24 hours that changed the world: On November 9, 1989, Günter Schabowski, member and spokesman of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED, read out the GDR's new travel regulations at a press conference broadcast live on GDR television. It had been drawn up by high-ranking officers from the Ministry of the Interior and the State Security. Contrary to the guidelines of the political leadership, the authors had written the possibility of an unbureaucratic departure and re-entry into the paper. Nevertheless, the travel regulation passed the Central Committee without objection.—ARD