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On October 7, 1989, the East German communist regime intends to celebrate with great pomp the 40th anniversary of the GDR. But the country is bad and its inhabitants now dare to speak and go down the street spoiling the apparatchiks festival that rejects any reform.
The palace of the Republic was pampered. Everything has been prepared in detail for months. The building in the heart of Berlin is to host the official party celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the GDR . The brotherly parties of the other communist countries made the trip, from the Romanian Nicolae Ceausescu to the Bulgarian Todor Zhivkov while going through the Polish Wojciech Jaruzelski not to mention the leaders of the East German regime around the world as the leader of the Liberation Organization Palestine Yasser Arafat or Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. And of course, Mikhail Gorbachev, secretary-general of the Soviet Communist Party, big winner at the applaudimeter during the great military parade through East Berlin as the evening at the entrance of the Palace of the Republic for the gala evening. As it passed, the crowd chanted " Gorbi, Gorbi " putting their hopes in the Soviet reformer in power for four years. These images are not shown on East German TV. The RDA remains hermetic to any reform. The regime's ideological leader Kurt Hager explained it in an imaginative way, but clear in an interview two years earlier: " Do you feel obliged to redo your apartment because your neighbor is laying new wallpapers ? Yet the GDR looks more and more like the Titanic and the festivities for the fortieth anniversary of the communist regime resemble a swan song.
The demonstrations are more numerous
The economy is bad. The rejection of the system in the population is increasing, manipulations of municipal results in May are documented by dissident groups, more and more East Germans file requests to leave the country, others prefer not to wait and take advantage of the opening of the Iron Curtain in Hungary to reach the West. For a month now, protesters have been daring to take to the streets in Leipzig and brave the regime's complicit fear. Fear of losing his job or physical fear after the brutal crackdown in China in June. But in Plauen, Saxony, there are 20,000 that same October 7 to claim reforms in the pouring rain before the police brutally dispersed the protesters.
In Berlin, the day begins with a military parade after the parade the day before of 100,000 members of the communist youth. Western media are present. Authorities are on the teeth. Everyone is aware that something can happen. In the late afternoon, on Alexanderplatz, the big square in the heart of East Berlin, several hundred young people gather. Slogans like " The Stasi (The Secret Police) Out ", " Liberty " or " Democracy " can be heard. The protesters get in motion and head for the palace of the republic and are arrested a few miles away by the police. They no longer cry out as " we want to leave ", but " we want to stay " signifiers to the regime that will have to deal with them instead of getting rid of these impediments by expelling them to the West.
Time is not at the party
In the building, Gorbachev does not meet the expectations of the protesters. The Soviet leader does not want to spoil the party of Erich Honecker, the sick East German leader, for whom the fortieth anniversary is the pinnacle of his career. Honecker may have already realized that his days in power are numbered. In his speech, he skips five pages leaving aside passages where he evokes half-word the need for the GDR to reform. The musician Stefan Hermlin performing that night describes a revealing scene: the big official table is emptying very quickly. At one point, only Erich Honecker is still sitting there. All a symbol. Ten days later, he is forced to resign.
In the palace of the republic, guests watch nervous protesters near there. Officials are visibly nervous. The evening has surreal traits. Ironically, the dessert of the gala menu is called "surprise" (in French in the text). Gorbatchev resumes the plane at eight o'clock. The distinguished party guest, the head of the secret police, Erich Mielke, decides to move to the strong way. The protesters are repressed, the crowd dispersed. But there are still many to win the bohemian district of Prenzlauer Berg. Later, many violent arrests will brutally put an end to this particular day. A total of 3,500 people were arrested that day across the GDR.
The fortieth anniversary of the regime has been ruined. Two days later, the East German government will bow to the crowd in Leipzig. A month later, the Berlin Wall falls. A year later, Germany will be reunited. The GDR will not celebrate its 41st birthday.