Berlin guard: Opening wall 'terrible' but right

Jaeger, a lieutenant colonel in the Stasi secret police, said his work shift was already over that night. He had retired to the checkpoint's canteen to eat a sandwich or two.

Then on the TV in the background, he heard East German official Guenter Schabowski make an almost offhanded comment: New travel rules allowing East Germans to head west were to take effect immediately.

"I had really just had one bite and then I heard the memorable sentence from Schabowski," said Jaeger, whose story is the focus of a new German-language book, The Man Who Opened the Wall.

Deprived of any clear guidance from his superiors, Jaeger decided the only way to control the swelling crowd was to open the border completely. Thousands streamed through.

"I'm no hero," he said. "I only did what was the right thing to do on that evening back then."

In hindsight, he said his actions probably prevented the confrontation from turning violent.

"There's one thing I can take credit for," he said. "That no blood was shed that evening just tears of joy and cold sweat."

136
The number of people who lost their lives while trying to escape through the Wall that cut Berlin in two

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