page_title: Peaceful Revolution
section_title: Timeline
hierarchical_section_title: Peaceful Revolution / Timeline
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. ADN-ZB/Kasper/6.7.90/ Gera: Währungsumstellung/ Vor der Genossenschaftskasse in Gera fanden sich am 1. Juli viele Bürger ein, um sich einen Vorabbetrag in DM von ihrem Konto zu holen. Information added by Wikimedia users.Deutsch: Kundenschlage vor einer Filiale der Genossenschaftskasse in Gera am Tag der Währungsreform
context_page_description: The Peaceful Revolution was the process of sociopolitical change that led to the opening of East Germany's borders with the west, the end of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany in the German Democratic Republic and the transition to a parliamentary democracy, which enabled the reunification of Germany in October 1990. This happened through non-violent initiatives and demonstrations. This period of change is also referred to in German as Die Wende.
  These events were closely linked to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's decision to abandon Soviet hegemony in Eastern Europe as well as the reformist movements that spread through Eastern Bloc countries. In addition to the Soviet Union's shift in foreign policy, the GDR's lack of competitiveness in the global market, as well as its sharply rising national debt, hastened the destabilization of the SED's one-party state.
  Those driving the reform process within the GDR included intellectuals and church figures who had been in underground opposition for several years, people attempting to flee the country, and peaceful demonstrators who were no longer willing to yield to the threat of violence and repression.
context_section_description: Significant events:
  Late 1980s - The period of Soviet bloc liberalisation (Glasnost) and reform (Perestroika).
  27 June 1989 - The opening of Hungary's border fence with Austria.
  19 August 1989 - The Pan-European Picnic at the Hungarian-Austrian border, when hundreds of East Germans, who were allowed to travel to Hungary but not to the west, escaped to West Germany via Austria.
  From 4 September 1989 - Monday demonstrations in East Germany calling for the opening of the border with West Germany and greater human rights protections.
  18 October 1989 - Erich Honecker removed as General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany.
  9 November 1989 - The fall of the Berlin Wall, enabling East Germans to travel freely to the west.
  3 December 1989 - The Socialist Unity Party's stepping down.
  4 December 1989 - Citizens' occupations of Stasi buildings across the country, starting in Erfurt. The Stasi headquarters in Berlin were occupied on 15 January 1990.
  13 January 1990 - The dissolution of the Stasi.
  18 March 1990 - The 1990 East German general election, which was also a quasi-referendum on reunification, in which the Alliance for Germany, which supported reunification, got the highest proportion of votes.
  1 July 1990 - The Währungs-, Wirtschafts- und Sozialunion (Monetary, Economy and Social Union) accord between East and West Germany, came into effect. East Germany adopted the West German currency on this day.
  31 August 1990 - The signing of the Einigungsvertrag (Treaty of Unification) between the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany on 31 August 1990 and the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany on 12 September 1990.
  3 October 1990 - German reunification achieved with the five re-established East German states integrated into the Federal Republic of Germany.
caption: Queue outside a bank in Gera, on 1 July 1990, the day that the GDR adopted the West German currency.
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