Monday demonstrations in East Germany

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Monday demonstration in Leipzig

The Monday demonstrations in East Germany in 1989 and 1990 (German: Montagsdemonstrationen) were a series of peaceful political protests against the socialist government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) of East Germany that took place every Monday evening.

The demonstrations began on 4 September 1989 in Leipzig after regular prayers for peace in the Nikolai Church with parson Christian Führer, and eventually filled the nearby downtown Karl Marx Square (today known again as Augustus-Platz). Safe in the knowledge that the Lutheran Church supported their stance, many dissatisfied East German citizens gathered in the court of the church, and non-violent demonstrations began in order to demand rights such as the freedom to travel to foreign countries and to elect a democratic government.

Informed by (West German) television and friends about the events, people in other East German cities begun repeating the Leipzig demonstration, meeting at city squares on Monday evenings. A major turning point were the events in the West Germany Embassy of Prague, where thousands of East Germans had fled to in September, living there in conditions reminiscent of the Third World. Hans-Dietrich Genscher had negotiated an agreement that allowed them to travel to the West, in trains that had to pass first through the GDR. The speech of Hans-Dietrich Genscher from the balcony was interrupted by a very emotional reaction to his announcement. When the trains passed Dresden central station in early October, police forces had to stop people from trying to jump on the trains.

By 9 October 1989, just after the 40th anniversary celebrations of the GDR, what had begun as a few hundred gatherers at the Nikolai Church had swelled to more than 70,000 (out of the city's population of 500,000), all united in peaceful opposition to the regime. The most famous chant became Wir sind das Volk! - "We are the people", reminding their leaders that a democratic republic has to be ruled by the people, not by a socialist party claiming to represent them.

Although some demonstrators were arrested, the threat of large-scale intervention by security forces never materialised as local leaders (SED party leader Helmut Hackenberg and Generalmajor Gerhard Straßenburg of the armed police), without precise orders from East Berlin and surprised by the unexpected high number of citizens, shied away from causing a possible massacre, ordering the retreat of their forces. Later, Egon Krenz claimed it was he who gave the order not to intervene.

The next week, in Leipzig on 16 October 1989, 120,000 showed up, with military units again being held on stand-by in the vicinity. The next week, the number more than doubled to 320,000, proving that the majority of the population opposed the regime. This pressure led to the Fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, marking the imminent fall of the socialist GDR regime.

The demonstrations eventually ended in March 1990, around the time of the first free multi-party elections on all-GDR level, for the Volkskammer parliament that paved the way to German reunification.

Years later, Monday demonstrations were also held in the early and mid-2000s as a protest against the Iraq war and against social security changes (Hartz IV).

[edit] See also

[edit] Literature

Wolfgang Schneider et al. (Hrsg.): Leipziger Demontagebuch. Demo – Montag – Tagebuch – Demontage, Leipzig/Weimar: Gustav Kiepenheuer 1990
Norbert Heber: Keine Gewalt! Der friedliche Weg zur Demokratie – eine Chronologie in Bildern, Berlin: Verbum 1990
Jetzt oder nie – Demokratie. Leipziger Herbst 1989, Leipzig: C. Bertelsmann 1989
Ekkehard Kuhn: Der Tag der Entscheidung. Leipzig, 9. Oktober 1989, Berlin: Ullstein 1992
Karl Czok: Nikolaikirche – offen für alle. Eine Gemeinde im Zentrum der Wende, Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt 1999
Tobias Hollitzer: Der friedliche Verlauf des 9. Oktober 1989 in Leipzig – Kapitulation oder Reformbereitschaft? Vorgeschichte, Verlauf und Nachwirkung, in: Günther Heydemann, Gunther Mai und Werner Müller (Hrsg.) Revolution und Transformation in der DDR 1989/90, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot 1999, S. 247–288
Martin Jankowski: „Rabet oder Das Verschwinden einer Himmelsrichtung“. Roman. München: via verbis, 1999, ISBN 3933902037
Thomas Küttler , Jean Curt Röder (Hrsg.): "Die Wende in Plauen", Plauen: Vogtländischer Heimatverlag Neupert Plauen 1991
Martin Jankowski: Der Tag, der Deutschland veränderte - 9. Oktober 1989. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2007, ISBN 978-3-374-02506-0