20th Anniversary, Leipzig Peaceful Revolution

October the 9th marks 20 years since the Leipzig peaceful revolution. Every Monday, thousands of people gathered in the city to express their discontent about life in East Germany. Citizens were unhappy of the political repression and lived in fear of the German Stasi secret police.

Then one Monday, over 70-thousand East Germans marched through the streets of Leipzig chanting slogans like “We are the people” and “Freedom.” One month later, the Berlin Wall came down. And one year later, the two Germanys were reunited.

Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Germany’s foreign minister at the time, explains how the Monday Demonstrations started the end of communism in Europe.

[Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Former Foreign Minister]:
„What happened in East Germany, the Monday demonstrations, especially the one on October 9th in Leipzig, went down in history, world history because ultimately, they resulted in the end of the division of Europe.“

Every Monday Demonstrations were preceded by a church service led by Christian Führer, the priest of Nikolai Church. And on October the 9th, over two thousand people attended the service.

[Christian Führer, Monday Demonstrations Priest]:
“People did something amazing. They condensed the Sermon of the Mount by Jesus, which was a subject we looked at every Monday. They condensed it into two words: ‘No violence.’ They not only thought that and shouted it, they also carried it out consistently.“

Just five months earlier on June 1989, the Tiananmen massacre took place in Beijing. Thousands of students took to the streets to protest oppression in communist China but were killed by the army.

Christian Führer tells how the Leipzig demonstrators were in fear of similar reprisals by communist Germany.

[Christian Führer, Monday Demonstrations Priest]:
„The Chinese solution was hovering above us all as a terrifying fear, which is why on that day there were no children with us. One parent stayed at home with the children, the other went to the peace prayer and the demonstration.”

The Leipzig revolution succeeded without bloodshed

(NTDTV)