In connection with the revolutionary events of autumn 1989, the election frauds of the GDR's municipal elections on May 7 marked a turning point in 1989. Many citizens in Potsdam also suspected intentional falsification of the election results. For the first time, a few Potsdam residents dared to monitor the vote count. Based on their sample observations, election fraud could be proven, but it was only circulated by an opposition network.
Among the first opposition groups in Potsdam was the "Working Group for Environmental Protection and Urban Design" (Argus) founded in 1988, whose members worked to save the historical building stock. Other initiatives were formed under the umbrella of the Cultural Association (AG Pfingstberg) or became active under the protection of the church (e.g., "Group Contacts" or "Arche").
After the mass exodus of GDR citizens via the Hungarian-Austrian border and the German embassy in Prague in the summer of 1989, the 40th anniversary of the GDR on October 7, 1989, marked the second turning point in Potsdam. A small group of demonstrators had gathered in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Potsdam with a flower in their hands, chanting: "...we stay here, we want to change." In a gradually expanding group of several hundred people, a peaceful demonstration formed in the pedestrian zone of Brandenburg Street in the city center, which was eventually violently dispersed by the police and intelligence services.
28 days later, on November 4, 1989, over 100,000 Potsdam residents followed a call for demonstration by opposition groups. This protest march ended peacefully and fueled hope for profound changes in the city and the country. The insurmountable border between the two German states was only to last a few more days.
The day after the historic opening of the border on November 9, 1989, at the Bornholmer Bridge in Berlin and other border crossings, the Glienicke Bridge, a world-renowned symbol of the "Iron Curtain," was opened for Potsdamers on November 10, 1989. Between 1962 and 1973, 13 people lost their lives at the border section between Potsdam and Berlin.
On December 5, 1989, representatives of the citizens' movement secured the Potsdam intelligence facilities. In the following weeks, the citizens' committees managed to stop the destruction of documents and form a "Round Table," where representatives of the former rulers, together with Potsdam opposition members, negotiated the future of the city.
Author: Dr. Johannes Leicht (Geschichtslotsen)
