HISTORY

How NPR covered the fall of the Berlin Wall

November 7, 20225:00 AM ET
JACK MITCHELL



West-Berliner climb on the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989, to ask for its fall. After months of mass protests against regime and amid a widening exodus of citizens to the West via Hungary, thousands of East Berliners on Nov. 9, 1989 started streaming toward checkpoints leading to West Berlin.

Francoise Chaptal/AFP via Getty Images

"In the past 24 hours, the political landscape of Europe has been irrevocably changed."

That's how NPR's Linda Wertheimer began an All Things Considered broadcast alongside co-host Robert Siegel, 33 years ago this week — as the Berlin Wall began to crumble.

The wall stood for almost three decades as a fortified monument to the Cold War, carving the German capital into communist east and democratic west. When it finally toppled on Nov. 9, 1989, Berliners let loose a tidal wave of pent-up emotion.

The BBC's Graham Leach was there, filing reports that aired on NPR. Take a listen to his reporting on the raucous celebrations that night:

{snip}