The people on strike

In November 1989 the influence of the single ruling party, the SED, was still omnipresent: in factories and institutes, in education, in the army and in the residential areas. The people increasingly categorically rejected the SED as the force that was responsible for the political crisis and the economic plight of the GDR.

The growing protest against the party and its state security service was expressed in a variety of ways up until February 1990. These included demonstrations, strikes and prison revolts. There were numerous appeals and collections of signatures at workplaces and by the citizens' initiatives.

Even members of the People's Police and the National People's Army protested. They were no longer prepared to do the dirty work for the SED state. At the end of November, even a few thousand staff members of the Ministry of State Security (Stasi) demonstrated on the inner courtyard of the ministry - although this was closed to the public. They demanded the resignation of their leaders.