On the evening of 9 November 1989, thousands of East Berliners crowded the border crossing at Bornholmer Straße. The officer in charge that night was Harald Jäger, a lieutenant colonel of the Stasi, the state security service. His calls for help through official channels had no effect. His superiors did not believe him.
In the end, Jäger had the barrier raised. Journalists later told him it was 23:20. He reported to the operations center: Passkontrollen eingestellt. Die GÜST war nicht mehr zu halten. Passport checks stopped. The crossing could no longer be held. In 2014, the public broadcaster ARD told the story in the television film Bornholmer Straße.