The Peaceful Revolution in East Germany

By 1989 East Germans were increasingly dissatisfied with the living standards in East Germany and were willing to risk their livelihoods by participating in public protests. Yet, the images of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing and the support for the Chinese leadership by the East German government signaled the resolve of East Germany’s aging leadership to respond with violence to any challenge to the system. Yet, when East Germans in the fall of 1989 took to the streets, the system quickly crumbled. This revolution was unique in at least two ways. It was, first, a revolution that occurred in the provincial city of Leipzig and not in the capital of the country. This revolution was, second, unique since it aimed not at reforming an existing country but at abolishing this country in favor of German unification. The Peaceful Revolution that began in Leipzig was part of a global transformation that embraced Mahatma Gandhi’s notion of non-violent resistance. This global transformation started with the end of authoritarian rule in the Philippines in 1986, included the peaceful revolutions across Eastern Europe (Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia), and ended with the transfer of power in South Africa in 1994.