31st anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the photographer who captured it

When Ronald Reagan visited West Berlin in 1987 he urged Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall. But no one expected it to happen.

Two years later, in November 1989, that is just what happened and Brian Harris, staff photographer for The Independent, was there.

The collapse of the Berlin Wall was the moment that signalled the end of communism in Europe.

His comprehensive coverage of the days that changed Europe forever was widely recognised, and among the many awards he received was the prestigious What the Papers Say photographer of the year award in 1990 for his work in eastern Europe.

Brian had arrived in East Berlin on 6 November and had spent time photographing the people and streets of East Berlin and the small protests that were breaking out all around.

Late on 9 November he had a call from then-editor of The Independent Andreas Whittam Smith, who said that the wall was about to come down.

Associated Press, Andreas said, had announced that the wall was about to be breached and even conveniently provided the address of where to be.

The wall was breached and Brian had a picture of a dumper truck being used to break up the wall. He decided that he would try to get back across from East Berlin to West Berlin so that he could send his pictures back to the paper.

But for Brian, the Iron Curtain stood firm. The bureaucracy that had become a way of life for those behind the Berlin Wall prevented Brian from crossing back to West Berlin because he did not have the correct paperwork.

After many efforts to cross back from East Berlin to the West so he could send his pictures back to The Independent, he decided it was not going to happen in time for that night’s edition and so Brian returned to witness the break-up of the wall.

He found a vantage point in a tree that enabled him to watch the proceedings as the Berlin Wall began to come down.

Around 2am, the East German border guards found themselves being taunted by West Berliners who were climbing on the wall. Their solution was to get water hoses onto the protesting Berliners. Brian took a brilliant picture of West Berliners sitting on the wall defending themselves with an umbrella.

Brian’s endeavours got his film back to the airport in West Berlin the next morning in time to get the film onto a flight to London. The film arrived in the offices of The Independent by early afternoon and Brian’s pictures were used across the back page with this picture occupying eight columns.

You can buy ‘The Berlin Wall Falls’, by Brian Harris, here. The rest of the Brian Harris collection, including a selection of pictures taken in Berlin around the fall of the wall, can be found here