Riccardo Ehrman says Oscar Wilde once described life as a bad quarter of an hour with a few good moments. “That press conference,” explains Ehrman, “was one of the best moments of my life.” And yet he only asked Günter Schabowski one question. It is 9 November 1989. Schabowski, a leading SED official and spokesperson of the GDR government, opens an international press conference. Riccardo Ehrman, East Berlin correspondent of ANSA, the Italian news agency, is sitting on a chair almost immediately in front of him. At precisely 6:53 p.m. Ehrman finally manages to ask his question. It relates to a planned regulation that will allow GDR citizens to spend 30 days a year abroad – but only after going through an enormous amount of red tape: “Mr. Schabowski, don’t you believe that it was a big mistake to introduce this travel law several days ago?” Initially, Schabowski sidesteps this provocation, but then says: “...we have decided today to implement a regulation that allows every citizen of the GDR to leave the GDR through any of the border crossings.” This applies “immediately, without delay”. It later transpired that this new travel regulation had only been a draft proposal. However, the answer to Riccardo Ehrman’s question created facts that could not be repudiated.
Riccardo Ehrman,
born in 1929, today lives in Madrid. The Italian journalist worked as foreign correspondent for ANSA, the Italian news agency, for many years. Ehrman reported from the GDR from 1976 to 1982 and from 1985 until its end.
