Günter Schabowski quotes

Günter Schabowski was an East German journalist and politician, notable for his role in the events leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall. A member of the Socialist Unity Party, he became internationally known after a press conference where he mistakenly suggested that East Germans could immediately cross into West Berlin. He inadvertently contributed to a historic turning point that led to German reunification. Here are 3 of his quotes:

Private travel into foreign countries can be requested without conditions (passports or family connections). Permission will be granted instantly. Permanent relocations can be done through all border checkpoints between the GDR into the FRG or Berlin (West). (Günter Schabowski)
Ostalgie [≈ "East German Nostalgia”] is not my kind of thing. To some, the GDR appears in a backward-looking bleary-eyed view as a palladium of social security. In truth, the GDR collapsed not least because, being economically inefficient, it could not finance its social promises. View quote
Günter Schabowski
What upsets me the most is that I was an accountable representative of a system under which people suffered, also under which repression was aimed at individuals, who were persecuted because of their oppositional stance. Their position was the right one. My position was the wrong one. We were not capable of democracy, but rather tried in the absence of better arguments to get rid of the other opinion with direct violence. View quote
Günter Schabowski