well, as the parent comment said: "everyone showed up with amateur or actual construction equipment and started tearing it to pieces", my friends took hammers, chisels and maybe pickaxes, drove to berlin and started chipping away at the wall.
It should probably be said that tearing down the wall was mainly a souvenir thing. People did this so they could get their "piece of the Berlin wall", not to practically tear down the wall to cross it. At the point these images were taken you were already legally able to go to the other side at normal border crossings.
actually, i don't think so. there were not that many official border crossings. remember the wall went right through the city, and by right you should be able to cross on every street corner. so i believe that people were motivated to remove the wall to be able to cross more easily. but also to remove the wall as a symbol of the separation of the two parts of the city. at the time i certainly felt the sentiment was to get rid of the wall. i didn't see any boasting of souvenirs by my friends later.
You're forgetting that the "Berlin Wall" was actually two walls separated by a strip of "no-man's land" which was mined and patrolled by armed guards and dogs. Anyone who managed to breach one of the walls would not get far.
While the guards tolerated souvenir hunters, you would definitely not want to make a break for the other side. Although crossing may have been technically legal, it was still under the jurisdiction of the border authorities; just as it's legal to travel from Mexico to the US, but you can't just waltz across anywhere you want. Remember, East and West Germany were still two different countries, each with their own laws about customs and immigration.
The majority of the "wallpeckers" just wanted a souvenir and had no intention (or means) to actually break through steel-reinforced concrete using a hand held pick-axe and hammer. In fact, it took a concentrated effort to breach the wall sufficiently to create an opening you could actually pass through. The initial attempts at grabbing souvenirs (followed by actually removing large sections of the wall with construction equipment) happened at heavily populated areas like Checkpoint Charlie, where the large numbers of people made it harder for the authorities to object to.
Full disclosure: I was there and used a friend's hammer and pick-axe to break off a few pieces of the wall.
I gave away most to friends but kept one or two. They're about the size of your thumb. The best part is the visible graffiti on the exposed side. I remember reading that the concrete was impregnated with asbestos (not sure why) so I'd be leery about handling it. Currently it sits in a small plastic bag.
the concrete was impregnated with asbestos (not sure why)
up to the 80s asbestos was used almost everywhere in construction because it has many beneficial properties. for example it is fire resistant and strengthens the material it is mixed into.
