The peaceful revolution in the GDR (the German Wende und friedliche Revolution in der DDR - changes and the peaceful revolution in the GDR , in Germany is called simply Change ( German Wende )) - the process of socio-political changes in the German Democratic Republic , marked by the end of the domination of the socialist party , the transition to parliamentary democracy and the accompanying desire for unification of Germany .
These fundamental changes were promoted mainly by the simple population of the GDR, who came out on a free initiative to protests and demonstrations, which were a peaceful revolution that slowed down between the elections in May 1989 and the first truly free elections to the People’s Chamber in March 1990. .
The revolution is connected both with the policy of Mikhail Gorbachev's refusal from Soviet hegemony in Eastern Europe, and because of the inspiration of the reform movement in Poland , Hungary and Czechoslovakia . Together with glasnost and perestroika, the foreign policy openness of the Soviet Union revealed the shortcomings of socialist planned economy ; The low competitiveness of the GDR economy, the successes of globalization and the increase in public debt destabilized the dictatorship of the socialist party and the political situation in the country.
In the summer of 1989, the mass departure of people from the GDR to other countries of the Eastern Bloc intensified, mainly to Hungary and Czechoslovakia, as well as to the West , and the protest movement in the GDR increased. Internal social movements, consisting of intellectuals, emigrants and clergymen, strengthened the reform processes, initiative citizens gathered to protest, which was a sign of an increased number of dissatisfied with the regime, as well as an increase in the number of peaceful citizens, which threatened a confrontation with pro-state forces, as well as threatened no longer mild repression.
Due to the reforms carried out in the "fraternal socialist countries", the leadership of the GDR more and more isolated the country, apparently delegitimized and weakened the dictatorship of the socialist party, and it finally abandoned state violence, which increased the number of demonstrators and led to the destruction of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989 of the year. This event was a turning point not only of the East German revolution, but of the whole world history: the fall of the wall symbolized the collapse of the ineffective totalitarian socialism and its surrender to the Western market and democracy. Changes in state and party governance led to the state’s readiness to conduct a dialogue with opposition forces from the top of the socialist party, which tried in vain to regain political initiative, due to the establishment of political instability and the threat of a split in the party’s finances, more and more power in the country began to pass to federal government led by Helmut Kohl .
The government, led by Prime Minister Hans Modrow , controlled the holding of a round table from the beginning of December 1989, joint actions with demonstrators led to the dissolution of the top Stasi and to an end to repressions on his part, which led to preparations for the formation of a free, strong national representation. A confident victory in the elections of the Alliance for Germany and domestic political concessions connected the two German states.
Chronicle of events in 1989 [1]
- August 19 - after the dismantling of border barriers on the borders of Hungary with Austria, the first 668 citizens of the GDR , who were resting in Hungary, crossed the border without any problems and ended up in Austria.
- August 31 - Hungarian Foreign Minister Gyula Horn, at a meeting with Foreign Minister of the GDR Oscar Fischer, said that Hungary was not going to further obstruct the GDR citizens who were on its territory in their attempts to move to the West (by September 25, the number of Germans using the “Hungarian corridor ”, exceeded 20 thousand).
- October 7 - M. Gorbachev arrives at the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the founding of the GDR. At the torchlight procession of youth, demonstrators, in particular, carry the posters "Gorbachev, help us!"
- October 9 - USSR Ambassador to the German Democratic Republic V. I. Kochemasov sends a dispatch to Moscow, in which, in particular, it says: “The situation continues to worsen. Our friends are very worried. ” In Leipzig, the number of demonstrators reaches 70 thousand.
- October 12 - Egon Krenz (secretary of the Central Committee and member of the Politburo), Hans Modrow (first secretary of the Dresden district committee of the SED) and Gunter Schabowski (first secretary of the Berlin district committee of the SED) hold secret consultations, developing a plan to remove Erich Honecker from power. They enlist the support of Minister of State Security Erich Milke .
- October 18 - the Central Committee Politburo dismisses Erich Honecker from the posts of SED General Secretary and Chairman of the State Council of the GDR. His successor is E. Krenz.
- October 23 - 300 thousand people participate in a demonstration in Leipzig demanding freedom of exit and termination of the SED monopoly on power. The country is getting out of control. E. Krenz meets with the commander of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany B.V. Snetkov , who assured him that he will provide, if necessary, "any help."
- October 26 - German Chancellor Helmut Kohl first talks on the phone with E. Krenz, who asks for a loan of 20 billion marks to ensure freedom of travel. Mr. Kohl promises to think.
- November 1 - talks in Moscow between E. Krenets and M. Gorbachev. The latter makes it clear that there will be no more military or financial support.
- November 3 - the GDR government announces that a new law on leaving the country will come into force in December, and those wishing to immediately move to the Federal Republic of Germany are now allowed to do this through Czechoslovakia (more than 20 thousand people have this right for two days).
- November 4 - A rally in central East Berlin Square Alexanderplatz gathers about a million participants. At the rally, in particular, G. Shabowski and the former head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the MGB of the German Democratic Republic Markus Wolf spoke (both were booed as representatives of the "old forces"). A live broadcast is going to the meeting room of the Politburo, where the party and state leadership is located.
- November 9 - at a press conference in Berlin G. Shabowski (who also became Secretary of the SED Central Committee on Information on November 6) in live broadcast on television of the GDR in response to a question from Italian journalist Ricardo Ehrmann read a message about a new free procedure for citizens of the GDR to go abroad . When asked by the British correspondent about when the new rules would enter into force, he answered “immediately”.
After hearing this statement live, after a few hours, thousands of Berliners went to checkpoints across the Berlin Wall and demanded their discovery. In the end, the head of one of the points, Lt. Col. Jaeger, gave the order not to interfere with the demonstrators and let them through. As a result, the demonstrators immediately began the spontaneous dismantling of small sections of the wall .
Notes
- ↑ Newspaper Today, November 9, 1999
Links
- revolution89.de - website dedicated to the 1989 revolution
- [1] - site of the Federal Stasi Documentation Agency; about the peaceful revolution and the role of the Stasi in it