| Alexanderplatz demonstration | |
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| Part of thePeaceful Revolution | |
 The Alexanderplatz demonstration on 4 November 1989 in East Berlin | |
| Date | 4 November 1989; 36 years ago (1989-11-04) |
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TheAlexanderplatz demonstration (German:Alexanderplatz-Demonstration) was a demonstration for political reforms and against the government of theGerman Democratic Republic onAlexanderplatz in East Berlin on Saturday 4 November 1989. With between half a million and a million protesters it was one of the largest demonstrations in East German history[A] and a milestone of the peaceful revolution that led to thefall of the Berlin Wall andGerman reunification. The demonstration was organized by actors and employees of theaters in East Berlin. It was the first demonstration in East German history that was organized by private individuals and was permitted to take place by the authorities. The speakers during the demonstration were members of the opposition, representatives of the regime and artists, and included the dissidentsMarianne Birthler andJens Reich, the writerStefan Heym, the actorUlrich Mühe, the former head of the East Germanforeign intelligence serviceMarkus Wolf and Politburo memberGünter Schabowski.
In early October 1989, East German authorities celebrated the 40th anniversary of theGerman Democratic Republic. At the same time, they had to face increasing protests across the country and a mass exodus of their citizens toWest Germany viaHungary and the West German embassies inPrague andWarsaw. On 18 October, reformist members of the Politburo forcedErich Honecker to resign as the chair of thecouncil of state and general secretary of theSocialist Unity Party (SED). He was replaced by the slightly less hardlineEgon Krenz, who became the new party leader and the chair of the council of state a few days later.[1] In his inaugural address, he used the termDie Wende (lit. turnaround) and promised political reforms. He later ordered the cessation of all police actions against protesters and reopened the previously closed border toCzechoslovakia. A few days later, on 23 October, more than 300,000 people joined theMonday demonstration in Leipzig, and many more at other protests throughout the country.[2]
The Alexanderplatz demonstration was the first officially permitted demonstration in East Germany that was organized by individuals and not by the authorities. The first idea for a demonstration on theAlexanderplatz in the center of the capital of East Germany came from actors and employees of theaters inEast Berlin, who had been struck by the assaults on peaceful protesters by theVolkspolizei and theStasi during the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of East Germany on 7 October 1989.[3] On 15 October 1989 at 11 am, an assembly of actors and employees of theaters in East Berlin met at theDeutsches Theater and decided to hold a demonstration for democratization and against the East German government. It was not the first meeting as on 7 October, the 40th anniversary of the German Democratic Republic, actors of theVolksbühne had invited their colleagues to discuss the political situation.[4] The application for a permit to hold a demonstration was submitted two days later to the authorities byWolfgang Holz of theBerliner Ensemble.[5] The application was met with confusion by the SED and Stasi who could not decide whether to ban, allow or subvert the planned demonstration. After long deliberations the authorities decided on 26 October to permit the demonstration. A list of speakers was prepared by the organizers, including representatives of the regime, members of the opposition and artists.[3] After having permitted the demonstration authorities tried to subvert the demonstration by spreading rumors – rumors such as that the Friedrichshain hospital was scheduling extra shifts for their doctors, that theGerman Reichsbahn was transporting agent provocateurs to Berlin or that the protesters were planning to march toward theBrandenburg Gate at theBerlin Wall. At the same time the organizers hired marshals who would wear a yellow sash with the words "No violence!".[6]
On 4 November 1989 the demonstration started at 9:30 with a protest march toAlexanderplatz in the center ofEast Berlin. At 11:00 the first protesters arrived at the Alexanderplatz. The more than 500,000 protesters came not only from East Berlin but from all over East Germany. Thousands of banners showed the slogans that were already used by hundred of thousands of protesters in other East German cities during the still illegalMonday demonstrations. Neither the opening of theBerlin Wall nor a possibleGerman reunification were among the demands. Instead the protesters concentrated on the democratization of East Germany, with references to paragraphs 27 and 28 of theEast German constitution which in theory but not in practice guaranteedfreedom of speech andfreedom of assembly.[3]
The opening speeches were given byMarion van de Kamp,Johanna Schall,Ulrich Mühe andJan Josef Liefers, who were stage actors from East Berlin. Ulrich Mühe, actor at theDeutsches Theater demanded in his speech the abolition of the first paragraph of the East German constitution which guaranteed the leading role of theSocialist Unity Party. In the next three hours, a series of speakers voiced their demands for democratic reforms in East Germany. The three-hour-long demonstration was televised live onEast German television, including the scenes of representatives of the regime being jeered and booed by the protesters.[3] Later, the dissidentBärbel Bohley would say aboutMarkus Wolf, former head of the East Germanforeign intelligence service and speaker during the demonstration:
When I saw that his hands were trembling because the people were booing I said toJens Reich: We can go now, now it is all over. The revolution is irreversible."[7]
The speakers were, in order of appearance: lawyerGregor Gysi,Marianne Birthler of the opposition groupInitiative for Peace and Human Rights, Markus Wolf, Jens Reich of the opposition groupNew Forum, LDPD politicianManfred Gerlach, actorEkkehard Schall, SED Politburo memberGünter Schabowski, writerStefan Heym, theologian and dissidentFriedrich Schorlemmer, writerChrista Wolf, actorTobias Langhoff, film directorJoachim Tschirner, dramatistHeiner Müller, university rectorLothar Bisky, university student Ronald Freytag, writerChristoph Hein, Hungarian student Robert Juhoras, and actressSteffie Spira.[4][8]
The most often and commonly used protest slogan of the Monday demonstrations as well as the Alexanderplatz demonstration was "We are the people" (German:Wir sind das Volk) which became "We are one people" (German:Wir sind ein Volk) after thefall of the Berlin Wall, thus changing the nature of the demonstrations. Many other slogans and banners have been documented by photographs and by an exhibition in theDeutsches Historisches Museum:[4][9]
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In early 1990 banners of the demonstration were used to decorate and cover the exhibits of the by then politically outdated permanent exhibition "Socialist mother country GDR" at theDeutsches Historisches Museum. In mid-1994 banners and other artifacts of the demonstration were permanently added to the collection of the museum and were shown in an exhibition on the Alexanderplatz demonstration. The banners were preserved by Henning Schaller, stage designer at theMaxim-Gorki-Theater, who asked participants to leave the banners so that they could be collected for an art exhibition.[4] To mark the tenth anniversary in 1999 a series of events under the title "We were the people" (German:Wir waren das Volk) were held in Berlin.[10]
