At a conference of the SED Central Committee in East Berlin, party leader Erich Honecker stresses his negative attitude to Soviet reform policy.
7 December
1988
Around 25,000 people die in a devastating earthquake in Armenia. For the first time, the Soviet Union accepts the offer of foreign assistance.more
19 December
1988
SED General Secretary Erich Honecker tells Hans Otto Bräutigam during the latter’s farewell visit as Permanent Representative of West Germany that GDR Defence Minister Kessler has recently stated that there is no "order to shoot" any more.
Honecker says this "is not a simple issue. After all, these are restricted military zones. It’s also a mutual matter, for example because no one from the West German side would make pilgrimages to the border any more. If shots are fired now, they are warning shots."less
