In a government statement, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl speaks out in favour of a "double-zero option" for the removal of medium-range missiles in Europe.
6-8 June
1987
During a rock concert in front of the Reichstag, there are severe clashes between several thousand young people and the People’s Police near the border installations on the East German side. There are calls of "Gorbachev" and "Down with the Wall".
RIAS report on riots in East Berlin during an open-air rock concert in West Berlin, 8 June 1987 (in German) (Source: Archiv Deutschlandradio, Broadcast: Mittagsreport, Moderator/Reporter: Horst Wendt, Hartwig Heber)
8 June
1987
Pope John Paul II travels to his homeland of Poland, where he meets not only with state leader Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski but also with the leader of the banned union "Solidarity", Lech Walesa.
12 June
1987
During the 750-year celebrations in West Berlin, US President Ronald Reagan says in a speech at the Brandenburg Gate:
"General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalisation, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
Ronald Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate, 12 June1987 (Photo: The Federal Government, Photographer: Engelbert Reineke)
Speech by US President Ronald Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate (recording), 12 June 1987 (in German) (Source: Archiv Deutschlandradio, Broadcast: Abendreport, Moderator: Wolf-Dieter Roeske)
In the "Hofgarten" park in Bonn, more than 100,000 people demonstrate for peace and disarmament. They also call on the West German government to agree to the "zero option", the removal of all medium-range missiles in Europe.
As the resolution of the previous year to considerably reduce the GDR’s debts in the West by 1990 seems unattainable, the SED Politburo decides to extend the time for halving Western debt to five years, i.e. to 1995.
24-28 June
1987
For the first time since 1961, a Protestant Church Congress takes place in East Berlin.