Berlin Wall anniversary: doubts cast over Nicolas Sarkozy's pickaxe claim
Nicolas Sarkozy has been accused of overstating his part in the fall of the
Berlin Wall, after he claimed to have rushed with a pickaxe in hand the
night it fell while archives suggested he only showed up a week later.
By Henry Samuel in Paris
Published: 9:00PM GMT 09 Nov 2009
A Facebook posting by the French president showed a photo of Mr
Sarkozy, then a 34-year old MP, standing before graffiti-stained
section of the wall.
Mr Sarkozy recounted how he and Alain Juppé,
the former prime minister, left Paris on the morning of November 9
after hearing of "major developments" in Berlin.
He
added: "We arrived in West Berlin and went to the Brandenburg Gate
where a noisy crowd had gathered expecting the announcement the wall
would come down."
But Mr Juppé cast doubt on Mr Sarkozy's claims
yesterday by writing in his blog that he was probably only in Berlin
"several days later". French press archives suggest the pair arrived on
November 16.
Gallic commentators also questioned his version of
events, saying news of the collapse did not come until late in the day
on 9 November, and West Berliners did not begin hacking at the Wall
until the following day.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/6532711/Berlin-Wall-anniversary-doubts-cast-over-Nicolas-Sarkozys-pickaxe-claim.html