9 November 1989 was an important day because it marked the day after the first birthday of Wilhelm, the Neuberts' third (and at the time youngest) child. They remembered the anniversary only the day after it fell, and they hastily improvised an ad hoc ceremony involving a candle, a quick blessing, a hymn and a not quite random present that had been acquired some months earlier. That evening news came through on the radio in the kitchen (tuned to a West German news report) that in East Berlin protesters had breached the wall. There had been no serious attempt by the uniformed border guards and other security service personnel present to prevent the development, and Soviet soldiers looking on made no move. As usual, that evening the Neuberts were entertaining visitors to a meal: on this occasion guests included some "reform communists" from France. Their foreign visitors were convinced that the grapevine reports picked up by the western radio station could not possibly be true. While their German guests slipped off to make their way to the wall and investigate further, the Frenchmen stayed on, determined to pursue the serious discussion they were having at table about the possibility of a future communism with a human face. The Neuberts were therefore not present that evening as the gap in the Berlin Wall was breached and then enlarged so that incredulous East Berliners could pour through, most of them at this stage simply curious to find out how things looked on the other side. It was several days later, having accepted an invitation to give an interview to , that Hildigund Neubert undertook her own first visit to West Berlin.