Riccardo Ehrman was an Italian journalist whose question at a government press conference in the former East Germany is said to have precipitated the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The press conference on 9 November 1989, Riccardo Ehrman is near the centre of the picture, sitting down in front of the desk.
The fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, marked the beginning of the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain, as East Berlin transit restrictions were overwhelmed and discarded. Sections of the wall were breached, and planned deconstruction began the following June. It was one of the series of events that started the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe. The fall of the inner German border took place shortly afterward. An end to the Cold War was declared at the Malta Summit in early December, and German reunification took place in October the following year.
Germans stand on top of the Wall in front of the Brandenburg Gate, before this section was torn down on December 9 1989 in the hours before the West German leader walked through the Gate to greet his East German counterpart
This section of the Wall's "death strip" featured Czech hedgehogs, a guard tower and a cleared area, 1977.
The press conference on 9 November 1989 by Günter Schabowski (seated on stage, second from right) and other East German officials which led to the fall of the Wall. Riccardo Ehrman is sitting on the floor of the podium with the table just behind him.
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