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Images - Democratic Awakening
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1.   Protests during the Church Congress in Leipzig (July 9, 1989)
To protest the exclusion of political issues from the Saxon Church Congress of July 6-9, 1989, grassroots groups in Leipzig organized an alternative event, which they called “Statt Kirchentag” [“Instead....
Protests during the Church Congress in Leipzig (July 9, 1989)
2.   Opening of the Iron Curtain (August 19, 1989)
After Hungary had begun dismantling its border installations on the Austrian side on May 2, 1989, the “Paneuropean Union,” a European unity movement founded in 1922, organized a “Paneuropean Picnic”....
Opening of the Iron Curtain (August 19, 1989)
3.   GDR Refugees with their New West German Passports (August 19, 1989)
Roughly 600 East German citizens crossed the Austro-Hungarian border during a “Paneuropean Picnic”....
GDR Refugees with their New West German Passports (August 19, 1989)
4.   East German Cars on Budapest Roadsides (Summer 1989)
As part of its political reforms, Hungary began dismantling its frontier barriers to Austria on May 2, 1989. This afforded East German citizens an unexpected escape route; the “Iron Curtain” had....
East German Cars on Budapest Roadsides (Summer 1989)
5.   Tents on the Grounds of a Church in Budapest-Zugliget (Summer 1989)
Shortly after Hungary opened its border to Austria in May 1989, scores of East German refugees flocked to the West German embassy in Budapest. After more than 180 East German citizens had taken up....
Tents on the Grounds of a Church in Budapest-Zugliget (Summer 1989)
6.   Glasnost Now (October 1989)
Since the mid-1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev had pursued a reform policy in the U.S.S.R. known as glasnost (transparency) and perestroika (economic restructuring).....
Glasnost Now (October 1989)
7.   Erich Honecker and Mikhail Gorbachev at the GDR's 40th Anniversary Celebration (October 7, 1989)
Undeterred by the emigration wave and by regular demonstrations for reform and freedom of....
Erich Honecker and Mikhail Gorbachev at the GDR's 40th Anniversary Celebration (October 7, 1989)
8.   Military Parade Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the GDR (October 7, 1989)
As signs of the decline of the SED dictatorship became ever clearer over the spring and summer of 1989, SED leaders stubbornly adhered to distant, unrealistic slogans about a victorious socialism.....
Military Parade Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the GDR (October 7, 1989)
9.   Prayer for Peace at St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig (October 9, 1989)
Opposition movements in East Germany, especially the independent peace movement and the ecological movement, sought support from the church, the only institution in the GDR not controlled by the....
Prayer for Peace at St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig (October 9, 1989)
10.   Candles as a Symbol of Nonviolence (October 23, 1989)
This photograph shows participants in a "Monday demonstration" in Leipzig on October 23, 1989, five days after the forced resignation of Erich Honecker. Demonstrators....
Candles as a Symbol of Nonviolence (October 23, 1989)
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