Homepage > Chronicle

Chronicle 1989

"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 
  • March 
  • April

     
    • 3 April

      1989

      Colonel-General Fritz Streletz, who is the Chief of Staff of the National People’s Army (NVA) and the Secretary of the National Defence Committee, informs top-ranking officers that Erich Honecker has informally revoked the order to shoot. more
    • 3 April

      1989

      At the synod of the Protestant Church of Berlin-Brandenburg, participants demand a more just organisation of travel regulations by the GDR government. One participant gives examples of the attempts young people are making to be able to travel to the West.
    • 4 April

      1989

      With one month to go till local elections, the supply situation in the GDR is precarious. RIAS reports on the situation in the country ahead of the elections.
    • 5 April

      1989

      In Poland, the government and the opposition sign a Round Table Agreement on political and economic reforms. The independent trade union "Solidarity” and the "Farmers’ Solidarity" are legalised once more.

      In an internal analysis, the SED sees the results of these negotiations as meaning a loss of power and weakening of the Polish communists.

      The paper considers the reasons for this politics of compromise to be the severe supply crisis in Poland and the country’s debt to the West of 39 billion US dollars. It goes on to say, "In this situation of growing worries and helplessness, as well as increasing ideological confusion, the idea took root that a legalisation of ‘Solidarity’ could open up new sources and possibilities for a gradual consolidation.

      These hopes were based above all on the anticipation of economic concessions from the West and the acquisition of broad-based political support from the Catholic Church, and the presumption that there was a chance of splitting the opposition, neutralising it and integrating parts of it. The Polish United Workers’ party banked on being able to cope with the risks attached to this path of action."

      The paper continues by saying that the scope of action for the Party leadership and government in Poland "has now been restricted even further. Some Polish comrades are of the opinion that, if things come to the worst, there is still the possibility of declaring a state of emergency again. They point out that the cadres in the armed forces can still be relied upon, that the state apparatus is still functioning, and that the alliance with friendly parties and organisations has survived up to now.

      At the same time, they emphasise that such a step would be much more problematic now than in 1981, could lead to unforeseen consequences, even to civil war, and that, even if things went as favourably as they could, it would not make coping with many of the main difficulties, particularly in the economic sector, any easier." As far as consequences for SED policies go, the paper comes to the conclusion that the real situation has to be taken into consideration and all efforts need to be made "to give the PUWP and other progressive forces in People’s Poland support in defending the socialist social order, to ensure our security and economic interests and to ward off any avoidable damage to the GDR." Memo from the SED Central Committee Department of International Relations to Hermann Axen on the development in Poland, 4 April 1989 (in German) less
    • 5 April

      1989

      The GDR news agency ADN and the SED’s main mouthpiece, "Neues Deutschland", report on an allegedly growing influx of people moving from West Germany to the GDR. Exact numbers are not given. Franz Thedieck, Fleeing the Zone and West-East Migration, 8 April 1961 (in German)
    • 8 April

      1989

      On 8 April 1989, two young East Berliners jump over the boom gate at the Chausseestrasse border crossing in the Berlin district of Mitte. A GDR passport inspector shoots – the would-be escapees are arrested. Western journalists were in the know – and document the escape attempt.
    • 12 April

      1989

      During nationalistic unrest in Georgia - where Abkhazians demand that their republic secede from the Georgian Socialist Soviet Republic, while Georgians call for Georgia to leave the Soviet Union - the Soviet Army intervenes and creates a bloodbath: at least 19 demonstrators are killed.
    • 13 April

      1989

      German Chancellor Helmut Kohl reacts to the sinking ratings of the CDU in opinion polls and criticism from fellow party members by reshuffling the Cabinet. The former ministers Oskar Schneider (Construction) and Rupert Scholz (Defence) lose their posts. more
    • 14 April

      1989

      At a meeting of the council of the Eastern International Bank for Economic Cooperation from 11-14 April in Moscow, the GDR representatives learn that both the Soviet Union and the CSSR are holding informal contact talks and exploratory discussions on entering the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
    • 21/22 April

      1989

      Mass demonstrations in China: in Beijing, students demand the freedom to criticise state and Party leaders, and the right to form independent interest groups.
    • 26 April

      1989

      SED General Secretary Erich Honecker sends a telex to the 1st Secretaries of the SED district leaderships, telling them that the Hungarian Party leadership obviously no longer has the will "to defend its political power. more
    • 28 April

      1989

      At a briefing at the Ministry for State Security on 28 April 1989, minister Erich Mielke announces the revocation of the "order to shoot", photograph from the fifties
      At a "central staff meeting" of the Ministry for State Security, minister Erich Mielke announces the abolition of the order to shoot, but at the same time gives vent to his feelings: more
    • April 1989

      In April, 5887 GDR citizens manage to flee to the West; 4,996 are given permission to leave the GDR.
  • May 
  • June 
  • July 
  • August 
  • September 
  • October 
  • November 
  • December 
Top of page