Alexanderplatz demonstration
Encyclopedia
The Alexanderplatz demonstration was a demonstration for political reforms and against the government of the German Democratic Republic on Alexanderplatz
in East Berlin
on 4 November 1989. With between half a million and a million protesters it was one of the largest demonstrations in East German history and a milestone of the peaceful revolution that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and German 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 dissidents Marianne Birthler
and Jens Reich
, the writer Stefan Heym
, the actor Ulrich Mühe
, the head of the East German foreign intelligence service Markus Wolf
and Politburo member Günter Schabowski
.
via Hungary
and the West German embassies in Prague
and Warsaw
. On 18 October reformist members of the Politburo forced Erich Honecker
to resign as the chair of the council of state and general secretary of the Socialist Unity Party
(SED). He was replaced by the slightly less hardline Egon Krenz
who became the new party leader and the chair of the council of state a few days later. In his inaugural address he used the term Die Wende
(lit. turnaround) and promised political reforms. He later ordered to stop all police actions against protesters and reopened the previously closed border to Czechoslovakia
, but a few days later, on October 23, more than 300,000 people joined the Monday demonstration
in Leipzig and many more at other protests throughout the country.
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 the Alexanderplatz
in the center of the capital of East Germany came from actors and employees of theaters in East Berlin
, who had been struck by the assaults on peaceful protesters by the Volkspolizei
and the Stasi
during the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of East Germany on 7 October 1989. On 15 October 1989 at 11 in the morning an assembly of actors and employees of theaters in East Berlin met at the Deutsches 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 the Volksbühne
had invited their colleagues to discuss the political situation. The application for a permit to hold a demonstration was submitted two days later to the authorities by Wolfgang Holz of the Berliner Ensemble
. 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. After having permitted the demonstration authorities tried to subvert the demonstration by spreading rumors - rumors such as that the Friedrichshain hospital is scheduling extra shifts for their doctors, that the German Reichsbahn will transport agent provocateur to Berlin or that the protesters are planning to march toward the Brandenburg Gate
at the Berlin Wall
. At the same time the organizers hired marshals who would wear a yellow sash with the words "No violence!".
in the center of East 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 illegal Monday demonstrations
. Neither the opening of the Berlin wall
nor a possible German reunification
were among the demands. Instead the protesters concentrated on the democratization of East Germany, with references to paragraphs 27 and 28 of the East German constitution which in theory but not in practice guaranteed freedom of speech
and freedom of assembly
.
The opening speeches were held by Marion van de Kamp
, Johanna Schall
, Ulrich Mühe
and Jan Josef Liefers
, who were stage actors from East Berlin. Ulrich Mühe, actor at the Deutsches Theater
demanded in his speech the abolition of the first paragraph of the East German constitution which guaranteed the leading role of the Socialist 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 on East German television
, including the scenes of representatives of the regime being jeered and booed by the protesters. Later the dissident Bärbel Bohley
would say about Markus Wolf
, head of the East German foreign intelligence service and speaker during the demonstration:
The speakers were, in order of appearance: lawyer Gregor Gysi
, Marianne Birthler
of the opposition group Initiative for Peace and Human Rights
, Markus Wolf, Jens Reich of the opposition group New Forum
, LDPD politician Manfred Gerlach
, actor Ekkehard Schall
, SED Politburo member Günter Schabowski
, writer Stefan Heym
, theologian and dissident Friedrich Schorlemmer
, writer Christa Wolf
, actor Tobias Langhoff, film director Joachim Tschirner, dramatist Heiner Müller
, university rector Lothar Bisky
, university student Roland Freitag, writer Christoph Hein
, Hungarian student Robert Juhoras, and actress Steffie Spira.
:
. In the summer of 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 the Maxim-Gorki-Theater
, who asked participants to leave the banners so that they could be collected for an art exhibition. To mark the tenth anniversary in 1999 a series of events under the title "We were the people" were held in Berlin.
Alexanderplatz
Alexanderplatz is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin, near the Fernsehturm. Berliners often call it simply Alex, referring to a larger neighborhood stretching from Mollstraße in the northeast to Spandauer Straße and the City Hall in the southwest.-Early...
in East Berlin
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
on 4 November 1989. With between half a million and a million protesters it was one of the largest demonstrations in East German history and a milestone of the peaceful revolution that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
. 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 dissidents Marianne Birthler
Marianne Birthler
Marianne Birthler is a German human rights advocate and politician of the Alliance '90/The Greens...
and Jens Reich
Jens Reich
Jens Georg Reich is a German scientist and a member of the German Ethics Council. He has become famous as a civil rights campaigner in the last decade of the GDR times.-Life and work:Jens Reich grew up in Halberstadt...
, the writer Stefan Heym
Stefan Heym
Helmut Flieg was a German-Jewish writer, known by his pseudonym Stefan Heym. He lived in the United States between 1935 and 1952, before moving back to the part of his native Germany which was, from 1949–1990, German Democratic Republic...
, the actor Ulrich Mühe
Ulrich Mühe
Friedrich Hans Ulrich Mühe was a German film, television and theatre actor. He played the role of Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler in the Oscar-winning film Das Leben der Anderen , for which he received the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Gold, at Germany's most prestigious film...
, the head of the East German foreign intelligence service Markus Wolf
Markus Wolf
Markus Johannes "Mischa" Wolf was head of the General Intelligence Administration , the foreign intelligence division of East Germany's Ministry for State Security . He was the MfS's number two for 34 years, which spanned most of the Cold War...
and Politburo member Günter Schabowski
Günter Schabowski
Günter Schabowski is a former official of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany , the ruling party during most of the existence of the German Democratic Republic...
.
Background and preparations
In early October 1989 East German authorities celebrated the 40th anniversary of the German Democratic Republic. At the same time they had to face increasing protests across the country and a mass exodus of their citizens to West GermanyWest Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
via Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
and the West German embassies in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
and Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
. On 18 October reformist members of the Politburo forced Erich Honecker
Erich Honecker
Erich Honecker was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic as General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party from 1971 until 1989, serving as Head of State as well from Willi Stoph's relinquishment of that post in 1976....
to resign as the chair of the council of state and general secretary of the Socialist Unity Party
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the governing party of the German Democratic Republic from its formation on 7 October 1949 until the elections of March 1990. The SED was a communist political party with a Marxist-Leninist ideology...
(SED). He was replaced by the slightly less hardline Egon Krenz
Egon Krenz
Egon Krenz is a former politician from East Germany , and that country's last Communist leader...
who became the new party leader and the chair of the council of state a few days later. In his inaugural address he used the term Die Wende
Die Wende
marks the complete process of the change from socialism and planned economy to market economy and capitalism in East Germany around the years 1989 and 1990. It encompasses several processes and events which later have become synonymous with the overall process...
(lit. turnaround) and promised political reforms. He later ordered to stop all police actions against protesters and reopened the previously closed border to Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, but a few days later, on October 23, more than 300,000 people joined the Monday demonstration
Monday demonstrations in East Germany
The Monday demonstrations in East Germany in 1989 and 1990 were a series of peaceful political protests against the authoritarian communist government of the German Democratic Republic that took place every Monday evening.- Overview :...
in Leipzig and many more at other protests throughout the country.
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 the Alexanderplatz
Alexanderplatz
Alexanderplatz is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin, near the Fernsehturm. Berliners often call it simply Alex, referring to a larger neighborhood stretching from Mollstraße in the northeast to Spandauer Straße and the City Hall in the southwest.-Early...
in the center of the capital of East Germany came from actors and employees of theaters in East Berlin
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
, who had been struck by the assaults on peaceful protesters by the Volkspolizei
Volkspolizei
The Volkspolizei , or VP, were the national police of the German Democratic Republic . The Volkspolizei were responsible for most law enforcement in East Germany, but its organisation and structure were such that it could be considered a paramilitary force as well...
and the Stasi
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
during the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of East Germany on 7 October 1989. On 15 October 1989 at 11 in the morning an assembly of actors and employees of theaters in East Berlin met at the Deutsches Theater
Deutsches Theater
The Deutsches Theater in Berlin is a well-known German theatre. It was built in 1850 as Friedrich-Wilhelm-Städtisches Theater, after Frederick William IV of Prussia. Located on Schumann Street , the Deutsches Theater consists of two adjoining stages that share a common, classical facade...
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 the Volksbühne
Volksbühne
The Volksbühne is a theater in Berlin, Germany. Located in Berlin's city center Mitte on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in what was the GDR's capital....
had invited their colleagues to discuss the political situation. The application for a permit to hold a demonstration was submitted two days later to the authorities by Wolfgang Holz of the Berliner Ensemble
Berliner Ensemble
The Berliner Ensemble is a German theatre company established by playwright Bertolt Brecht and his wife, Helene Weigel in January 1949 in East Berlin...
. 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. After having permitted the demonstration authorities tried to subvert the demonstration by spreading rumors - rumors such as that the Friedrichshain hospital is scheduling extra shifts for their doctors, that the German Reichsbahn will transport agent provocateur to Berlin or that the protesters are planning to march toward the Brandenburg Gate
Brandenburg Gate
The Brandenburg Gate is a former city gate and one of the most well-known landmarks of Berlin and Germany. It is located west of the city centre at the junction of Unter den Linden and Ebertstraße, immediately west of the Pariser Platz. It is the only remaining gate of a series through which...
at the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
. At the same time the organizers hired marshals who would wear a yellow sash with the words "No violence!".
Demonstration
On 4 November 1989 the demonstration started at 9:30 with a protest march to the AlexanderplatzAlexanderplatz
Alexanderplatz is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin, near the Fernsehturm. Berliners often call it simply Alex, referring to a larger neighborhood stretching from Mollstraße in the northeast to Spandauer Straße and the City Hall in the southwest.-Early...
in the center of East Berlin
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
. 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 illegal Monday demonstrations
Monday demonstrations in East Germany
The Monday demonstrations in East Germany in 1989 and 1990 were a series of peaceful political protests against the authoritarian communist government of the German Democratic Republic that took place every Monday evening.- Overview :...
. Neither the opening of the Berlin wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
nor a possible German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
were among the demands. Instead the protesters concentrated on the democratization of East Germany, with references to paragraphs 27 and 28 of the East German constitution which in theory but not in practice guaranteed freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
and freedom of assembly
Freedom of assembly
Freedom of assembly, sometimes used interchangeably with the freedom of association, is the individual right to come together and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests...
.
Marion van de Kamp
Marion van de Kamp is a German actress and television announcer. Born in Wuppertal to Dutch parents she attended the drama school in Dresden, East Germany and worked at theaters in Meiningen, Görlitz, Plauen, Schwerin and Leipzig. In 1953 she started working for the Deutscher Fernsehfunk, the...
, Johanna Schall
Johanna Schall
Johanna Schall is a German actress. She appeared in 23 films and television shows between 1976 and 2003. She starred in Apple Trees, which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. She is the daughter of actor Ekkehard Schall.-External links:...
, Ulrich Mühe
Ulrich Mühe
Friedrich Hans Ulrich Mühe was a German film, television and theatre actor. He played the role of Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler in the Oscar-winning film Das Leben der Anderen , for which he received the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Gold, at Germany's most prestigious film...
and Jan Josef Liefers
Jan Josef Liefers
Jan Josef Liefers, is a German actor and musician. He was born on August 8, 1964 in Dresden.-Life:Liefers is the son of director Karlheinz Liefers and actress Brigitte Liefers-Wähner. After his apprenticeship he studied at the Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch in Berlin...
, who were stage actors from East Berlin. Ulrich Mühe, actor at the Deutsches Theater
Deutsches Theater
The Deutsches Theater in Berlin is a well-known German theatre. It was built in 1850 as Friedrich-Wilhelm-Städtisches Theater, after Frederick William IV of Prussia. Located on Schumann Street , the Deutsches Theater consists of two adjoining stages that share a common, classical facade...
demanded in his speech the abolition of the first paragraph of the East German constitution which guaranteed the leading role of the Socialist Unity Party
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the governing party of the German Democratic Republic from its formation on 7 October 1949 until the elections of March 1990. The SED was a communist political party with a Marxist-Leninist ideology...
. 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 on East German television
Deutscher Fernsehfunk
Deutscher Fernsehfunk , known from 1972 to 1990 as Fernsehen der DDR , was the state television broadcaster in East Germany.-Foundation:...
, including the scenes of representatives of the regime being jeered and booed by the protesters. Later the dissident Bärbel Bohley
Bärbel Bohley
Bärbel Bohley was an East German opposition figure and artist. In 1983 she was expelled from the GDR artists federation and was banned from travelling abroad or exhibiting her work in East Germany. She was accused of having contacts to the West German Green Party.In 1985 she was one of the...
would say about Markus Wolf
Markus Wolf
Markus Johannes "Mischa" Wolf was head of the General Intelligence Administration , the foreign intelligence division of East Germany's Ministry for State Security . He was the MfS's number two for 34 years, which spanned most of the Cold War...
, head of the East German foreign intelligence service and speaker during the demonstration:
The speakers were, in order of appearance: lawyer Gregor Gysi
Gregor Gysi
Dr. Gregor Gysi is a German attorney and key politician of the socialist left-wing political party The Left . He played an important role in the end of communist rule in East Germany in 1989, and was a main figure in the post-reunification Party of Democratic Socialism...
, Marianne Birthler
Marianne Birthler
Marianne Birthler is a German human rights advocate and politician of the Alliance '90/The Greens...
of the opposition group Initiative for Peace and Human Rights
Initiative for Peace and Human Rights
The Initiative for Peace and Human Rights was the oldest opposition group in East Germany. It was founded at the beginning of 1986 and was independent of the churches and state...
, Markus Wolf, Jens Reich of the opposition group New Forum
New Forum
New Forum was a political movement in East Germany formed in the months leading up to the collapse of the East German state. It was founded in September 1989 and was the first independent political movement to be recognised by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany-led state on 8 November 1989...
, LDPD politician Manfred Gerlach
Manfred Gerlach
Manfred Gerlach was a German jurist and politician . He served as the acting Chairman of the Council of State and was thus head of state of East Germany from 6 December 1989 to 5 April 1990.-Early life:...
, actor Ekkehard Schall
Ekkehard Schall
Ekkehard Schall was a German stage and screen actor/director.He was one of the best profiled actors of Brecht's works and together with Helene Weigel a member of the Berliner Ensemble....
, SED Politburo member Günter Schabowski
Günter Schabowski
Günter Schabowski is a former official of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany , the ruling party during most of the existence of the German Democratic Republic...
, writer Stefan Heym
Stefan Heym
Helmut Flieg was a German-Jewish writer, known by his pseudonym Stefan Heym. He lived in the United States between 1935 and 1952, before moving back to the part of his native Germany which was, from 1949–1990, German Democratic Republic...
, theologian and dissident Friedrich Schorlemmer
Friedrich Schorlemmer
Friedrich Schorlemmer , is a German Protestant theologian. He was a prominent member of the civil rights movement in the German Democratic Republic and has continued to take part in politics after German reunification in 1990....
, writer Christa Wolf
Christa Wolf
Christa Wolf was a German literary critic, novelist, and essayist. She is one of the best-known writers to have emerged from the former East Germany.-Biography:...
, actor Tobias Langhoff, film director Joachim Tschirner, dramatist Heiner Müller
Heiner Müller
Heiner Müller was a German dramatist, poet, writer, essayist and theatre director. Described as "the theatre's greatest living poet" since Samuel Beckett, Müller is arguably the most important German dramatist of the 20th century after Bertolt Brecht...
, university rector Lothar Bisky
Lothar Bisky
Lothar Bisky is a German politician. He was the chairman of the Party of Democratic Socialism , the successor of East Germany's Socialist Unity Party . In June 2007 he became co-chairman of the The Left party, formed by a merger of the PDS and the much smaller Labour and Social Justice – The...
, university student Roland Freitag, writer Christoph Hein
Christoph Hein
Christoph Hein is a German author and translator.He grew up in the village Bad Düben near Leipzig. Being a clergyman's son and thus not allowed to attend the Erweiterte Oberschule, he received secondary education at a gymnasium in the western part of Berlin. After his Abitur he jobbed inter alia...
, Hungarian student Robert Juhoras, and actress Steffie Spira.
Banners
The most often used protest slogan of the Monday demonstrations as well as the Alexanderplatz demonstration was "We are the people" which became "We are one people" after the fall 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 the Deutsches Historisches MuseumDeutsches Historisches Museum
The German Historical Museum , DHM for short, is a museum in Berlin devoted to German history and defines itself as a place of enlightenment and understanding of the shared history of Germans and Europeans....
:
- "WendeDie Wendemarks the complete process of the change from socialism and planned economy to market economy and capitalism in East Germany around the years 1989 and 1990. It encompasses several processes and events which later have become synonymous with the overall process...
without ifs and buts" ("Wende ohne wenn und aber") - "Civil rights not only on paper" ("Bürgerrechte nicht nur auf Papier")
- "Rehabilitate Robert HavemannRobert HavemannRobert Havemann was a chemist, and an East German dissident.He studied chemistry in Berlin and Munich from 1929 to 1933, and then later received a doctorate in physical chemistry from the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute....
" ("Rehabilitiert Robert Havemann") - "Privileges for all" ("Privilegien für alle")
- "Socialism yes, EgonEgon KrenzEgon Krenz is a former politician from East Germany , and that country's last Communist leader...
no" ("Sozialismus ja, Egon nein") - "No lies - new people" ("Keine Lügen - neue Leute")
- "New thinking in old heads?" ("Neues Denken in alten Köpfen?")
- "Democracy for the SED" ("Demokratie für die SED")
- "No Nazi-methods in the penal system" ("Keine Nazimethoden im Strafvollzug")
- "Open door day in WandlitzWaldsiedlungWaldsiedlung was the secure housing zone built for the leaders of former East Germany. It was located near Wandlitz about north of East Berlin...
" ("Tag der offenen Tür in Wandlitz") - "Independent labor union!" ("Unabhängige Gewerkschaft!")
- "40 years are enough" ("40 Jahre sind genug")
Commemorations
In spring 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 the Deutsches Historisches MuseumDeutsches Historisches Museum
The German Historical Museum , DHM for short, is a museum in Berlin devoted to German history and defines itself as a place of enlightenment and understanding of the shared history of Germans and Europeans....
. In the summer of 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 the Maxim-Gorki-Theater
Maxim-Gorki-Theater
The Maxim Gorki Theatre is a theatre in Berlin-Mitte named after the Soviet writer, Maxim Gorky.-External links:* of the Maxim Gorki Theatre...
, who asked participants to leave the banners so that they could be collected for an art exhibition. To mark the tenth anniversary in 1999 a series of events under the title "We were the people" were held in Berlin.
External links
Exhibition on the Alexanderplatz demonstration at the Deutsches Historisches MuseumDeutsches Historisches Museum
The German Historical Museum , DHM for short, is a museum in Berlin devoted to German history and defines itself as a place of enlightenment and understanding of the shared history of Germans and Europeans....