3 November 1989 (Friday)
Towards midday, GDR ambassador Helmut Ziebart is told by the Czechoslovakian Foreign Office in Prague that the CSSR does not intend to set up refugee camps for political refugees from East Germany. As Ziebart immediately tells Foreign Minister Oskar Fischer, the head of the Central Committee department for security affairs, Wolfgang Herger, and Stasi chief Erich Mielke, the CSSR is calling on the GDR "to either a) introduce measures that end the influx of 'political refugees' or b) to organise a clearance procedure so that 'as many former GDR citizens can leave the CSSR for the FRG every day as arrive daily in the FRG embassy.'"
Ziebart also says that the Czechoslovakian comrades are wondering why the GDR is letting the West German embassy in Prague, and not the West German Permanent Mission in East Berlin, deal with the wave of people departing.
At a special afternoon session, the SED Politburo votes in favour of a "proposal" by the Czechoslovakian Party leader, Miklos Jakès, to allow the 6,000 GDR citizens who are once more staying on the grounds of the West German embassy in Prague "to travel directly from the CSSR to the FRG without touching GDR territory on the way."
At this meeting, the SED Politburo also arranges the final organisational details for the demonstration in East Berlin scheduled for the next day: Krenz and Stoph, as well as the Politburo members and ministers responsible for the armed bodies, are to take charge of the military and police operations in the Ministry of the Interior; the headquarters of the Berlin Party Organisation is moved to the Volkspolizei headquarters, the rest of the Politburo and all staff on the Central Committee are to be present in the Central Committee building, and all ministries are put on standby.
In the evening, Egon Krenz gives a television and radio address in which he stresses the SED’s willingness to carry out reforms (“There is no going back”), promises the speedy publication of the draft travel bill, announces the resignations of five Politburo members (Hermann Axen, Kurt Hager, Erich Mielke, Erich Mückenberger and Alfred Neuman) and refers to several points of the SED’s action programme, which is in preparation. Krenz urges those wanting to leave the country to remain and appeals to all “citizens to stand together to preserve the values we have created over decades. Together we also want to start working on innovations.
Only in this way will it be possible to reorganise our society step by step. In this spirit, allow us go to work with resolution and above all prudence, and to tackle and solve the many problems facing us. Wish us success, the required energy and good health for our efforts.”
The newspaper “Neues Deutschland” apologises to its readers for its report of 21 September 1989 on the alleged abduction of a Mitropa cook from Budapest to West Germany.
In November, 133,429 GDR citizens manage to flee to the West.
