The Inner German Border disappears!

1989 a year of revolutions

Two hundred years on from the French Revolution, the Revolutions of 1989 formed part of a revolutionary wave in the late 1980s and early 1990s that resulted in the end of communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond. The period is sometimes called the Autumn of Nations, a play on the term "Spring of Nations" that is sometimes used to describe the Revolutions of 1848. 

The events of the full-blown revolution began in Poland in 1989 and continued in Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Romania. One feature common to most of these developments was the extensive use of campaigns of civil resistance, demonstrating popular opposition to the continuation of one-party rule and contributing to the pressure for change. Romania was the only Eastern Bloc country whose people overthrew its Communist regime violently. Protests in Tiananmen Square (April to June 1989) failed to stimulate major political changes in China, but influential images of courageous defiance during that protest helped to precipitate events in other parts of the globe.   

On 4 June 1989 the trade union Solidarity won an overwhelming victory in a partially free election in Poland, leading to the peaceful fall of Communism in that country in the summer of 1989.

In June Hungary began dismantling its section of the physical Iron Curtain, leading to an exodus of East Germans through Hungary, which destabilised East Germany. This led to mass demonstrations in cities such as Leipzig and subsequently to the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, which served as the symbolic gateway to German reunification in 1990. 

The Soviet Union dissolved in December 1991, resulting in 11 new countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan) which had declared their independence from the Soviet Union in the course of the year, while the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) regained their independence. The rest of the Soviet Union, which constituted the bulk of the area, became the Russian Federation in December 1991. 

Albania and Yugoslavia abandoned Communism between 1990 and 1992. By 1992, Yugoslavia had split into five successor states: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which was later renamed Serbia and Montenegro in 2003 and eventually split into two states, Serbia and Montenegro, in 2006. Serbia was then further split with the breakaway of the partially recognised state of Kosovo in 2008. 

Czechoslovakia dissolved three years after the end of Communist rule, splitting peacefully into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1992. 

During the adoption of varying forms of market economy, there was a general decline in living standards, that for many former communist countries continues to this day. 

Many Communist and Socialist organisations in the West turned their guiding principles over to social democracy. Communist parties in Italy and San Marino suffered, and the reformation of the Italian political class took place in the early 1990s.  

The European political landscape changed drastically, with several former Eastern Bloc countries joining NATO and the European Union, resulting in stronger economic and social integration with Western Europe and the United States. 

The fall of the GDR 

It all began in Poland. Labour turmoil in Poland during 1980 had led to the formation of the independent trade union, Solidarity, led by Lech Wałęsa, which over time became a political force.

 

 

On 13 December 1981, Polish Prime Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski started a crackdown on Solidarity by declaring martial law in Poland, suspending the union, and temporarily imprisoning all of its leaders.

Throughout the mid-1980s, Solidarity persisted solely as an underground organization, supported by the Catholic Church. However, by the late 1980s, Solidarity became sufficiently strong to frustrate Jaruzelski's attempts at reform, and nationwide strikes in 1988 forced the government to open dialogue with Solidarity.

On 9 March 1989, both sides agreed to a bicameral legislature called the National Assembly. The already existing Sejm would become the lower house. The Senate would be elected by the people. Traditionally a ceremonial office, the presidency was given more powers (Polish Round Table Agreement).

The Sinatra doctrine . . .

By 1989, the Soviet Union had repealed the Brezhnev Doctrine in favor of non-intervention in the internal affairs of its Warsaw Pact allies, termed the Sinatra Doctrine in a joking reference to the Frank Sinatra song "My Way". Poland became the first Warsaw Pact country to break free of Soviet domination.

The Strikes of 1988 in Poland

A wave of strikes hit Poland in April and May 1988, and a second wave began on 15 August that year when a strike broke out at the July Manifesto coal mine in Jastrzębie-Zdrój, the workers demanding the re-legalisation of Solidarity.

Over the next few days, sixteen other mines went on strike followed by a number of shipyards, including on 22 August, the Gdansk Shipyard, famous as the epicentre of the 1980 industrial unrest that spawned Solidarity.

On 31 August 1988 Lech Wałęsa, the leader of Solidarity, was invited to Warsaw by the Communist authorities, who had finally agreed to talks.

On 18 January 1989 at a stormy session of the Tenth Plenary Session of the ruling United Workers' Party, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, the First Secretary, managed to get party backing for formal negotiations with Solidarity leading to its future legalisation – although this was achieved only by threatening the resignation of the entire party leadership if thwarted.

On 6 February 1989 formal Round Table discussions began in the Hall of Columns in Warsaw.

On 4 April 1989 the historic Round Table Agreement was signed legalising Solidarity and setting up partly free parliamentary elections to be held on 4 June 1989 (incidentally, the day following the midnight crackdown on Chinese protesters in Tiananmen Square).

A political earthquake followed. The victory of Solidarity surpassed all predictions. Solidarity candidates captured all the seats they were allowed to compete for in the Sejm, while in the Senate they captured 99 out of the 100 available seats (with the one remaining seat taken by an independent candidate).

At the same time, many prominent Communist candidates failed to gain even the minimum number of votes required to capture the seats that were reserved for them.

May 1989 - Protests at vote rigging, TV, and the collapse of the GDR

In May 1989, local government elections were held. The public reaction was one of anger, when it was revealed that National Front candidates had won the majority of seats, with 'only' 98.5% of the vote. In other words, despite larger-than-ever numbers of voters rejecting the single candidate put forward by the Front (an exercise of defiance that carried great risk—including being sacked from a job or expelled from university), the vote had been flagrantly rigged. Increasing numbers of citizens applied for exit visas or left the country illegally.

Gyula Horn, Hungarian prime minister (right) and his Austrian counterpart cut the fence.

On 2 May 1989, Hungary started dismantling its barbed wire border with Austria, opening a large hole through the Iron Curtain to the West that was used by a growing number of East Germans.

East Germans camping at Lake Balaton awaiting their chance to leave for Austria.

By the end of September 1989, more than 30,000 East Germans had escaped to the West before the GDR denied travel to Hungary, leaving the CSSR (Czechoslovakia) as the only neighboring state where East Germans could escape to.

East Germans flood across the border.

Thousands of East Germans tried to reach the West by occupying the West German diplomatic facilities in other Central and Eastern European capitals, notably the Prague Embassy and the Hungarian Embassy where thousands camped in the muddy garden from August to November waiting for German political reform.

The GDR closed the border to the CSSR on 3 October, thereby isolating itself from all its neighbours.

Demonstration in Leipzig

Having been shut off from their last chance for escape, an increasing number of East Germans participated in the Monday demonstrations in Leipzig on 4, 11, and 18 September, each attracting 1,200 to 1,500 demonstrators; many were arrested and beaten. However, the people refused to be intimidated. On 25 September, the protests attracted 8,000 demonstrators.

After the fifth successive Monday demonstration in Leipzig on 2 October attracted 10,000 protesters, Socialist Unity Party (SED) leader Erich Honecker issued a shoot and kill order to the military. Communists prepared a huge police, militia, Stasi, and work-combat troop presence and there were rumors that a Tiananmen Square-style massacre was being planned for the following Monday's demonstration on 9 October.

On 6 and 7 October, Mikhail Gorbachev visited East Germany to mark the 40th anniversary of the German Democratic Republic, and urged the East German leadership to accept reform. A famous quote of his is rendered in German as "Wer zu spät kommt, den bestraft das Leben" (He who is too late is punished by life). However, Honecker remained opposed to internal reform, with his regime even going so far as forbidding the circulation of Soviet publications that it viewed as subversive.

In spite of rumours that the Communists were planning a massacre on 9 October, 70,000 citizens demonstrated in Leipzig that Monday, and the authorities on the ground refused to open fire.

This victory of the people facing down the Communists' guns encouraged more citizens to take to the streets. The following Monday, 16 October, 120,000 people demonstrated on the streets of Leipzig.

Erich Honecker had hoped that the Soviets would intervene and restore the communist government and suppress the civilian protests. However, faced with ongoing civil unrest, the SED deposed Honecker on 18 October and replaced him with the number-two-man in the regime, Egon Krenz. 

Nevertheless, the demonstrations kept growing – on Monday 23 October the Leipzig protesters numbered 300,000 and remained as large the following week.

The border with Czechoslovakia was opened again on 1 November, and the Czechoslovak authorities soon let all East Germans travel directly to West Germany without further bureaucratic ado, thus lifting their part of the Iron Curtain on 3 November.

1989-11-04 500.000 Menschen auf dem Berliner Alexanderplatz

On 4 November the authorities decided to authorize a demonstration in Berlin and were faced with the Alexanderplatz demonstration where half a million citizens converged on the capital demanding freedom in the biggest protest the GDR ever witnessed.

Unable to stem the ensuing flow of refugees to the West through Czechoslovakia, the East German authorities eventually caved in to public pressure by allowing East German citizens to enter West Berlin and West Germany directly, via existing border points, on 9 November 1989, without having properly briefed the border guards. 

Triggered by the erratic words of regime spokesman Günter Schabowski in a TV press conference, stating that the planned changes were in effect "immediately, without delay," hundreds of thousands of people took advantage of the opportunity.

The guards were quickly overwhelmed by the growing crowds of people demanding to be let out into West Berlin. After receiving no feedback from their superiors, the guards, unwilling to use force, relented and opened the gates to West Berlin.

Soon new crossing points were forced open in the Berlin Wall by the people, and sections of the wall were literally torn down as this symbol of oppression was overwhelmed. The bewildered guards were unaware of what was happening, and meekly stood by as the East Germans took to the wall with hammers and chisels.

On 13 November GDR Prime Minister Willi Stoph and his entire cabinet resigned. A new government was formed under a considerably more liberal Communist, Hans Modrow.

On 1 December the Volkskammer removed the SED's leading role from the constitution of the GDR. 

On 3 December Krenz resigned as leader of the SED; he resigned as head of state three days later. 

On 7 December Round Table talks opened between the SED and other political parties. 

On 16 December 1989 the SED was dissolved and refounded as the SED-PDS, abandoning Marxism-Leninism and becoming a mainstream democratic socialist party.

On 15 January 1990 the Stasi headquarters was stormed by protesters.

Modrow became the de facto leader of East Germany until free elections were held on 18 March 1990—the first held in that part of Germany since 1933. 

The SED, renamed the Party of Democratic Socialism, was heavily defeated.

Lothar de Maizière of the East German Christian Democratic Union became Prime Minister on 4 April 1990 on a platform of speedy reunification with the West.

Germany was reunified on 3 October 1990.

The Kremlin's willingness to abandon such a strategically vital ally marked a dramatic shift by the Soviet superpower and a fundamental paradigm change in international relations, which until 1989 had been dominated by the East-West divide running through Berlin itself.