East Germany and the Berlin Wall

• EG had a reputation for being the most loyal of all the USSR’s satellite states
• Its leaders were comm hardliners and its secret police, the Stasi, was feared above all other EE political police
• It received benefits from WG through Willy Brandt’s policy of Ostpolitik, which was meant to build a bridge between the West and its comm counterpart
• While Berlin remained a sticking point for the EGs, the received benefits from its location, as Moscow saw it as a place to showcase the benefits of comm to the outside world 
• 1984 – the 2 German states reached agreements for cultural exchanges and the removal of land mines on their frontier, signalling a commitment to the status quo for both
• It seemed the EG regime was accepted as late as 1988
• No one saw the changes that took place in the next year
• Eric Honecker ignored the calls for reform embedded in perestroika, and the dissent at home in other EE states
• Aged 77, Honecker was the last of the comm leaders who had come of age at the same time as LB
• Honecker remained firmly loyal to the Comm Party and was determined to keep EG as a single party state
• Events in Hungary had an effect on the situation in Germany
• 2 May 1989 – the Hungarian gov. removed the fence on its border with EG
• While travel between the 2 countries was technically still illegal, in practice, anyone dissatisfied in either country could cross the border
• By Sept 1989 – estimated 60,000 EGs had left for Hungary to seek asylum in the WG embassies there
• Budapest was overcrowded due to these refugees
• When the Hungarian foreign minister announced that EGs wouldn’t be stopped if they sought to travel west to Austria, 22,000 EGs crossed over 
• Due to mounting international pressure, the EG gov. temporarily allowed citizens to travel to WG, but only if they promised to return 
• Many were willing to do this as their homes and families were in the East
• In October, opposition could be seen in the streets of every city in EG
• Encouraged by the actions of opposition groups in other EE countries, EGs protested at the lack of reforms in the Honecker regime and the repression that he embodied
• Other members of the Party leadership felt that they need to make changes or face revolution 
• This level of opposition meant the Politburo forced Honecker to resign 
• Fellow member Egon Krenz became the General Secretary of the Party of the Council of State on 18 October
• Krenz immediately announced that EG was going to implement democratic reforms, and endorsed MG’s ideas of perestroika, glasnost, and the end of the Brezhnev Doctrine 
• Nov 1989 – Krenz visited MG on an economic mission 
• The USSR didn’t offer economic aid to the struggling EG
• Even with assistance from WG, the country had experienced a disastrous collapse in its economy 
• 1985 – growth at 5.2%; by 1989 – only 2.8%
• This meant that the EG gov. had little to offer its citizens
• 5 Nov – proposed relaxing its travel laws
• Rather than calm the public, the new laws attracted criticism for being too limited
• The gov. lost control over a public that was demanding fast change
• The entire Politburo resigned, leaving Krenz and his colleagues in the gov to respond to the population
• 9 Nov – another travel law was proposed 
• A news conference was broadcast live on TV, announcing the authorisation of foreign travel without advance notice and free transit through border crossings into WG
• The Berlin Wall became an anachronism as EGs poured into the streets, headed to Berlin and crossed to the West
• The EG leadership had been hoping that this reform would increase its credibility and popularity as a People’s Republic, but instead it led to its collapse
• 1 December – facing increasing calls for reforms, the gov. changed the constitution, eliminating the clause that gave the Comm Party a dominant role in the gov
• 2 days later, Krenz and the Central Committee resigned 
• In place of the gov., a coalition gov. was put in place