In autumn 1989, ever-growing waves of popular protest swept through East Germany and led to the crumbling of the communist state. After thousands of East Germans had tried to escape the country during their summer vacations by seeking asylum in West German embassies in other communist countries, a growing number of East Germans took their discontent to the streets in East Germany itself. Demanding more democracy, free elections, freedom of speech and movement, the protestors defeated the state and peacefully forced the opening of the Iron Curtain separating East from West on 9 November 1989, when the Berlin Wall came down.

From Die Zeit, 22 September 1989: ‘Bürger rufen nach Reformen’ by Marlies Menge

The East German Studies Archive holds files with clippings from British, and East and West German newspapers covering the events of thirty years ago. To remember the ‘Autumn of Popular Protest’ along with its newspaper coverage, follow our ‘Popular Protest Remembered’ tweets  https://twitter.com/EastArchive?lang=en