What major historical events do you remember?

The oldest historical event I can remember from the time I lived so far was The Fall of the Berlin Wall. Even a couple of years before the Fall, I remember how East Germans fled to the West, from Hungary to Austria, to reach Germany. The continued rising numbers of refugees over the years had, of course, an effect on the political and economic situation in East Germany. Only in July and August 1989 did 50,000 East Germans take refuge.

Then, on the evening of November 9, 1989, watching the breaking news, Günther Schabowski, political bureau speaker, announced new regulations about the freedom of travel and emigration for East Germans; there were no restrictions anymore. This note was announced at a press conference at 7 pm on the 9^th of November, but there was some confusion about the time this regulation would be put into action and what would happen to the Berlin Wall. After that, I remember late in the evening, seeing pictures on the TV show of massive crowds of East Germans climbing up the Wall and coming over to West Berlin.

This evening changed everything in Germany and the sense of the Cold War because a new diplomacy period had begun between the Soviet Union/Mikhail Gorbachev and Germany / Helmut Kohl.  Actually, it is said that the fall of the Berlin Wall ended the Cold War era.