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.
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