COUNTDOWN TO NOVEMBER 9TH

November 9th

The night the wall opened — East and West Berliners crossed freely for the first time in 28 years.

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Next: Monday, November 9, 2026.

What Makes This Day Special

November 9th
Significance

🧱

Fall of the Berlin Wall (1989)

After weeks of mass protests in East Germany, the border between East and West Berlin opened on the night of November 9, 1989. Around 11:30 p.m., facing huge crowds, officer Harald Jäger raised the barrier at the Bornholmer Straße crossing, and other checkpoints soon followed. East Berliners poured into West Berlin to cheers, flowers and champagne, and people began chipping at the concrete. The wall, built in August 1961, had divided the city for 28 years; Germany was reunified on October 3, 1990.

📰

An Accidental Opening

The opening happened partly by mistake. At an evening press conference shortly before 7 p.m., Politburo spokesman Günter Schabowski announced new travel rules but had not been told when they were meant to take effect. Pressed by reporters, he said they applied "immediately, without delay." West German television spread the news, crowds gathered at the checkpoints, and border guards without clear orders were eventually overwhelmed.

🇩🇪

Germany's "Day of Fate"

Germans sometimes call November 9 the Schicksalstag, or "day of fate." On this date in 1918 a republic was proclaimed in Berlin; in 1923 Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch was crushed; in 1938 the Kristallnacht pogroms swept the country; and in 1989 the Berlin Wall opened. Because of that mixed legacy — above all the association with Kristallnacht — November 9 was not chosen as Germany's national holiday; German Unity Day is October 3.

Historical Events

This Day
in History

1965

The Northeast Blackout

A faulty relay setting at a power station in Ontario set off a cascading failure that blacked out parts of Ontario and much of the northeastern United States during the evening rush hour. Around 30 million people lost power, some for up to 13 hours, and hundreds of thousands were stranded in New York City's subway. The blackout led to new reliability standards for the North American power grid.

1938

Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass)

On the night of November 9–10, Nazi stormtroopers, SS men and civilians attacked Jewish communities across Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland. Hundreds of synagogues were burned, thousands of Jewish-owned businesses were smashed and looted, and about 30,000 Jewish men were sent to concentration camps. At least 91 people were killed in the violence itself. The pogrom marked a drastic escalation in Nazi persecution of Jews.

1923

Beer Hall Putsch Suppressed

Adolf Hitler's coup attempt in Munich, launched the evening before, collapsed when Bavarian state police opened fire on Nazi marchers near the Odeonsplatz. Sixteen Nazis and four police officers were killed. Hitler fled but was arrested two days later; the Nazis later turned their dead into martyrs of the movement.

1918

German Revolution and the Kaiser's Abdication

As revolution spread through Germany, Chancellor Prince Max of Baden announced the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II, ending the Hohenzollern monarchy. That afternoon Social Democrat Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed a German republic from a Reichstag balcony, while Spartacist leader Karl Liebknecht proclaimed a "free socialist republic" from the Berlin Palace. The Weimar Republic that followed was Germany's first parliamentary democracy.