Riccardo Ehrman

The press conference on 9 November 1989, Riccardo Ehrman is near the centre of the picture, sitting down in front of the desk

Riccardo Ehrmann (born 4 November 1929 in Florence) is a retired Italian journalist whose question at a government press conference in the former East Germany is said to have precipitated the end of the Berlin Wall.

He is said to have asked Günter Schabowski, East German press secretary, when new travel restrictions were set to be lifted. After a few seconds, Schabowski replied "As far as I know … effective immediately, without delay." (Das tritt nach meiner Kenntnis … ist das sofort … unverzüglich.)" This led to a flood of East and West Germans converging on the wall and overwhelming border guards, eventually being let through.

References

• Kirchner, Stephanie (2009-04-19). "Berlin Wall: Was the Fall Engineered by the GDR?". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2019-03-12.

• Walker, Marcus (2009-10-22). "Did Brinkmannship Fell Berlin's Wall? Brinkmann Says It Did". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2019-03-12.

External links

Media related to Riccardo Ehrman at Wikimedia Commons