The Ministerium für Abrüstung und Verteidigung was responsible for dismantling the Berlin Wall since July 1990. The Ministerium für Abrüstung und Verteidigung (Ministry of Disarmament and Defence) succeeded the east german ministry of defence during the transition period. They decided that the east german border guards were going to demolish the wall, but due to the massive manpower and logistic requirements (around 200km had to be removed in Berlin alone) west german Federal Armed Forces assisted with twice as many pioneers. Private corporations assisted as well, providing some of the machinery required. Around 300 border guards worked with 600 pioneers to remove most of the wall in Berlin until 1991. (This website, provided by the german federal agency for civil education shows the progress until august 1990) Complete removal along the inner german border took until 1995.
Reusable parts were being sold to help with the massive costs. As you aknowledged in the title, citizens helped as well, but those were mainly concerned with opening up quick paths, the symbolic destruction and getting some souvenirs.(I do have some myself somewhere) Pieces with great street-art were sold at Art Auctions. Others remained as a Mahnmal, a memorial that stands as a warning for future generations.
Sources: Flemming, Thomas, Koch, Hagen: Die Berliner Mauer, Geschichte eines politischen Bauwerks, 2005.
Additional information from deutsche-einheit-1990.de, provided by the german Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung der SED Diktatur (Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship): You can view pictures and historical news reports here
Follow up question, how'd they decide which parts to preserve, and where to send each slab? Ex the big slab standing near modern day Checkpoint Charlie, the slabs at the Imperial War Museum in London, etc. - was it random which part of the wall these places received? Did they just ask for a part of the wall?
Source: http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/who-really-tore-down-berlin-wall
< Hans-Jürgen Sievers, a 46-year old minister in Leipzig’s Reformed Church, implored protesters to follow the American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.’s example. The Nikolai Church sported yellow banners that advised “leave the stones on the ground.”
< When East German Politburo member Günter Schabowski botched the announcement of the new policy during a late afternoon press conference — he never explained, for example, that all emigration still had to be approved by the state — others seized upon the oversight.
< After watching a video replay of Schabowki’s press conference from a building that overlooked the Wall, West Berlin’s Mayor Walter Momper decided to be guided by just two words: “as if.” He would simply act as if the Wall were open.
< Just before midnight, Harald Jäger, the senior officer in charge of the border crossing at Bornholmer Street, defied his orders and directed his staff to open the main gate.
< Within minutes, news spread up and down the Wall. And since the Brandenburg Gate didn’t have a formal border crossing, protesters there simply started climbing over. The East German government tried to re-impose control the following day, but could not. People had already begun chipping off pieces as souvenirs. [Mary Elise] Sarotte (author of The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall) estimates that as many as three million East Germans visited West Berlin and West Germany in just three days.
Multiple sources, that I'll credit below, seem to agree the start of the Berlin Wall "falling" was done mostly by East German citizens on November 9th, 1989 close to midnight. The event was heavily prompted by miscommunication on behalf of Günter Schabowski - spokesperson for the Socialist Unity Party of [East] Germany - as well as guards on the wall being overwhelmed without proper support during the late-night influx of East German citizens. The East Germans chipped away large portions of the wall, however, the East Germany government finally opened ten more border crossings; adding to the six already opened. It was the East Germany military who officially began demolition of the Berlin Wall in June of 1990, although East German citizens had made sizable holes. If you think about it; demolition of the Berlin Wall, both by citizens and East German military, was one of the best outcomes of a government body being overthrown by it's citizens, and a great deal of credit for this can be given to speeches by and the man himself; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was his words that guided the Peaceful Revolution - 20 years after his death. The Berlin Wall was, at first, chipped at by East Germany citizens via hand tools. The official demolition by the East Germany military was done via bulldozers.
Sources and Credits
David Childs, (2001) The Fall of the GDR: Germany's Road To Unity. {As well as his many other publications}
Dale, Gareth (2005). Popular Protest in East Germany, 1945–1989: Judgements on the Street.
Dowty, Alan (1989). Closed Borders: The Contemporary Assault on Freedom of Movement. Yale University Press.
Schulte, Bennet (2011). The Berlin Wall. Remains of a Lost Border.
http://diplomacy.state.gov/berlinwall/www/exhibitions/tear-down-this-wall.html (as well as sources cited on this site).
How well patrolled was the wall? Did people ever jump over or tunnel under it?