Monday demonstrations in East Germany

The Monday demonstrations in East Germany in 1989 to 1991 (German: Montagsdemonstrationen) were a series of peaceful political protests against the government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) that took place every Monday evening. Because the church played a big role in them, the Monday demonstrations are also sometimes called the Religious Protest. The protests that occurred between 1989 to 1991 can be separated into 5 cycles. The Monday demonstrations started in Leipzig and were spontaneous, meaning that the demonstrations were not planned beforehand.

In Leipzig the demonstrations began on 4 September 1989 after the weekly Friedensgebet (prayer for peace) in the St. Nicholas Church (Nikolaikirche) with parson Christian Führer, and eventually filled the nearby Karl Marx Square (today known again as Augustusplatz). Safe in the knowledge that the Lutheran Church supported their resistance, many dissatisfied East German citizens gathered in the court of the church, and non-violent demonstrations began in order to demand rights such as the freedom to travel to foreign countries and to elect a democratic government. The location of the demonstration attributed to the success of the protests. Leipzig was freer than other cities such as Berlin as there were no Stasi headquarters (GDR secret police) stationed there to stop the demonstrations. Leipzig also had the Leipziger Messe, the Leipzig trade fair, which allowed for businessmen and media from West Germany to enter East Germany.

Informed by West German television and friends about the events, people in other East German cities began repeating the Leipzig demonstration, meeting at city squares on Monday evenings. A major turning point was the events in the West German Embassy of Prague, where thousands of East Germans had fled in September, living there in conditions reminiscent of the Third World. Hans-Dietrich Genscher had negotiated an agreement that allowed them to travel to the West, in trains that had to pass first through the GDR. Genscher's speech from the balcony was interrupted by a very emotional reaction to his announcement. When the trains passed Dresden's central station in early October, police had to stop people from trying to jump on the trains.

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