Protest against Egon Krenz being installed as chairman of the State Council outside the State Council building in East Berlin, 24 October 1989.
Quelle: picture-alliance/dpa/Wolfgang Kumm

The Round Table and the government

Эта статья еще не переведена русский.

Am 7. November 1989 tritt die Regierung der DDR zurück. Zehn Tage später wird ein neues Kabinett unter Ministerpräsident Hans Modrow eingesetzt. Auch in dieser Regierung stellt die SED noch die Mehrheit der Minister. Eine der ersten Amtshandlungen von Modrow besteht darin, die Staatssicherheit umzubenennen und ihre Verkleinerung anzukündigen.

Genau einen Monat später tagt der Zentrale Runde Tisch zum ersten Mal. Initiiert haben ihn Angehörige der oppositionellen Gruppen, die mit der Staatspartei in Verhandlungen treten wollen. Gegen die Regierungspläne beschließt der Runde Tisch die vollständige Auflösung der Staatssicherheit. Mitte Dezember startet die Regierung einen erneuten Versuch, die wichtigste Machtstütze der SED zu retten. Nun sollen zwei neue Geheimdienste gebildet werden: ein Verfassungsschutz und ein Auslandsgeheimdienst.

Dieser Plan wird verhindert. Die Vertreter der Opposition am Zentralen Runden Tisch stellen ein Ultimatum und die Bevölkerung erhöht mit Demonstrationen und Streiks den Druck. Modrow gibt im Januar 1990 sein Vorhaben auf. Er bietet den oppositionellen Bürgerbewegungen und Parteien an, Vertreter in die Regierung zu entsenden.

After the resignation of the GDR Council of Ministers on 7 November 1989, Hans Modrow’s (front row, 6th from r.) new government held its first session on 18 November. Of a total of 28 ministers, 16 were members of the SED and the others of the bloc parties, the old instruments of the SED.
Quelle: ullstein bild/Bildarchiv
On 6 February 1989 the opposition trade union Solidarnosc in Poland forced the first government of an Eastern Bloc state to sit at a round table. After that the round table became the negotiating instrument between opposition movements and communist rulers in almost all Eastern European states.
Quelle: AP-Photo
The first meeting of the Central Round Table in East Berlin on 7 December 1989. Amidst great public interest, the newly founded movements and parties conducted four months of negotiations with representatives of the old power structure. The Central Round Table laid down basic prerequisites for democratising the GDR.
Quelle: Robert-Havemann-Gesellschaft/Rolf Walter
The first three meetings of the Central Round Table in December 1989 took place in the Dietrich-Bonhoeffer-Haus. The opposition wanted to bring the protests from the streets to the negotiating table to aid its success. Church representatives mediated in the negotiations.
Quelle: Rolf Zöllner
During a session of the People’s Chamber in the Palace of the Republic on 11 January 1990, Berlin construction workers demonstrated in front of the building. They came out in support of the demand by the new movements and parties at the Central Round Table to completely dissolve the Stasi.
Quelle: picture-alliance/dpa/ADN
On the second day the People’s Chamber was in session, people demonstrated again in front of the venue of the meeting, the Palace of the Republic. This time it was Berlin taxi drivers circling the building repeatedly and sounding their horns loudly, while inside Hans Modrow gave up his proposal to form new secret services.
Quelle: picture-alliance/dpa/Thomas Wattenberg
The attempt by Modrow’s government to establish the Stasi under a new guise was forcibly rejected by the people. Representatives of the newly founded movements and parties presented Hans Modrow with an ultimatum on 8 January 1990. He had to accept responsibility at the Central Round Table and give up his project.
Quelle: Rolf Zöllner
On 15 January 1990 Prime Minister Hans Modrow attended the Central Round Table and reported. He invited the opposition to participate in the government: “It is a matter of particular concern to me that the government remains able to act.”
Quelle: picture-alliance/dpa/ADN
During the Round Table meeting on 15 January 1990, news broke that demonstrators were attempting to storm the Stasi headquarters in East Berlin. Hans Modrow (m.) rushed to the scene of the action and attempted to intervene and smooth things over. The headquarters were occupied nevertheless, marking the fall of the last power bastion of the SED.
Quelle: |ullstein bild/Spiegel
On 7 December 1989 the participants agreed to this “view of their role”: the Central Round Table was not to perform governmental functions but to be “an integral part of public monitoring”. In the course of its activity, however, it did in fact play a role in government by drafting bills, for instance.
Quelle: Robert-Havemann-Gesellschaft
The opposition groups had been striving for weeks towards a round table based on the Polish model. A contact group consisting of representatives from the individual movements and parties published the proposal with a joint declaration on 10 November 1989. Specific reparations began shortly afterwards.
Quelle: Privatarchiv Martin Gutzeit
The SED still had its gigantic power structure, enormous financial and technical means, plus it had the majority in the Council of Ministers. By founding two new secret services, the Council of Ministers under Modrow attempted to save the structures of the old secret police.
Quelle: Robert-Havemann-Gesellschaft
On 5 February 1990, following difficult negotiations, eight representatives of the new movements and parties were appointed as ministers in the “Government of National Responsibility”. They ventured this step in order to prevent the collapse of the country.
Quelle: Robert-Havemann-Geselslchaft
The round table as a general authority for conflict resolution also became established as a means of dealing with specific types of problems. For example, there was a round table for military policy, a round table for feminist politics, a round table for the construction minister and a green round table.
Quelle: Robert-Havemann-Gesellschaft
The round table as a general authority for conflict resolution also became established as a means of dealing with specific types of problems. For example, there was a round table for military policy, a round table for feminist politics, a round table for the construction minister and a green round table.
Quelle: Robert-Havemann-Gesellschaft
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