From border controller to the officer who ordered the Wall opened
“That’s why I gave my people the order: Open the barrier!”
Harald Jäger was a border-control officer who served the East German Ministry for State Security, enforcing the state’s travel controls and intelligence work. On 9 November 1989, without clear direction from his superiors, he faced a growing crowd and the danger of violence at Bornholmer Straße. He belonged to the machinery of control, yet that night he ordered the barrier opened, allowing thousands of East German citizens into West Berlin. He later acknowledged both the GDR’s inner contradictions and the freedom brought by the Wall’s fall.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1943Born in Bautzen
- 1961Volunteered for the German Border Police
- 1964–1989Served in the Ministry for State Security passport-control units
- 1976–1981Studied at the Stasi Law College and earned a law degree
- 1989Deputy commander at the Bornholmer Straße crossing
- 1989.11.09Ordered the Bornholmer Straße barrier opened without authorization
- 1990Dismissed during the dissolution of the Stasi
Related historical events
9 November 1989: the chain of command and the decision to open
On the evening of 9 November 1989 Jäger was the officer on duty at the Bornholmer Straße crossing. Watching Günter Schabowski's press conference on television at about 20:00, he immediately telephoned his superiors about the new travel rules; his superior, MfS Colonel Rudi Ziegenhorn, made clear that the old regulations still applied. Soon people began gathering, and by about 21:00 a line of cars stretched more than a kilometre back to Schönhauser Allee. Judging that he could not hold the crossing with his 14 staff, five border soldiers and 16 to 18 customs officers, Jäger triggered a "silent" alarm without authorisation.
He telephoned Ziegenhorn repeatedly to ask whether the citizens could be let through. Ziegenhorn connected him to Deputy Minister Gerhard Neiber, who questioned whether Jäger was assessing the situation realistically. The instruction that came down was the so-called "valve" solution: release only the loudest and most provocative, and stamp their identity cards across the photograph so they could not return. Jäger considered the procedure dubious but carried it out. When citizens who had made a short visit to West Berlin tried to come back, however, he did not apply the order and let them re-enter. Facing an uncontrollable crowd and fearing that people might seize his officers' weapons, he ordered the crossing opened at about 23:30, telling Ziegenhorn that he was going to disobey the order. Earlier that evening Major Manfred Sens had passed on the standing instruction to "arrest or eliminate" border violators; no shots were fired.