Official who precipitated fall of Berlin Wall dies aged 86

Guenter Schabowski, the senior East German official whose cryptic announcement that the communist country was opening its fortified border precipitated the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, has died aged 86.

His widow, Irina Schabowski, told the German news agency dpa that he died in a Berlin nursing home.

Politburo spokesman Mr Schabowski’s halting words at the conclusion of a plodding evening news conference on November 9 1989 put an end to Berlin’s 28 years of division. Mr Schabowski offhandedly said East Germany was lifting restrictions on travel across its border with West Germany.