The Gate on Bornholmer Strasse

On the evening of November 9, 1989, Harald Jäger stood at the Bornholmer Strasse checkpoint in East Berlin, facing a crowd of thousands. For twenty-eight years, the Wall had declared these people unworthy of freedom — a concrete rejection stretching across an entire city. Jäger was a border guard. His superiors gave no clear orders as the crowd swelled. He could have held the line.…