04 September 2009

Many Played a Part in Wall’s Fall

A month before the Wall fell, East German police repel pro-democracy demonstrators.

This article is excerpted from The Berlin Wall: 20 Years Later, published by the Bureau of International Information Programs. View the entire book (PDF, 2.5 MB).

By: Manfred Stinnes

We may all agree on the geostrategic consequences that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall: The Soviet empire began to disappear and with it the satellite countries — East Germany among them — emerged from Soviet domination. The opening of the borders between East and West Berlin marked an initially hesitant beginning to a process that culminated in the October 3, 1990, act of German unification — or, in correct historical and constitutional terms, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) dissolved itself and joined the Federal Republic of Germany. This was achieved without violence and should be interpreted as a diplomatic triumph of the Western alliance statecraft, not least for securing Moscow’s final approval for this fundamental reordering of the post-World War II political status quo.

The consequences for the continent were profound. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, Germany faced real strategic rivals and adopted its famous “Schaukelpolitik” policy of fatally adjusting its orientation between East and West. With the peaceful reunification of the two postwar German states, this dilemma has been put to rest. For the first time, Germany is surrounded by friendly countries. Since 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany was a Western country and it has remained so even after the events of 1989–1990.

East German refugees stand outside the “Office of Provisional Accommodation” after escaping through Hungary and Austria into the FRG.

Germany’s new, secure Western orientation offers special reassurance to its European neighbors. It is grounded firmly in the special German-American relationship, a bond probably best explained by the anecdote in which the German Foreign Office telephone operator, before connecting Foreign Minister H.D. Genscher with Secretary of State James Baker in February 1990, told Baker: “God bless America.” The German-American relationship was never as intimate as in 1989–1990. That was a time of great optimism. Experts and laymen talked about a “peace dividend” and expected democratic progress on a global scale.

While events in Berlin were of huge symbolic and practical importance, the Polish and Hungarian opposition movements had paved the way for the German events. On June 4, 1989, the Polish opposition achieved the first (almost-free) elections in a communist country, and in May 1989 the Hungarian reform communist government opened the border to Austria — months before the Berlin Wall was breached.

But the East Germans also acted bravely. Segments of East German Protestant churches functioned as a haven for protesters and opposition-minded citizens who saw no future in the GDR. The southern parts of East Germany proved an opposition stronghold, with Leipzig its informal capital.

As the tension between the GDR government and the opposition movement grew, the famous Monday night demonstrations in Leipzig became the focal point. Following the October 4, 1989, GDR 40th anniversary celebrations, the East Berlin government prepared for a final crackdown and, as many feared, was even ready for a “Chinese” solution to suppress the next Monday demonstration on October 9. Army brigades and large special police forces were mobilized and they surrounded the historic inner city. Hospital floors were emptied and prepared for emergency treatment of large numbers of wounded. Demonstrators prepared their wills and many expected not to survive the Monday night demonstrations. A heroic atmosphere pervaded the city. However, when 70,000 demonstrators gathered peacefully to march down the streets, military and police officials did not dare to order the troops to shoot. It was the beginning of the end of the communist government in East Germany. For the first time in German history, a successful, nonviolent revolution occurred. By comparison, the fall of the Wall merely punctuated the victory of the democratic revolution.

Twenty years later, many former East Germans have lost their pride in the achievements of 1989–1990. Some even have dropped the term “nonviolent revolution” in favor of the bureaucratic word “turn” (Wende). A domestic East-West uneasiness has set in, mostly due to economic difficulties. While Berlin celebrates the November 9 anniversary of the fall of the Wall, the Leipzig region instead commemorates the nonviolent revolution and the momentous night of October 9. After 20 years, these divided memories call for honest appraisals and common understandings. While this comparatively modest divide is real, it pales in comparison with the enormous political achievements of the German people and their neighbors, events perhaps best symbolized by the passing of the Berlin Wall and the uniting of a free German people.

[Manfred Stinnes, Ph.D. (University of Minnesota, 1978), has been a lecturer in International Relations at Humboldt University in Berlin since 2003.]