Berlin Wall youngsters. Another border crossing to the south may have been opened earlier. An account by Heinz Schäfer indicates that he also acted independently and ordered the opening of the gate at Waltersdorf-Rudow a couple of hours earlier. This may explain reports of East Berliners appearing in West Berlin earlier than the opening of the Bornholmer Straße border crossing. The fall of the Berlin Wall () began the evening of 9 November 1989 and continued over the following days and weeks, with people nicknamed (wall woodpeckers) using various tools to chip off souvenirs, demolishing lengthy parts in the process, and creating
The Fall of Berlin (film) architect of Germany's defeat. Denise J. Youngblood wrote that shortly afterwards, there remained only three kinds of war heroes: "the dead, the maimed and Stalin." Mikheil Chiaureli, Stalin's favourite director, and writer Pyotr Pavlenko have already collaborated to create the 1946 personality cult picture "The Vow". The Soviet Minister of Cinema, Ivan Bolshakov, instructed them both to begin work on "The Fall of Berlin" shortly after the release of "The Vow" in July 1946. The film was conceived as the Mosfilm studio's gift to Stalin for his official 70th birthday, which was to be held on 21 December 1949. "The