Erich Honecker

no one had a cell phone or Social Media to mobilise supporters back in the year 1989.

But the East Germans, the nose of communism flocked to The Streets of Leipzig , in spite of the extraordinary restrictions on their personal freedom.

"We don't have a Home phone - we were not allowed, and you would have listened, in any case," recalls Katrin Hauer, one of the organizers of the Monday demonstrations in Leipzig , East Germany had the second-largest city.

A candle-Light mass protests on may 9. October, the Turning Point was: a crowd of 70,000 flocked to the City Centre and the dreaded headquarters of the Stasi dared for the First Time , to March past the secret police. "We are the people!" was sung. "We are the people!"

some 6,000 armed police and plain-clothes Stasi were just in the side streets, But she held back, vastly in the minority.

the grip of The Communist propaganda on the behaviour of the people was broken. But East and West Germans were equally surprised by The Fall of the Berlin Wall a month later.

It was already widespread frustration and anger in the GDR officially, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the mood escalated in the entire year 1989.

millions of East Germans secretly colorful, capitalist West watched German TV, even though it was illegal. They saw that The West in luxury and abundant consumer goods, But had little chance to go there. Meanwhile, The Communist GDR was a grey, regulated and plagued by a lack of.

opponents of the regime were spied on and harassed by the Stasi, the blocks often people, the choice of studies and career.

were arrested in June, the Ailing 77-year-old Communist leader Erich Honecker was the resistance against reforms, while the neighboring Poland and Hungary both were going through democratic transitions.

the "Big Brother " - the Soviet Union - was led by the reformer Mikhail Gorbachev . His "glasnost" (openness) policy, funded to confront The West , allowed for dissent, and coercion of the Soviet citizens, long-hidden Communist crimes.

"Gorbi, Gorbi!" was a popular slogan among the East Germans hungry for Gorbachev-style reforms.

In the summer of 1989 Hungary removed the Barbed Wire on the border with the capitalist Austria, making an Escape Route for East Germans desperate to reach The West . Many East Germans traditionally went on holiday to Hungary, deprived of other opportunities for travel abroad.

The Exodus was a human flood; thousands sought refuge in The West German Embassy in Czechoslovakia, and families were separated.

Gorbachev visits East Berlin for the GDR's 40-year anniversary on may 7. October and urged Mr Honecker to initiate reforms, said: "life punishes those who come Too Late ". to have

The GDR claimed to be exempt "the people" of the capitalist mode of exploitation: construction of communism meant job security, affordable housing, and for the common good.

For several years, Pastor Christoph Wonneberger, "peace prayers" every Monday in the Protestant Nikolai Church - St. Nicholas Church , a safe space for political dissidents.

The 1980s were years of protest against the establishment of nuclear missiles in Europe. The US missiles in Western Europe , the largest protests moved; But Mr. Honecker tolerated the GDR peace movement against Soviet nuclear missiles in the GDR.

"The Nikolai Church in Leipzig than places available. We knew that the Stasi was in The Church , But our activities could not be prohibited, because they were the prayers called for peace, not a protest," says Ms. Hattenhauer, who was 20 at the time.

"group solidarity has always been stronger, and the summer has helped flee a lot to us. Many people joined, as they were desperate to have relatives lost. So it was in search of a place to tell their stories, in order to decide how life should go," she told the BBC.

the Leipzig international fair on 4. September offered a rare opportunity for the anti-Communist opposition: Western journalists were not allowed into The City .

Ms-Hattenhauer and colleagues dissidents changed their strategy for the 4. September. "We take people out of The Church , in order to become visible, giving The Movement a Face . "

to assemble the unfolded banners with the slogans "freedom" and "for an open country with free people". Immediately, the Stasi snatched it - But what is decisive is the condition of the brutality of is was filmed by West German TV.

these images, the East German "could not see that the government were the lies About Us are true - we did not look like a counter-revolutionary criminals," She Said .

Ex-dissident Uwe Schwabe told the BBC, "the people were so Fed Up with the GDR, living constantly with lies and propaganda". "The reality was that Leipzig was in a terrible dirty state, the air was terrible, it stank. "

He had to clean up for a long time, the DDR on the environment. Leipzig 's main pollution problems has been mining in the vicinity of lignite (brown coal).

By October 1989, there were many different opposition groups, and according to the ex-dissident Kathrin Mahler Walther, pastor Wonneberger was a key coordinator.

"a Lot of people decided they could not be free, journalists or lawyers [in the GDR], so that she is studying theology, to be free of the condition, and there were also critics, among them," Mr. Schwabe said.

But activists-priests were a small minority, said in the Leipzig Evangelical Church - only six of 50, Mr Schwabe. And the Catholic Church shied Away from the activists.

The Fall of The GDR in 1989

August-September: thousands of East Germans escape to The West via Hungary and the border to Austria; the others flee Czechoslovakia

9. October: an unprecedented amount of 70,000 demonstrated in the centre of Leipzig , calling for freedom

18. October: The Communist leader Erich Honecker ended, replaced by Egon Krenz

7. November: the government and the Politburo.

9 withdraw. November: fall of the Berlin Wall

3. October 1990: German reunification

pastor Wonneberger, Mrs Walther and the other activists created a network, in Leipzig , allows the 9. October demonstration on to a large impact.

The advertising are already created by the Monday demonstrations, "the time is ripe," says Ms. Walther. "Everyone realized, 'Wow, is that really anything to change here. '"

But feared many of the protesters, The Police Open Fire , as it was The Communist Chinese crackdown on the Tiananmen Square is still a Fresh Memory . A senior GDR Politburo member, Egon Krenz , had praised the RAID.

As the audience chanted in Leipzig , "No violence!" and activists are urged to avoid the fellow protesters that The Police open an apology, the fire.

"There were people of all ages, in The Streets , although many older people tried to stop their children to go," said Mr. Schwabe.

It was later revealed that The Authorities had ordered, the Leipzig hospitals for the preparation of extra beds and blood supplies.

That Night , Mrs Walther pastor Wonneberger from a Hiding Place in The City called the Evangelical Reformed Church and reported to him about The Demonstration .

He was in a different Church , also calls all the time from other activists. Then he has a live interview by phone on The West German TV news.

"On West German television, we could say that in the GDR people, the" Ms Walther explains.

Two other Activists - Aram Radomski and Siegbert Schefke , had a TV camera, But needed a safe place to film The Demonstration . Ms Walther put you in contact with the pastor, let up in the Reformed Church , tower.

"I did not dare to film it, the BBC said on the street," Mr. Schefke, a East Berlin dissidents of 1989.

"Later, I met the [West German] mirror reporter, Ulrich Schwarz , in a hotel and gave him my record, he took That Night . "

The peaceful uprising of 70,000 people which is broadcast on West German television the next day.

The protest movement was unstoppable: a week later, More Than 100,000 thronged to the headquarters in Leipzig , and the protests soon spread across East Germany .

"I'm 60 years old now. I lived behind Barbed Wire , But now I have more freedom, than without. I was told Walled In for 30 years," Mr. Schefke.

Source of news: bbc.com