Turning Point: The Fall

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Turning Point

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Ten dramas illuminating historical turning points

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The Fall

BBC Radio 4 - Turning Point, The Fall

The story of the mistake that caused one of the crucial turning points of the 20th century

By Clara Glynn. This is a story of misguided good men doing their best, evil men doing their worst and an incompetent bureaucrat who accidentally changes the world.

by Clara Glynn

The extraordinary story of the mistake that caused one of the most significant turning points of the 20th century.  

In November 1989 the repressive tyranny of the GDR ended and with it the Cold War, bringing in 33 years of peace - which only recently ended. 

 At a routine press conference on November 9, 1989, an East German spokesperson, Günter Schabowski, was handed an announcement about relaxed travel regulations for the people of East Germany. He mistakenly announced that the checkpoints in the Berlin Wall — which up until then were guarded by soldiers with orders to shoot anyone trying to cross — were now open. They weren’t, but that announcement was all East Berliners needed to storm the Wall and demand they be allowed to cross into West Berlin. After that, the Wall became obsolete, and soon fell.

This is a story of misguided good men doing their best, evil men doing their worst and an incompetent bureaucrat who accidentally changes the world.

Erich Honecker ..... Gary Lewis
Erich Mielke ..... Crawford Logan
Egon Krenz ..... Adam McNamara
Gerhard Lauter ..... Robin Laing
Erika Lauter ..... Lisa Livingstone
Günter Schabowski/Mikhail Gorbachev ..... Michael Nardone
Monika Folke ..... Elysia Welch
Vladimir Putin ..... Michael Guest 

Sound design by Fraser Jackson

Directed by Gaynor Macfarlane

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