, even ten years on.