The Events of 1989
- Created by: JessFurb
- Created on: 03-03-16 19:53
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- The Events of 1989
- Opening of Hungary's Borders
- September 1989 Hungary opened border quietly with Austria
- Thousands of East Germans on holiday in Hungary simply crossed the border
- 10 September officially declared the border open
- repealing the law with GDR that they would not let any East German's leave their territory without exit visas
- 30,000 East Germans left in 2 weeks to go to Austria
- Some camped out in the West German embassy in Budapest demanding exit visas
- GDR leadership were slow to respond
- Hard to close the border with a fellow Warsaw Pact ally
- Banned the citizens from visiting Hungary
- Thousands camped out in FRG embassies demanding exit visas
- The Sealed Train
- Honecker allowed 5500 citizens camped out in embassies to leave for the FRG as long as the train went through the GDR
- Many people tried to climb on board and in Dresden had to be physically and brutally stopped
- When they went on board to confiscate GDR papers they were found to be already ripped up
- Recorded on FRG TV
- Protests
- Spread to almost every city
- Protested about everything; living conditions, pollution, lack of freedom - but not yet the regime
- Authorites failed to recognise it
- Not one revoltionary movement - all different
- Christians wanted more rights of worship
- supporters of the FRG Green Party became vocal on environmental issues
- The New Forum - nationwide political movement - demanding democratic reform
- In Leipzig
- Particularly in the latter where the Nikolaikirche (St Nicholas Church) increasingly became popular for protest
- regular Monday crows of 70,000 outside
- Sunday 8 October - Erich Mielke gave a red alret and the authority to shoot to kill
- Protests took place as normal but the forces did not stop it or fire their weapons
- Often a call for no violence
- huge rally on 9 October called for restraint and were heeded
- Did not want to do the same as China with Tiananmen Square in June 1989
- USSR troopos remained in the barracks
- Some questioned the security forces themselves. If they refused order the whole security apparatus would be brought in for questioning.
- If the authorities could only keep control by repression and the agents of such repression refused to be repressive, their authority would collapse
- Some troops were told to fire for self-defence - only if they were being attacked with violence
- Often a call for no violence
- Particularly in the latter where the Nikolaikirche (St Nicholas Church) increasingly became popular for protest
- Gorbachev's visit to East Berlin
- Argued that Honecker did his best to ignore the protest and concentrate on the celebations
- 40th anniversary was important to him
- 7 October - anniversary
- Gorbachev was the guest of honour
- During the parade of FDJ many called out to Gorbachev to help
- These youths were supposedly the pride of the GDR youth
- Later at a Politburo meeting a member said they should have had the 'coup d'etat' there (talking about the overthrow of Honecker)
- they had been plotting it for months
- As Honecker survived it showed that they had a lack of organisation and initative
- The system was so centralised and so lacking in avenues for dissent that it would take a real crisis to overthrow a leader
- 40th anniversary celebrations
- Gorbachev had reiterated that USSR would not help them
- Honecker had been asserting that the GDR did not needed the USSR
- Meant people could riot and the USSR forces would not stop them = bad for GDR and Honecker
- Argued that Honecker did his best to ignore the protest and concentrate on the celebations
- Honecker's Dismissal
- incapacitated by illness through September 1989
- Opponents did not act against him
- Had already had a cancerous tumour removed but doctors had missed one
- Two events led to dismissal
- 40th anniversary celebrations
- Gorbachev had reiterated that USSR would not help them
- Honecker had been asserting that the GDR did not needed the USSR
- Meant people could riot and the USSR forces would not stop them = bad for GDR and Honecker
- Mass Protests
- in Leipzig and elsewhere
- authorities could not stop them
- 40th anniversary celebrations
- 17 October at a Poitburo meeting he was told to resign as lost the support of the Party
- Said as he left that him going woud not solve any problems
- incapacitated by illness through September 1989
- Krenz and the opening of the Berlin Wall
- Opening of the Berlin Wall
- 9 November officials at the Interior Ministry drafted a proposal the East Germans should travel abroad if they had the right passport
- Not conceding anything as passports and visas might not be granted
- Read out later at a press conference by Günter Schabowski - may not have had time to read
- Schabowski said that it would take immediate effect and many flocked to the border to leave
- Last people to know were those still in the meeting but by then it was too late
- FRG had announced that the GDR had opened its borders
- 10.30pm - official anouncement that they need to apply for travel permits
- 11.30pm - border guards open the gates due to the amount of people trying to get through
- Some passports were stamped so they knew not to let those back in after
- 11.30pm - border guards open the gates due to the amount of people trying to get through
- The wall fell a few days after the opening on the 11th November
- Did not mean the end of the GDR - they were bankrupt but the government still worked
- People still wanting to leave kept increaing to unsustainable levels
- 9 November officials at the Interior Ministry drafted a proposal the East Germans should travel abroad if they had the right passport
- Demonstrations grew in size
- 30,000 marched in Leipzig - wanted new leader Egon Krenz to resign
- sometimes as many as 750,000 demonstrators on the streets at times
- Krenz visited the USSR on the 1 November but came away with nothing
- Wanted to reform the government by replacing the old SED members with the young
- Wanted Hans Modrow - the reformist SED leader in Dresden in the SED
- Wanted to reform the government by replacing the old SED members with the young
- Stasi began to shred the files
- Ordered the reopening of the border with Czecholovakia on 1.11
- Opening of the Berlin Wall
- Opening of Hungary's Borders
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