Did Bruce Springsteen Help Tear Down Berlin Wall? New Book Proposes E Street Band Rocker Convinced East Germans To Destroy Wall

Bruce Springsteen has done it all. He's written some of the most iconic songs in history, won Grammy awards and become a living legend.

And apparently, he also convinced East Germans in 1988 to destroy the Berlin Wall.

That is the contention put forth by American journalist Erik Kirschbaum in his new book, "Rocking The Wall," according to a Reuters article.

Kirschbaum points to a concert that Springsteen performed in then-Communist East Germany in July 1988, 16 months before the Wall came down. More than 300,000 fans attended the show, the largest concert in East German history.

"It's great to be in East Berlin. I'm not for or against any government. I came here to play rock 'n' roll for you, in the hope that one day all barriers will be torn down," Springsteen said in German during the show.

Kirschbaum pulled eyewitness accounts, interviewed The Boss' manager and translators, cited documents from those who organized the show and used files from the Stasi secret police to make the case that Springsteen's concert was the spark that lit the fuse that eventually tore down the Wall in 1989.

"Kirschbaum, a Reuters correspondent in Berlin, argues that this short speech, delivered in German, touched a nerve in a country without freedom of speech, where the media was censored, political opposition was all but non-existent and those trying to escape the Wall risked being shot by border guards," the Reuters article states.

A Springsteen fan named Joerg Beneke who attended the historic concert called it "a nail in the coffin for East Germany."

"We had never heard anything like that from anyone inside East Germany," Beneke told Kirschbaum. "That was the moment some of us had been waiting a lifetime to hear."

Kirschbaum also said the following:

"Whether Springsteen deserves belated credit for helping end the Cold War depends to a certain extent on whether you believe in the power of rock 'n' roll. But what is beyond doubt is that Springsteen's 1988 concert is a glorious example of the influence that rock 'n' roll can have on people who are hungry and ready for change."