The Peaceful Revolution (German: Friedliche Revolution) was a series of peaceful political protests against the regime of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) of East Germany. The protests, which included an emigration movement as well as street demonstrations, were a case of nonviolent resistance, also often called civil resistance. The events were part of the Revolutions of 1989.
In the summer of 1989, the East German government praised the Chinese Communist Party decision to use violence against the Tiananmen Square protesters. Like the People's Republic of China, East Germany had previously used violence against dissidents and it was not clear whether events would develop peacefully. The demonstrations began on Monday, September 4, 1989 at the St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig, led by a Protestant pastor of the church, Christian Führer. After the October 2 demonstration, Socialist Unity Party (SED) leader Erich Honecker issued a shoot to kill order to the National People's Army. The government prepared a huge police (volkspolizei), riot police (Kasernierte Volkspolizei), Stasi, and Combat Groups of the Working Class presence and there were rumors of a looming Tiananmen Square-style massacre.
On October 9, Leipzig's protesters took to the streets under the banner "We are the people!". The military surrounded the demonstrators, but did not take action. The Stasi, East Germany's secret police, unsuccessfully attempted to spark violence by planting violent agent provocateurs in the middle of crowds. Honecker had to resign on October 18.
The non-violent demonstrations were a key component in the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9 and ultimately led to the fall of the East German regime. German reunification happened within a year, on October 3, 1990.
The complete process of change in East Germany is known as Die Wende.
Read more about Peaceful Revolution: Earlier Demonstrations, External Factors That Facilitated The Revolution, The Peaceful Revolution
Famous quotes containing the words peaceful and/or revolution:
“And pray what more can a reasonable man desire, in peaceful times, in ordinary noons, than a sufficient number of ears of green sweet corn boiled, with the addition of salt?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“If the Revolution has the right to destroy bridges and art monuments whenever necessary, it will stop still less from laying its hand on any tendency in art which, no matter how great its achievement in form, threatens to disintegrate the revolutionary environment or to arouse the internal forces of the Revolution, that is, the proletariat, the peasantry and the intelligentsia, to a hostile opposition to one another. Our standard is, clearly, political, imperative and intolerant.”
—Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)