GDR Revolution And Its Impact On FRG

Question 1

Why couldn’t Honecker fulfil his duties?

Answer 1

Taken ill from 21st August to late September 1989

Question 2

How much attraction did the Monday protests in Leipzing gain?

Answer 2

10,00s then 100,000s

Question 3

By October 1989, how many people took part in weekly Leipzig protests?

Answer 3

320,000

Question 4

What was Honecker’s reaction when he returned from his illness on the 25th September?

Answer 4

Acted as if there was no danger to the GDR and argued people leaving Germany were traitors and not welcome in EG

Question 5

How long was a riot at the beginning of October and how many people did it involve? Where? And why?

Answer 5

3 hour riot

10,000 people

Dresden

East Germans tried to board a sealed train travelling from Czechoslovakia through East Germany to the FRG

Question 6

How many East Germans had Honecker allowed to migrate to West Germany on a sealed train?

Answer 6

14,000 East Germans who had camped in the West German embassy in Prague’s

Question 7

What did people do as the train passed through the GDR?

Answer 7

Threw their GDR passports out the window and 10,000 people tried to stop the train and clamber on board.

Question 8

How did Honecker respond to the protests?

Answer 8

Carried on with the 40th anniversary celebrations of the GDR rather than reform

Question 9

Who came to the USSR to give a speech after the protest?

Answer 9

Gorbachev

Question 10

What happened two days after Gorbachev’s speech?

Answer 10

70,000 people gathered in Leipzig to protest against the communist rule in the GDR

Question 11

In response to the protests, who did the SED sack and who replaced them?

Answer 11

Sacked Honecker who was replaced by Krenz

Question 12

What was Krenz’s government like?

Answer 12

Just as inadequate as Honeckers at delivering the types of reform East Germans were demanding

Question 13

Why was Krenz’s new travel permit rejected?

Answer 13

GDR’s parliament rejected it because it was too complicated

Question 14

When did mass protests take place in Berlin and what were there calls for?

Answer 14

4th November 1989

Calls for political freedom, legislation of opposing groups and unrestricted travel

Question 15

What did Gunter Schabowski (SED) announce on the 9th November?

Answer 15

Anyone with a passport could have greater travel rights

Question 16

What was Schabowski’s response to when the regulation came into force?

Answer 16

He replied ‘immediately’

Question 17

What happened after Schabowski said that the policy came into force ‘immediately’?

Answer 17

Thousands of people flooded to the checkpoints along the Berlin wall

Question 18

When did the boarder guards decide to lift the barrier between East and West?

Answer 18

9th November 11:20pm

Question 19

When had the Berlin Wall divided the city since?

Answer 19

1961

Question 20

What did people start doing to the walls?

Answer 20

Attacking them

Question 21

What did the 1.5 million Soviet troops in the GDR do whilst people were crossing the boarder?

Answer 21

Remained in the barracks and made no attempt to intervene

Thus holding up Gorbachev’s promise - that he would not use military force to defend unpopular communist states.

Question 22

What did political parties in the GDR announce on the 13th November 1989?

Answer 22

They reasserted themselves (having effectively been banned since 1945) and said they would oppose the SED

Question 23

What did the SED rename itself?

Answer 23

Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS)

Question 24

How many East Germans had left for the FRG within a week of the fall, of the Berlin Wall?

Answer 24

17,000