| Description |
1 online resource (207 pages) |
| Series |
Themes In Modern German History |
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Themes In Modern German History
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| Contents |
Cover; Half Title; Title; Copyright; Contents; List of abbreviations; Preface; Acknowledgements; 1 The GDR in 1988 -- a stable state?; Geriatrics lead the SED; Who were the 'prisoners' of Wandlitz?; Lenin: 'not deceived by ... slogans like freedom'; The Politburo; Democratic Centralism; The SED's leading role; The 1986 XI Congress of the SED; Allies of the SED; Reagan (1987): 'Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!'; Sputnik banned; 2 The GDR's flawed development; A modern economy -- in 1945; Lack of raw materials; Ulbricht's unrealistic targets; Oil imports and defence burdens |
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West German help to the GDRIntershop resentment; Poor housing; Lack of GDR identity?; The views of youth; 3 The Stasi and the internal security of the GDR; From K-5 to MfS; The Stasi and the police; The Stasi, the SED and education; Literary informers; The cases of Fuchs, Havemann and Biermann; 'Swords into ploughshares'; 'Let us leave!'; Mielke's Potemkin village; Mielke and Krenz; Isolation of 'enemy negative persons'; 4 Coping with Gorbachev; Gorbachev, 'a sharp debater'; Moscow, Bonn and East Berlin; Perestroika and glasnost; Hungary changes course; Solidarity wins in Poland |
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In Prague a Velvet revolution'Ceauşescu goes in Romania; China resists democracy; 5 Gorbachev 1989: 'Life punishes those who come too late'; Gorbachev: 'blatant ... electoral fraud'; Hungarians allow East Germans to go West; 'Gorby, help us'; Honecker: 'Don Quixote's futile charge'; 'An unbridled campaign of agitation and slander'; The 'miracle of Leipzig'; 6 The birth of the opposition parties; New Forum; Democracy Now; Social democracy re-appears; Democratic Awakening; Other opposition parties; 7 The fifty days of Egon Krenz; 'Stony-faced' Honecker replaced by Krenz |
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1 November: Gorbachev's 'Judas kiss'4 November: Alexanderplatz; 8 November: The Politburo resigns; 9 November: The Wall opened; 8 International reactions to events in the GDR; Thatcher: 'rather apprehensive'; Kohl's ten points; Poland: The wheel of history will not be turned back'; Washington: 'profoundly uneasy with the idea'; Mitterrand: 'I am not afraid of German re-unification'; Gorbachev: 'We had finally crossed the Rubicon'; 9 Modrow's fight to save the GDR; Modrow's coalition government; Demonstrations continue; Round Table talks; Exit the SED, enter the SED-PDS; Public opinion tested |
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The Brandenburg Gate openedThe SED-PDS dissolving?; Modrow's 'government of national responsibility'; Gorbachev seals the GDR's fate; 10 The free elections of March 1990; Gysi: 'A strong opposition for the weak'; The Alliance for Germany formed; Kohl: 'We will build a flourishing land together'; Brandt: 'What belongs together will grow together'; Grass: 'There can be no demand for ... a unified nation'; Genscher pulls centre together; Bündnis 90 and other groups; Electoral law; Results: some surprises; 11 German unity achieved; The grand coalition; Who were the Volkskammer members? |
| Summary |
The book charts the dramatic months leading to one of the most profound changes of the 20th century, the opening of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the restoration of German unity in 1990. The author analyses the nature of Communist rule in the GDR over 40 years, its few strengths and its many weaknesses, and the myths which grew up around it. This book places the GDR in its international setting as the proud ally of the Soviet Union in the Warsaw Pact. It examines the reactions abroad to the unfolding revolution. The text is based on a wide variety of written sources and many interviews w |
| Notes |
"We ask the Jews ... for pardon." |
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Print version record |
| Subject |
Socialism -- Germany (East)
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Protest movements -- Germany (East)
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Opposition (Political science)
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HISTORY -- Europe -- Germany.
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Opposition (Political science)
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Politics and government
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Protest movements
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Socialism
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| SUBJECT |
Germany (East) -- Politics and government -- 1989-1990. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh90002753
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Germany -- History -- Unification, 1990.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh91000423
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| Subject |
Germany
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Germany (East)
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| Genre/Form |
History
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| ISBN |
9781317883104 |
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1317883101 |
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