In the fall of 1989, political tensions reached their peak in almost all of the GDR’s major cities.
In Leipzig, St. Nicholas Church became the leading center of the political disputes. Here, hundreds of citizens had been gathering every Monday for many weeks to pray for peace and to form a unified protest movement.
Despite the massive police presence, increasingly people from Leipzig joined the movement, although there were regular serious clashes in front of the church. The Stasi, in particular, acted ruthlessly against the demonstrators. Dogs were used and people were arrested.
But people were not intimidated, and from week to week, more and more joined the demonstrations. Despite the constantly intensifying political disputes around St. Nicholas Church, life in the city proceeded at its usual rhythm.
The streetcars and buses ran regularly as usual, taking working people to work on time. The children dutifully went to school, and working mothers left their little ones in the care of the kindergarten teachers without any particular worry.
The factories worked normally. There were no strikes anywhere, but there were heated discussions about the political situation. After the end of their shifts, most people stormed into the city center to express their solidarity with the demands for freedom of travel and a democratic voice.
At that time, there was still no talk of reunification. The employees in my area, all younger than me without exception, were no exception. The other morning, they confidently informed me about the evening’s events in the city center.
They tacitly tolerated my passivity and also accepted my well-intentioned admonitions to be careful. Fortunately, no shots had yet been fired in front of St. Nicholas Church, but that could change very quickly.
From the crisis-ridden party consultations that were repeatedly called in a hurry, I knew that there were very many comrades who demanded tough, unyielding action against the provocateurs and ‘enemies of socialism’ stirred up by Western television, even by force of arms if necessary.
On October 9, 1989, the streets around St. Nicholas Church were filled with sympathizers deep into the city center, and as if guided by an invisible force, a massive protest march formed in the evening.
From over 70,000 throats, a powerful cry resounded through the city: ‘We are the people!’ The demonstrators demanded unrestricted freedom of travel and a democratic voice. In the many-voiced chorus, the urgent admonition could be heard repeatedly at almost regular intervals: ‘No violence!’
On that memorable day, the peaceful revolution that swept the entire republic was sparked by the people of the trade fair city. The fact that the revolution remained non-violent and peaceful despite the huge contingent of armed police and combat group units was due to the iron discipline of the demonstrators.
A smashed shop window or a burning car would have been reason enough to bloodily put down the revolution that had begun peacefully.
The police officers and fighters in the armed units are also under heavy moral pressure, because it was by no means certain that they would obey the order to shoot their own brothers, sisters, and parents.
Admittedly, I was not an avant-gardist of the peaceful revolution. 𝓣𝓸 𝓑𝓮 𝓒𝓸𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓾𝓮𝓭…
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