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Documents - Democratic Awakening
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1.   The Hopes of East German Refugees (August 8, 1989)
On May 2, 1989, Hungary began dismantling its fortified border with Austria, stripping away barbed wire fences and removing detection devices. During the summer of 1989, it became increasingly easy....
2.   Founding Appeal of the New Forum (September 9, 1989)
In response to the mass exodus, a group of East German activists and intellectuals (including Bärbel Bohley, Katja Havemann, Rolf....
3.   Erich Honecker on the 40th Anniversary of the GDR (October 6, 1989)
Ignoring Gorbachev’s calls for perestroika, the aging SED leader celebrates the achievements of socialism in his speech on the 40th anniversary of the founding....
4.   A Dissident Describes Police Brutality in Dresden (October 7, 1989)
During the late summer and early fall of 1989, masses of East German citizens fled the GDR over the Austro-Hungarian....
5.   The Triumph of Nonviolence in Leipzig (October 9, 1989)
A contemporary witness recounts the events of Monday, October 9th in Leipzig, beginning with the GDR regime’s early-morning preparations for the city-wide demonstrations scheduled for later that....
6.   Call for an Open Dialogue: Egon Krenz’s Government Program (October 24, 1989)
On October 18, 1989, Erich Honecker was forced to resign, and his hand-picked successor, Egon Krenz, assumed the leadership....
7.   Mass Demonstration on Alexanderplatz in East Berlin (November 4, 1989)
Unsatisfied with SED promises, as many as 500,000 people gathered in East Berlin on November 4, 1989,....
8.   The Fall of the Berlin Wall (November 9, 1989)
Two journalists from Die Tageszeitung (taz), a left-of-center West Berlin newspaper, describe the excitement generated by the sudden opening of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989. The event....
9.   Hans Modrow’s Reform Agenda (November 17, 1989)
Egon Krenz’s tenure as leader of the GDR was brief. Within a month, he had been replaced by Hans Modrow, a popular SED District....
10.   Helmut Kohl's Ten-Point Plan for German Unity (November 28, 1989)
West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl surprises the public by presenting the Bundestag with a multi-step plan for unification with a democratizing GDR. The first....
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