Riccardo Ehrman asked his key question at Günter Schabowski’s press conference at 18:53 on 9 November 1989.
Ehrman, the Berlin correspondent for Italy’s ANSA news agency, asked whether the recently announced draft travel law had been a major mistake. The question prompted Schabowski to consult a note given to him by Egon Krenz and announce new rules allowing East Germans to travel abroad.
Schabowski then incorrectly suggested that the regulations took effect immediately. The intended procedure was more limited and was reportedly meant to begin later, but the live broadcast made the announcement sound like an instant opening of the borders. Western television and radio rapidly spread the news.
A common mix-up is confusing 18:53 with the later times when the announcement reached wider audiences, including news broadcasts at 19:17 and 20:00. Ehrman’s question began the decisive exchange; another reporter’s follow-up about when the rules would take effect elicited Schabowski’s famous “immediately” response. Crowds soon gathered at Berlin’s checkpoints, and guards eventually opened them.