This is not a footnoted history piece. At worst, it’s a tall tale with truthiness. But I’m not the only one who’s told it. If you want facts, Wiki Berlin Wall. The following is my Berlin Wall story:

Ronald Reagan didn’t end the Cold War. By some accounts, the Berlin Wall fell because it just wanted to. That is to say, people demanded it. Nowhere was this more evident than on the night of November 9, 1989 in Berlin.

By that time, East Germans had already caught wind of relaxed travel restrictions in Hungary, and so many clever Easterners attended Borderline “Biergaerten (glorified picnics)”, and so tens of thousands of East Germans took the opportunity to dine and then dash into the West.

East German Parliament, in an effort to regain popular support from it’s caged citizenry, passed measures loosening (slightly) travel restrictions for East Germans. They felt they had thrown the masses a good, meaty bone and so they went on vacation (presumably, travel restrictions didn’t apply to government dignitaries).

That night, the State-controlled radio DJ and East German political spokesman, Günter Schabowski, announced the Parliamentary decision as he received it.

Only, one small detail was omitted from policy: ab wann (when do these relaxed laws go into effect)?

So he said, “ab sofort (effective immediately).” And the ground swelled.

Without thousands of media outlets to choose from, most citizens were tuned in to that single broadcast. With the joyous news of an open border, thousands flocked to the wall. Guards stationed there that night were overwhelmed, unable to reach any of the vacationing ruling class. They did what any outnumbered guard might do in the face of mob rule: they gave the mob what it wanted. They tore down the wall.

And so can we.