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Chronicle 1989

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"The Wall … will still be standing in fifty and even a hundred years' time": that's what Erich Honecker is still saying at the end of January 1989. And the GDR does seem stable to most people at the time, even though the dilapidated condition of industrial plants, the old parts of cities and the roads, as well as the air and water pollution, all herald the imminent economic disaster. more
  • January 

  • February

     

    • 3 February

      1989

      The prime minister of Schleswig-Holstein, Björn Engholm, visits the GDR from January 31 to February 3. His talks with Erich Honecker focus not only on international relations, but also on possible areas of cooperation between the GDR and Schleswig-Holstein.

      Honecker stresses that both German states should be guided by the recognition of realities, respect for sovereignty, non-intervention and the acceptance of legitimate, mutual interests. He says contentious issues such as the recognition of GDR citizenship, the position of the Elbe border and the existence of the Salzgitter registration centre should be resolved bearing these things in mind.

      Honecker and Engholm both give their support to the establishment of "normal relations" between the East German Volkskammer and the West German Bundestag. Both also describe an extension of cooperation between the GDR and Schleswig-Holstein as "desirable". Engholm's suggestion to include the city of Kiel in the transport network near the border meets with a positive response from the GDR. less

    • 5 February

      1989

      Chris Gueffroy
      At around 9 p.m., in the East Berlin district of Treptow, the 20-year-old Chris Gueffroy and the 21-year-old Christian G. approach the border to Neukölln, here formed by the Teltow Canal. more

    • 6 February

      1989

      In Warsaw, talks begin at the Round Table between the government and the independent union "Solidarity".

    • 11 February

      1989

      Barbed-wire fence with electric alarm system – an element of the Hungarian "Iron Curtain"
      Barbed-wire fence with electric alarm system – an element of the Hungarian "Iron Curtain" (Photo: Tamas Lobenwein/Archive of the Pan-European Picnic Foundation, 1989, Sopron)
      The Central Committee of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party decides to give up the power monopoly of the communist party and to introduce a multi-party system. It also resolves to remove the "Iron Curtain" – the barbed wire on the Hungarian-Austrian border - and replace it with normal border security measures.

    • 15 February

      1989

      The last Soviet troops leave Kabul: Soldier waving before departure, 13. February 1989
      The last Soviet troops leave Kabul: Soldier waving before departure, 13. February 1989 (Photo: Laurent Rebours/akg-images)
      The last Soviet soldier leaves Afghanistan. State and Party head Najibullah has put Afghanistan under martial law since February 5 to continue the fight against the mujahideen.

    • 16 February

      1989

      A family of four from Potsdam flees by car into the car park of the West German Permanent Mission, breaking through a barrier and injuring a GDR policeman.
      RIAS report on the car escape to the Permanent Mission, 17 February 1989 (in German) (Source: Archiv Deutschlandradio, Broadcast: Spätreport, Moderator/Reporter: Ulrich Ziegler, Ulrich Leitholdt)

    • 21 February

      1989

      The Czechoslovakian author and civil rights activist Vaclav Havel is sentenced to nine months' imprisonment in Prague for "hooliganism". more

    • February 1989

      In February, 5008 GDR citizens manage to flee to the West; 4087 people are given permission to leave the GDR.
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