Local elections in the GDR

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The GDR holds local elections in May 1989.

A group of young civil rights activists monitor the vote counting. When the official figures show that 98.85 percent of the population voted for the candidates put forward by the SED, the activists accuse the party of ballot rigging.

As a member of the peace group in Weisensee that organised the monitoring, Mario Schatta experienced the events first hand.

locations

Berlin-Ost, Stadtbezirk Weißensee

showtime
1

latitude
52.551306

longitude
13.466635

date

1989
How much longer will the Wall survive?

Protests in the GDR keep getting louder, but still no one thinks the Wall will fall any time soon. Even in January 1989, Honecker still believes in the border: “The Wall will still be here in 50 years, and in 100, if the reasons for its presence still persist.”

Everyday Life, Politics, West, East

01:02
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January 1989
Karajan retires

Herbert von Karajan leaves the Berlin Philharmonic after 35 years as its principal conductor.

Culture, West

00:22
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1989
Last shoot-to-kill death at the Wall

Chris Gueffroy, a 20-year-old from East Berlin, is shot and killed as he attempts to flee on 8 February 1989. He is the last person to die as a result of the shoot-to-kill order at the Wall. He and a friend were trying to cross the death strip along the branch canal between Treptow in the East and Neukölln in the West. Their route ran close to two sets of allotments, one called Harmony and the other Carefree. Chris’ friend survives and spends a short time in an East Berlin jail before West Germany buys his freedom.

Border, Escaping, West, East

00:42
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June 16, 1988
Pink Floyd at the Reichstag

Pink Floyd are performing outside the Reichstag building in West Berlin. Fans also gather on the other side of the Wall, in the hope of hearing some of the concert. But things take a turn for the worse and the East Berlin authorities make a number of arrests.

Culture, West

01:03
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March 1988
Lenné Triangle occupied

In 1988, a group of young people occupy the Lenné Triangle, a plot of land that lies right by the Wall, in an attempt to stop a motorway being built there. Although the site is in West Berlin, it is actually the property of East Berlin. The occupation makes a tourist attraction of what was once just a wasteland. Not long after the young people arrive, the Lenné Triangle is handed back to the West and several hundred police officers begin clearing the site. They fire teargas and use water cannons, and the squatters retaliate by throwing paving stones. A lot of the protestors manage to flee across the Wall to East Berlin, where they are given breakfast and later allowed to take the U-Bahn back to the West. Today the site is home to the Beisheim Center.

Politics, West, East

02:47
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September 1989
Exit through Hungary

With Hungary’s borders now open, more and more people are using them to flee the GDR. The refugees all arrive at Tegel airport. For the first time since 1961, the refugee centre in Marienfelde is full to overflowing. New arrivals are housed in a disused furniture warehouse in the district of Wedding. From their windows they can see the TV tower in East Berlin.

Escaping, Opposition, West, East

00:38
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October 07, 1989
Gorbachev at GDR's 40th anniversary

The SED leadership is holding celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of the GDR, but the people are far from happy. They want political reform, the kind of restructuring that they know is happening further East. Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union and the SED’s guest of honour, uses the opportunity to issue a warning to East Germany’s leaders. Those who oppose the GDR regime hope for a sign that reforms are on the way. Speaking in an interview, Gorbachev says: "I believe danger awaits those who do not react to the real world. If you pick up on the currents moving the real world, moving society, if you use them to shape your policies, then you have no reason to fear difficulties. There is nothing unusual in that.”

Politics, Opposition, East

00:57
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October 18, 1989
Honecker steps down

After leading the SED for 18 years, Erich Honecker steps down on 18 November 1989. His successor is Egon Krenz, 25 years Honecker’s junior. Krenz will only spend a few weeks in power. Honecker flees to Moscow in 1991. The following year he is charged with manslaughter in Berlin in connection with the deaths of those who were shot and killed at the Wall. The case is dropped after Honecker’s lawyers complain to the Berlin Constitutional Court. In 1993 Honecker emigrates to Chile, where he dies a year later at the age of 81.

Politics, East

00:33
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November 04, 1989
Rally at Alexanderplatz

On 4 November, 500,000 people gather for a rally on Alexanderplatz in East Berlin. It is the largest non-state-organised demonstration in GDR history. The crowd calls for democracy, constitutional laws, and freedom of speech and the press. A group of East Berlin stage actors were the first to have the idea of a rally, and the event sees more than 20 speakers step up to the microphone. Among them are politicians like Günter Schabowski, Stasi official Markus Wolf, theologian Friedrich Schorlemmer, lawyer Gregor Gysi, university rector Lothar Bisky, authors such as Christoph Hein, Stefan Heym and Christa Wolf, playwright Heiner Müller, and actors Steffie Spira, Ulrich Mühe and Jan Josef Liefers.

Politics, Opposition, East

00:36
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November 04, 1989
Stefan Heym speaks on Alexanderplatz

On 4 November, 500,000 people gather at a rally on Alexanderplatz in East Berlin. It is the biggest non-state-organised demonstration in the history of the GDR. The crowd calls for democracy, constitutional laws, and freedom of speech and the press. A group of East Berlin stage actors were the first to have the idea of a rally, and the event sees more than 20 speakers step up to the microphone. Among them are politicians like Günter Schabowski, Stasi official Markus Wolf, theologian Friedrich Schorlemmer, lawyer Gregor Gysi, university rector Lothar Bisky, authors such as Christoph Hein, Stefan Heym and Christa Wolf, playwright Heiner Müller, and the actors Steffie Spira, Ulrich Mühe and Jan Josef Liefers. The poet Stefan Heym is also among those to speak.

Contemporary Witnesses, Politics, Opposition, East

03:51
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location

August 13, 1961
The accidental beekeeper

In 1961 Jürgen Raddatz from Heinersdorf in East Berlin is an adventurous young man who has big plans for his life with his girlfriend Ruth. Becoming a beekeeper was not one of them. However, his fate changes when the Wall goes up on 13 August. In 2011, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Wall going up, the rbb interviewed Berliners to find out what the division of the city meant to them. The Wall had a profound impact on the way each person went about their daily lives - no matter what side they found themselves on. Overnight people were cut off from their friends and relatives, from their offices, factories and schools, and from places where they enjoyed spending their leisure time. The division of the city tore families apart, ruptured biographies and claimed many lives.

Border, Contemporary Witnesses, East

03:15
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1975
Buying freedom

West Germany has been buying political prisoners out of the GDR since 1962. In 1975, GDR citizens file 16,000 applications for exit visas - more than ever before. The same year, West Germany breaks its own record by spending more than 100 million Deutsche marks on freeing detainees. Although the GDR has signed the Helsinki Final Act, it is still putting people on trial for political reasons. West Berlin lawyer Reymar von Wedel helps the prisoners on behalf of the protestant church.

Contemporary Witnesses, Politics, East

01:33
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July 28, 1984
Gasometer demolished

The gasometer in the East Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg is demolished. A new showcase estate honouring revered labour leader Ernst Thälmann is put up in its place. General Secretary Erich Honecker pays a personal visit to Ernst Thälmann Park to see how the project is progressing.

Everyday Life, East

01:10
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1977
East Berlin struck by coffee crisis

In an effort to save Western currency, the GDR creates a new brand of coffee. Kaffee-MIX is ground coffee combined with roasted peas, rye, barley and sugar beet. It quickly earns itself a nickname: Instant Erich. Peter Pragal, then a correspondent for the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, was living in East Berlin with his family at the time of the coffee crisis.

Contemporary Witnesses, Everyday Life, East

01:42
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March 20, 1981
SEZ complex opens in East Berlin

The SEZ sports and leisure complex opens in Friedrichshain, East Berlin. It attracts 16 million visitors in the first five years alone. The complex, which had swimming pools, sports halls, an ice rink and several restaurants, was designed to welcome up to 22,000 visitors a day. Heide-Maria Heyde used to work there and recalls the long queues that were a daily sight outside the complex.

Contemporary Witnesses, Everyday Life, East

01:56
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November 01, 1977
Expulsion of Pannach, Kunert and Fuchs

In November 1977 the Free German Youth gathers in East Berlin to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the Russian revolution. At the same time, a year since Wolf Biermann’s expulsion from the GDR, East Berlin’s cultural life is losing its lifeblood. Anyone who criticises the state is promptly banished to the West. Singer-songwriters Gerulf Pannach and Christian Kunert, and the author Jürgen Fuchs all suffer this fate.

Politics, Opposition, East

00:47
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1985
Queuing up for the West

Many East Berliners have submitted applications to leave the GDR, but no one knows when or if they will be granted. Most people have to wait a long time before they find out. Author Bernd Wagner is among those who want to get out. When his application is finally approved, he leaves Prenzlauer Berg and settles in Kreuzberg in West Berlin.

Contemporary Witnesses, Politics, Opposition, East

03:22
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1982
Blues Masses in East Berlin

A church in East Berlin starts holding what will become known as Blues Masses. The events attract those who are unhappy with the regime. Dirk Moldt, an 18-year-old watchmaker’s apprentice, is among them. The young people who gather here feel protected by the church and safe from the repression of the state. Father Rainer Eppelmann and Robert Havemann, a staunch critic of the government, publish their "Berlin Appeal", in which they call for disarmament and freedom of speech.

Contemporary Witnesses, Opposition, East

01:37
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January 1970
The socialist metropolis of East Berlin

East Berlin is flourishing. The “capital” is evolving into a socialist metropolis. The construction of 14-storey tower blocks next to the Wall aims to send a clear signal to the West. The first foundation stones are laid here in January 1970. In East Berlin city centre, meanwhile, city planners are creating a cult of the personality: a 19-metre-high statue of Lenin forms the centrepiece of the square named after the revolutionary leader. It was inaugurated by head of state, Walter Ulbricht.

Everyday Life, East

00:30
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October 07, 1974
The GDR's 25th anniversary

The GDR is turning 25. In October 1974, the Republic's birthday is marked in a fitting manner: a military parade through the centre of East Berlin. State-owned enterprises have exceeded their targets.

Politics, East

00:32
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