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On Nov. 9, 1989, Gunter Schabowski, the East Berlin Communist party boss, declared that East Germans would be free to leave the country, without permission, at any point along the border and including the Berlin Wall. Pictured, West Berliners crowd in front of the Berlin Wall early Nov. 11, 1989, to watch East German border guards open a new crossing point near the Potsdamer Platz.