Douglas Hamilton, a senior correspondent in East Berlin, writes 20 later that as the Berlin Wall was opened to the West, “It was impossible to resist the euphoria and carry on coolly as the objective reporter. The initial sense of utter disbelief, followed by the realization of hope suddenly triumphant, was too powerful. Everyone was swept along.”
It became one of those unique moments of what I can only call mutual human recognition, when complete strangers could embrace each other in the delirious crowds.