The Peaceful Revolution, 1987-90 » 1989: Open Borders and the Decline of Honecker

The cracks open in the East

By 1989 the GDR (East Germany) was under pressure. The shortages and poor goods of the 1980s had left many people unhappy, and Gorbachev's reforms in the USSR had shown that change was possible. Erich Honecker, leader of the SED (the Socialist Unity Party that ruled the GDR), still refused to reform. In May 1989 local elections were held. Church groups and other volunteers watched the counting and said the official result of almost 99 per cent support had been faked. Their complaints were ignored, but trust in the government fell further.

Then the Iron Curtain started to open, not in Germany but next door. Hungary had been loosening its own rules, and its government decided it no longer needed to guard its border with Austria so heavily.

Key terms:

• Iron Curtain: the heavily guarded line of fences and borders dividing communist Eastern Europe from the West.
• Monday demonstrations: the weekly protests held in Leipzig on Monday evenings, which grew out of the Church's Monday peace prayers.

Border openings with Hungary and Austria

East Germans could travel to Hungary on holiday, because both countries were in the Eastern bloc. Once Hungary's border with Austria was open, a holiday there could become a way to reach the West.

• May 1989: Hungary began to remove the barbed-wire fence along its border with Austria.
• August 1989: at a picnic held near the border, several hundred East Germans walked through a gate into Austria. The Hungarian guards did not stop them.
• 11 September 1989: Hungary allowed East Germans to cross into Austria openly. In the first days thousands crossed, and then travelled on to West Germany.

Honecker could do nothing about it. The GDR had built the Berlin Wall in 1961 to stop people leaving, but now there was a long way round it. Many of those who left were young, skilled workers, so the GDR's factories and hospitals lost people they needed.

The Leipzig Monday demonstrations

Meanwhile, those who stayed began to protest. The Church peace prayers held in Leipzig every Monday now drew bigger and bigger crowds, who then walked out into the streets of the city centre. They wanted freedom to travel, free elections and an end to the SED's control.

The key day was Monday 9 October. About 70,000 people marched round the city centre. Many feared the security forces would open fire. Only a few months earlier the Chinese army had crushed protesters in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, and the GDR's own leaders had publicly backed that crackdown. Hospitals in Leipzig were told to prepare for casualties. In the end the police and army did not attack, and the march passed peacefully. The following week about 120,000 marched. People now knew that the state might not use force, and they felt braver. Protests spread to other cities such as East Berlin and Dresden.

Gorbachev's visit in October

On 7 October 1989 the GDR celebrated its 40th anniversary. Gorbachev came to East Berlin as the guest of honour, and the SED hoped for a show of Soviet support. Instead, Gorbachev told the East German leaders that they needed to move with the times and listen to their people. Honecker would still not change course. Crowds on the streets shouted Gorbachev's name, which showed how much more popular he was than their own leaders.

The visit mattered because it showed that the Soviet Union would not rescue the SED. With the Brezhnev Doctrine (the old Soviet policy of using force to keep communist governments in power) over, Soviet troops in the GDR stayed in their barracks while the protests grew.

The decline of Honecker

Honecker was 77 and had been ill for much of the summer. His government had no answers, because its usual tools, the Stasi and the Wall, were failing to stop people leaving or protesting. Even members of the Politburo, the SED's top committee, began to turn against him. On 18 October 1989 he was removed, and the official reason given was ill health. He was replaced by Egon Krenz, who you will meet in the next lesson, Krenz and the Opening of the Berlin Wall.

Exam-style question

This is a Paper 2 Section A (a) question. It tests whether you can describe features with accurate detail.

Describe TWO features of EITHER the opening of the Hungarian border in 1989 OR the Leipzig Monday demonstrations. [6 marks]

Recap

• In 1989 Hungary opened its border with Austria, and from 11 September East Germans could leave openly through it.
• The Leipzig Monday demonstrations grew from thousands to hundreds of thousands, and the march on 9 October passed peacefully.
• Gorbachev visited on 7 October, urged reform and offered no support to Honecker.
• Honecker was removed on 18 October and replaced by Egon Krenz.