1900 not today there casts on a film set. Its amazing to watch 25 years later. I am i am i was glad. I can hunt youre going to like our live to what was then communist east berlin for them a film set is like a journey back in time to the moment in which their lives and the country they lived in changed forever. Dismissed its a very emotional moment for me watching this right now even though of course its just a movie. Now trying to cut 2nd hons Martin Fleischer 1st many each other on bornholmer bridge that night. She lived in the east and he lived in the west of the divided city. Most inclusive with the people started shit makes me start to choke out i feel like i want to join in but i have a list of whos. An amazing moment its like a journey back in time to this and. Credible moment in history absolutely. For catherine and hans martin that chance meeting on the bridge sent their lives in a different direction. Yes going to lived in west berlin the philcon family in the east for years they were separated by a wall but they kept their friendship a lot. On the morning of november 9th 1909 the wall still seemed a fact of life impervious man im yielding. A moving van was underway in the east berlin district of france lower back. It was headed to the village as apartment. The movers were there to pick up the bill because belongings after 3 years of waiting their application to leave east germany for the west had been approved. They were due to leave on nov 13th 1989. I knew we dont really put out a few boxes of the things we were going to be allowed to take with us and put them in the movers came early in the morning of november 9th to our apartment to take them to look at his apartment when so whats the room before. Lets just get a lift on kaiser down in west berlin. Hes often met my father and funk in them and my father was here when the movers came out when i got home from work our apartment in the company in the back the full of moving boxes for the belonging to the vehicle family. And of built a family had been friends for a year they went on holiday together in hungary. 4 days later they were planning to see each other again in west berlin. Father son your heart in the upcoming. But im also. Done working with no end up she planned a guy policy with taken some sweets at his day his arm and. Also we couldnt take all of us toys so wed sort of them out and told him we could only keep the things that were the most important to him because we told him wed bring the rest of his toys to his friends a day care. For the family leaving communist east germany meant that they would leave everything behind their families their friends and their old way of life. The small. Oh he thought it wasnt easy. We had many high months thinking wed never be able to go home where weve grown up and visit everyone. When was the next best you didnt know what the regime would do. We had that people who left we never allowed back to visit. But that night everything changed. 25 years later in the dressing room of a film 500 people gathered to recount those events in a made for t. V. Movie called Bornholmer Strasse it. For high k. And hans youre going legler the visit to the film set up almost like a journey into the southeast used for gas because of. Means the couple were engineers at a state owned signaling technology company. Nov 9th 1989 was a thursday a workday like any other for the young couple. Were raising our children homeless jim and i think we had what we had everything we needed if you went. You have to remember my husband in her life we were an ordinary family going about our daily life. We lived an ordinary life and we didnt call attention to ourselves im going to. The family lived on the 11th floor of a prefab high rise in the east berlin they had plans for the evening. As. It was my birthday so wed send the children to grandparents so that my husband and i could spend the evening together. And i know michael would suck even. Before we went to a restaurant called still pool with reservations we made 6 months earlier on as maybe a month and we had a nice meal in the holes and drove home planning to spend the rest of the evening together celebrating my wifes birthday. Why it would stop mouth will begin with and by the t. V. Was on and then came schabowski press conference as a conference but before its been 6 Police District offices in east germany are instructed to issue travel pieces without delay. Current and frank who had been planning on leaving 2 days later read a Goodbye Party with the neighbors and the t. V. Was on the mind this is far as i know it takes effect immediately and. I didnt really understand what was happening. In west berlin but yes the build his friend was also watching the news on t. V. According to the east german politburo like a show Gunter Schabowski with east germans will be permitted to leave the country. Maturely shukman of course i immediately thought can this be true. Whats going to happen of course that so and then a few minutes later the phone rang and it was frank calling me. I said to him look did you hear that he said yes lets go and meet at almost cost under the new font im on a softer than my husband said look what if the boat is about to open im coming to get you and well go get out things together and ill get you home distressed ill be back in a moment you dont eat my life put on my tennis shoes and rant about how much toss 700 metres. Its been you know it was there when i got in my car and i headed over there driving a bit faster than allow to probably on my way to bornholm a bridge. So long that when that announcement on television we wanted to see if we could actually do it. This man is an effective means of something. At 9 that evening the checkpoint behind bornholmer bridge was closed as all others. In west berlin a protest march. It was drawing to a close on the car 1st and on boulevard the demonstrators did not want the official shop closing times to be extended. In east berlin the 1st handful of people were beginning to head to the border one was our own right arm ski a photographer who had been secretly documenting events. Was i the film said he recalled the events of that evening. He comes on and we arrived at porno mistrusts around 9 in the evening we were standing behind a scene for about 1015. 00 maybe 20 people thought we were practically the 1st to arrive and it was a pretty tense situation but no guns on this front as it would soon be easy because of the Border Guards were aggressive they realized something was going to have some form i am still so quickly realized that something unusual was about to happen i was behind on he kept shouting and asking whether it was true that wed be able to travel over to west berlin that night with east german id cards after all thats what should busking it said on t. V. Thats how we understood it in any case. Doing. The protest at the checkpoint was gathering force. Was maybe. 5 years. But when i walked in any i was crowd had gathered and i pushed my way through to the gate had gone how much to go on the ball not everyone has their incomes you were going in for they were fired up and they wanted to cross the border people would fence a fence you and the other from filk i was right at the front and was captured on film by a television crew. Was am a moment that was also captured in the movie. You know i was very excited and thought this cant be happening we were all standing there and the Border Police didnt know what to do and you know. We saw that they were on the phone talking. To see and then a police car arrived and communism played. Everything ive heard for the sake of public order and safety. We ask you to leave the area in front of the checkpoint and to apply at the proper registration office. We cannot authorize travel permits here at this moment. I must if i want this is complete nonsense i could have stayed at home this is utter bull loney they dont know what theyre doing the kind of awesome didnt see the idea. Meanwhile the t. V. Report had brought high care and im sure you can lay glimmers Birthday Celebration to an abrupt close. Modest. It still gives me goose bumps at that moment we just said nothing so men will be abided. Because after we got to have you think im sick and we went to the hallway and put on our coats and whats happened in the. Woods and we got in the car and sped towards bornholmer bridge which was the closest Border Crossing them 2 of them i climbed up onto a trash can and took a few pictures and before it was quite something. Police bundle. On jurgen still has those photos. In the movie the recreation shows the crowd was still calling for the checkpoint to be open. Users but he did i still remember the chanting from mindful looking back but im impressed by how peaceful it was there was no violence no one threw a bottle or stoned which could easily have happened it was completely peaceful felicia. Fairly frequent the film also recalls those moments. As and then when the one of them from the me a little more and more people kept going up and saying look heres my id i want to come across now for a while theyre not physically mount and said anyone who wants to cross the street to do so i was standing at the gate and i said well then open the gate and then it actually opened and i just stood there some i was right at the front so what could i do but give you a pretty by guess im going to give even if most of them pretty oh yeah right youre going to laker witnessed the events while standing on top of the trash can. And i saw one person pass the border checkpoint was this it felt like it was just a few seconds later the food just a few seconds and one more person walk through wish and then another and another thought he walked in and gave them our id cards. And they stomped them and they told us to continue. House is the one and this is the view i was a bit of the legs about the stem visit but you wouldnt because they didnt put it on the regular spot but if they have always been as i say stunted by top photo little kids and later i found out that meant wed had a german citizenship revoked i think. It later emerged that the border official allowed a few people to pass hoping to defuse the situation. But more and more people began to banding to cross at 11 30 pm the border official opened the gate in order to try to end the standoff peacefully the. Law. Because here you go the officer came in had the barrier opened. And suddenly we could just pass through i was at the front right by the barrier and just sprinted across the bridge to take. On the western side of the bridge where franks friend books was waiting the crowd also began to move forward. Because i started running to the bridge and frank was running towards me and we met somewhere in the last 3rd i think it was with. Wins that that was it i held up my Identity Card and it was caught on video come on i had been waiting 3 and a half years. That was how long from feel can i have waited for permission to live in freedom from one moment to the next it had become a reality for all east germans. And its bizarre i said to look im going to fetch my wife and our son your highness and ill be right back into the community but if you dont. Well from milka headed back to his family the leg lawyers and their friends ended up in front of a t. V. Crew. On impulse suddenly there was a bright light and a microphone appeared and we were asked a question. My friend was so overcome with emotion he couldnt even get a word out. Of all this to blaine. When we saw on t. V. That we could cross without a permit we got up from our Birthday Party and hopped in the car with the both of us wonder what are going to do we want to look around set foot in west berlin of a spell. And all im going to go back was well yes well go back. But not everyone was in a party mood that evening including country who worked as a lab technician. And if its not identified pretty strongly with east germany it was my home no question kind of help me and i felt a strong commitment to it i had everything i needed really i missed a few. Left on bornholmer strawson and followed the line of cars to the checkpoint. On the western side of a student from west berlin arrived at the bridge and at a party and friends brought him along. Martin fleischer climbed onto a pillar of the bridge and watched what was happening. To him doing this and thats when masses of people started streaming over it was an incredible atmosphere that by then at the very latest it is and it had become clear that this was just an unbelievable historic moment and an inductance i switched on the. Man he decided to walk over into east berlin for the very 1st time for him it was a world that every bit the strangers the west seemed to contra. This month i wished i just stood there and watched the news dummy i wouldnt have had the courage to cross if someone hadnt spoken to me since martin yeah divided at the start he suddenly appeared and sat down next to me and asked well where youre from the offical. I said well here from the east. And he said im from the west. Comes once we started talking and i asked her if shed ever been to the west would. You say that i said im a bit afraid i dont really understand whats going on here i see it was. It was a chance meeting made possible by the events of just a few hours. I said look everyone is walking back and forth camille im from the west you know and i dont even have an idea on me he got a kind of i didnt have any connection to west germany because he does have some i was thinking id prefer to stay here in my warm cozy nest i want but hans martin was relaxed it was no big deal he had nothing to be afraid of. Concert and he sort of pulled me along with him or not mr mix could swing. By then frank had returned to the empty apartment he and his family were due to leave east germany officially in a couple of days but he did not want to wait the situation seemed to unsettle. It was about midnight when funk returned and he had managed to hire a taxi driver about offering him our last 100 east german ma bell. You know mark pushed open door and. I grabbed my wife my son and our suitcases and we got in the taxi and drove the few 100 meters to the border and when touched on the offices in uniform looked at us probably wondering what we were up to. I thought they wouldnt let us pass. This far we were the only ones with a suitcase and a child. And then one of the Border Guards i guess ive given him a questioning look on said to me that direction go that way oh. My god incredible i cant believe it. Well after midnight whats yes go welcome karen and youre hot as fuck. I put them in the car with their suitcases to food and look said come on lets drive along the could but it was surpassed that we were hardly moving. To. Find out we were basically stuck in traffic. And there were lots and lots of cars people were getting out laughing cheering with the. Head around 1 in the morning at her 1st and dom in west berlin turned into a giant euphoric Party Location vying for in this amazing feeling of total joy from. Contra and from east berlin and hans martin from the west had also crossed the. Border that no longer existed. In the. Designs its going to be supplied to them oh it was really funny everywhere we went people asked us where are you from the east to the west and he was just this wonderful at has been tarnished and adventure. So didnt type of it at least as much when we went on a sightseeing tour of west berlin. And i had my car i think we went to the Brandenburg Gate 1st and one of the top of. Their thousands of people were dancing on top of the wall. With one of the next and we drove around it just bastin it all soaked it all up to. Us to say it was really a magical moment as momentous. The lakers have their final toast to hike his birthday on the car 1st and. Most top football is at the top thats what happened with our plan to celebrate her birthday with just the 2 of us never materialized i think we got home and to bed sometime around 4 in the morning. But the next day at 10 minutes to 7 we were back at work for months and the. Country and then hans martin were out past dawn soaking up the moment. To shop lee that we exchanged addresses and phone numbers and make plans to meet up one monday then we just figured well lets see what the future brings. Contre 100 martin fell in love and stayed together for 5 years she showed him eastern germany and he helped her find her footing and what for her was a new world. For hiking and hans youre going to take learn house for all these german citizens the next years brought many to. Alan church but they too found their footing. And they still take pride in that today. Was monday i think we have to keep talking about it and remembering how peaceful it was and no one lost their life and. Even complicit and thats the most Important Message we need to remember about the fall of the wall in 1909 so the. This its i think both sides have a hard time imagining it could have turned into a bloodbath what we were incredibly lucky that no one accidentally fired a shot up of its a stroke of good fortune for german history that that didnt happen its just a good option to us doesnt dismiss. The wall dividing east and west berlin which it seems so permanent so impregnable was toppled overnight. For your vision because we couldnt really believe it it was unthinkable it wasnt a realistic idea that the border could just fall from one day to the next. But we would be dead moved me to remember that we were a small part of that history into these are your fist of on. This beat up ive always been like leave it there we saw it happen live it changed our lives in so many ways thats something ill never forget the sweat but the pipeline. The 2 families the yes because in the village has remained friends through the turbulent years that followed german reunification. Sometimes they go back to bornholmer bridge to remember how they gathered there with thousands of others on november 9th 1089. Today the bridge that once separated east and west berlin is just but normal said he. Like in a unified germany. Years after the fall of the berlin wall on d. W. Without borders. Cutting in constant bending look to danger in the eye it was the summer of 198930 years later they chronicled the incredible story of their a state from east germany in a book and for us it was an. That me bind them together forever. Syrian born american visits a local bar in berlin. He lives just opposite with a from who was a member of the hitler youth as a child. Some residents are suspicious of refugees in the neighborhood. But america is curious about the bars regulars. Across the road worlds apart. Starting november 11th on d w. Im not laughing at them well i guess sometimes i am but i stand up and whip it up and the japanese thinks deep into the german culture of looking at stereotypes the question to me is think the future of the country that im not. Yet you dont seem prepared for this drama there you go its all about ok. Im rachel join me to meet the jetman from d. W. Post literature invites us to see people in particular. I like to see some fine grownup. Might. Work. For you books on youtube. Ico india. How can a countrys economy grow harmony with its people violent. When there are dupers look at the bigger picture. India a country that faces many challenges and people are striving to create a Sustainable Future looks clever projects from europe and. The coccidia on t. W. M. Play. Play play play. Play. And nights like no other 30 years ago today germany celebrates the form of the ballet more than events that led to the countrys reunification and ended the cold war that had divided europe the deck a. Player. Played. Im helen alfre welcome to our special coverage of the 4 of the wall