The Fall of the Berlin Wall, November 1989

This weekend marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the most prominent symbol of the aftermath of World War Two and of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the West. In 1989, photojournalists David and Peter Turnley spent a great deal of time inside East Germany and all over Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Both subsequently covered the fall of the wall and the aftermath leading to the reunification of Germany.

That year, 1989, David won The Overseas Press Club Robert Capa Award and the Pulitzer Prize, and Peter won the Overseas Press Club Olivier Rebbot Award for Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad.

Here is a moving selection of the brothers' work that will transport you back to that time and that momentous event. It's best if you compose yourself for a few moments beforehand, and view full screen.

Mike

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

hugh crawford: "I have a little plastic bag of wall somewhere. My mother, my sister, my wife, and I spent the day in Berlin in April of 1990. There was nowhere to stay in the city hence the one day visit. Kids were all over loaning out hammers and chisels, and I thought why not? In the Eastern sector there were big lines of westerners buying cameras. No one seemed to know who was in charge but everything was like cross between a natural disaster where everyone helps out and a very orderly party.

"A few days later we drove to Prague and the whole city was literally singing in the streets and very drunk. You still had to exchange a set amount of hard currency to enter Czechoslovakia and on our way back we realized that we had not spent much at all so we stopped at a bookstore and bought every interesting looking book they had. I have a wonderful three volume history of Czechoslovakian racing cars an illustrated history of Tatra, amazing atlasses, and some of the most beautiful books about insects I have ever seen. Sadly there were no art or photography books or Czech cinema books. The staff of the bookstore thought we were hilarious when I told them that I collected obsolete maps but were eager to unload all their newly unsellable stock."

Jim Arthur: "Wonderful work. The power of great still photography never ceases to amaze me. To have a fleeting moment of clarity captured and communicated across space and time to touch me as if I were there is magical. A big thanks to Peter and David for sharing."

Herman Krieger: "Photo made on Nov. 11, 1989 of the Berlin wall."

Mani Sitaraman: "That panoramic picture by Bill Bongiorno (linked to by Herman Krieger) really captures the moment and the mood very well. Belated birthday wishes to Mr. Krieger, who turned 93 three days ago, according to biographical details he has posted on his webpage. He served in the USAAC during WWII, among many other accomplishments over the years. Happy birthday and many happy returns of the day! (An interview with Herman.)"

Comments

[Peter Wright]

Excellent pictures. There was also a moving set of pictures on the same subject available at the New York Times web site a day or so ago, but I'm not sure how to find them now. I really like this sort of documentary photography raised as it is here and at the NYT, to the level of art. Pictures like these will probably last forever, whatever storage media(s) are used.

[Rob de Loe]

Well worth watching. Thanks for the link Mike. All that hope on the faces of the people on both sides hasn't quite been fulfilled yet. But they're getting there.

[Marc]

Exactly 30 years ago (10. Nov at 9.00 PM), I was sitting in my car driving with a friend from Hamburg to Berlin. At about 0.30 AM we where standing on the wall in front of the Brandenburger Tor.

[Hugh Lovell]

Thank you so much for the link to this wonderful collection of photographs.

[Peter Cooke]

More moving than I thought it would be. Love those black Nikons. My favourite graffiti from East Berlin, "Only the secret police know how cool I really am."

[Thomas Wiegold]

Living in Berlin, I'm enjoying a lot of photographic walks down memory lane these days, commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall 30 years ago. And, as I've been covering this as a journalist for the Associated Press, of course I have to point out AP's photo collection of those days:https://apnews.com/afs:Content:8081521416

[Dogman]

Excellent!

[David Dyer-Bennet]

Warning! Although you probably think from the text that you're being directed to a photo gallery, you're actually being sent to a streaming video site.

[I don't understand why a warning is necessary. And isn't the "video" a gallery of photos?? --Mike]

[JoeB]

So much emotion. So many smiles. Wonderful photos of a time beyond description.

[Chuck Albertson]

I visited Berlin about six months before the Wall came down, and never thought that would happen - it had such a finality about it, even though cracks were appearing in the Iron Curtain (in Hungary) at the time. I was as shocked as anyone when I came back from lunch on 11/9 and saw the pictures on CNN. It's more than a little amusing that the sudden opening of the border was occasioned by a bureaucratic f**kup instead of a deliberate policy choice: https://www.amazon.com/Collapse-Accidental-Opening-Berlin-Wall/dp/0465064949/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2K4FKBA8BLHZE&keywords=the+collapse&qid=1573449280&s=books&sprefix=the+collapse%2Caps%2C582&sr=1-3

[Stephen J]

Excellent pictures of a joyful occasion, that of course, could not last.

[John Igel]

Stunning!

[Steve Rosenblum]

Extremely moving photographs by my friends Peter and David. I agree with Mike that they should be watched full screen mode on a computer monitor with sound on for full effect.

[Paul in Az]

Excellent photos BUT like David dyer-Bennet I don't need someone telling me when I've spent enough time looking at a photo. I prefer to turn pages on my own.

And that soupy elevator music doesn't add anything or help.

[Oskar Ojala]

Great photos, brings back memories. But a funny thing happened to me when watching the photos: I felt that BW really isn't the medium for this, I remember the events in color and the color palette of the time and place being a part of the whole thing. I don't remember getting quite that feeling before.

[Dennis Ng]

Berlin. As American congressman or senator has alleged is Hong Kong today. Still remember the surprise by non-European Berlin is actually inside East German. And live Beethoven no 9. Not sure about Hong Kong this round live there. Seeing my chinese university of Hong Kong stormed by the police. There is no wall to build and no wall to break. The wall is invisible. Just like the 100 eyes, bodies and thousands of arrest the truth wound not come out until later if there is a later.

[Nigli]

My adult life has bee predicated on the fall of the Iron Curtain. Though my studies made me miss the main event, I left New Zealand in 1995 and spent the next 20 or so years in Prague where, inter-alia, I met my wife who had there moved from Hamburg, after studying in Leipzig and Jena. One of our children was born in Prague, and our business, a Brew-pub where we sell goods primarily sourced to the Elbe valley, likewise. Without my five years working in environmental and human rights NGOs in Central and Eastern Europe, I certainly couldn't have taken this photo https://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/.a/6a00df351e888f8834019aff549ab0970b-popup