November 9 Birthday
November 9, 1989: The Berlin Wall fell. It was not planned. An East German official, Günter Schabowski, was asked at a press conference when new travel regulations would take effect. He answered "immediately, without delay." He had not been told this. East Berliners rushed to the border crossings. The guards, with no orders, eventually opened the gates. People on both sides began smashing the wall with hammers. On the same date in 1938: Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass, when Nazi paramilitaries destroyed 7,000 Jewish businesses and 267 synagogues across Germany. People born on November 9 fall under the zodiac sign of Scorpio. The birthstone is Topaz and the birth flower is Chrysanthemum. Historical events on November 9 include 1938: Kristallnacht — Nazi pogrom against Jews, 1989: Berlin Wall falls, 1965: Great Northeast Blackout. Famous people born on November 9 include Carl Sagan (1934), Hedy Lamarr (1914), Lou Ferrigno (1951).