University of Notre Dame
Archives   


The Story of Notre Dame


America - Europe

A Transatlantic Diary 1961 - 1989

Klaus Lanzinger


October 1, 1989

The news has just come through that tonight at 2:50 a.m. local time a train with 800 East German refugees on board left Warsaw in the direction of the Federal Republic. The exit was achieved by a rare agreement between NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

South Bend, October 7, 1989

A Historic Decision

This weekend, the Communist Party of Hungary made a historic decision. It dissolved itself and changed into a Western-style Socialist Party. For the first time, a Communist Party in the East Bloc ceased to exist. At the same time, the way was prepared for free democratic elections. This courageous course of action will not remain without effect on the other Warsaw Pact countries. The need to carry out domestic reforms cannot be stopped in the long run.

October 10, 1989

The reaction of the East German regime to the mass exodus of its citizens was foreseeable. The borders have again been closed and measures against demonstrators tightened up. There were protest rallies in East Berlin, Dresden and Leipzig where about 70,000 people took to the streets. Despite the tense situation, the government did not resort to drastic measures. Fortunately, there was no bloodshed.

Note

[The talk, which Honecker had with the Chinese deputy prime minister in East Berlin, shows how serious and dangerous the situation was. Honecker compared the mass rallies in East Germany to those on Tiananmen Square and hinted that the demonstrators could meet with a similar fate. See Bush/Scowcroft, A World Transformed, p. 147.]

Addendum

[Erich Honecker resigned on October 18, 1989. His successor Egon Krenz took charge of the affairs of the German Democratic Republic which was already in a process of disintegrating.]

South Bend, October 25, 1989

Where is It Leading to?

In a remarkable speech before the Supreme Soviet, Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze announced that the Soviet Union will close its military bases on foreign soil and withdraw to her borders by the year 2,000. Furthermore, he said that the Soviet Union will not interfere in domestic affairs of neighboring countries - Poland, the German Democratic Republic, and Hungary - and will leave it up to their own free decision, which political future they wish to choose. This is a clear renunciation of the Brezhnev Doctrine, which demanded that Warsaw Pact countries take military action also against a member state if Communism should be threatened by reform movements. Once the fear of Russian tanks is taken away from the public, the reform movements leading toward democracy in the East Bloc countries cannot be stopped anymore.

October 27, 1989

Confidence in the Reunification

As farsighted statesman, President Bush expressed his view on the possibility of reuniting East and West Germany. While the German reunification gives rise to reservation and fear in West European countries, above all in France and Great Britain, Bush has no objections. On the contrary, he showed confidence in the reunification, which he sees coming as part of the present democratic movement in Eastern Europe. Bush is convinced that a reunited Germany as a democratic state will remain faithful to the principles of the Western Alliance. [Interview in The New York Times, weekend edition, October 25-27, 1989.]


<< Klaus Lanzinger >>