Peaceful Revolution - The Peaceful Revolution

The Peaceful Revolution

By September 1989, the East German people had become more unruly, and many opposition movements were created. Among them were the Neues Forum (New Forum), Demokratischer Aufbruch (Democratic Awakening), and Demokratie Jetzt (Democracy Now). The largest opposition movement was created through a Protestant church service at Leipzig’s Nikolaikirche, German for Church of Saint Nicholas, where each Monday after service citizens gather outside demanding change in East Germany.

The demonstrators' strong tie to the church helped assure the peaceful nature of the demonstrations. The group grew from week to week and by October 9, 1989 there were 120,000 non-violent protestors, and a week later there were 320,000. Once other East Germany cities, such as East Berlin, Karl-Marx-Stadt, and Potsdam, heard about the Leipzig demonstrations, they, too, began meeting on Monday nights at the city squares. On November 4, 1989 over 500,000 East Germans gathered in protest in the streets of East Berlin. These demonstrations were called Monday demonstrations.

After the October 2 demonstration, Socialist Unity Party leader Eric Honecker issued a shoot to kill order to the military.

The East German government prepared a huge police (Volkspolizei), the anti-riots police (Kasernierte Volkspolizei), Stasi, and work-combat troop presence and there were rumors of a Tiananmen Square-style massacre.

On October 9, Leipzig's anti-communists took to the streets under the banner "We are the people!". Communist military surrounded the demonstrators, but did not take action despite orders from the Socialist Unity Party. The Stasi attempted to spark violence by planting violent demonstrators in the middle of crowds.

The severity in the size of the demonstrations proved that the majority of the population was against the regime. “We are the people” was the main chant of the non-violent protestors that could be heard echoing throughout the streets of East Germany. It came to symbolize the power of the people united against its oppressive government. They wanted democracy, free elections and freedom of mobility.

By the middle of October, East Germans were leaving the country at a rate of 10,000 per day. The massive exodus was taking a toll on the country's infrastructure. Combined with the large non-violent demonstrations carried out throughout the country, it was enough to force Honecker to resign on October 18, in favour of his top lieutenant, Egon Krenz. Several other members of the Politburo also resigned that day, including Margot Honecker, Erich Mielke, Kurt Hager, and Hans Tisch. By November 7, 1989 the entire government, under Willi Stoph resigned.

Then, on November 9, 1989, the Politburo voted to allow East Germans to go to West Germany directly through East Germany. Günter Schabowski, the party boss of East Berlin, was charged with making the announcement. However, he didn't know that the regulations were to take effect the next day. When asked when the regulations were to take effect, he replied, "As far as I know effective immediately, without delay." Later that evening, pictures were broadcast all over the world of thousands climbing and tearing down the Berlin Wall in the presence of the helpless East German guards that could do nothing about it. In the following days, thousands of East Germans were free to come and go as they pleased, a right that had been denied to them for years. In December 1989, the entire Politburo, including Krenz, resigned. Shortly afterward, the SED gave up its guaranteed right to rule. The demonstrations eventually ended in March 1990, around the time of the first free multi-party elections.