This book offers a new account of the East German Revolution of 1989 and uncovers hitherto neglected events and phases of this tumultuous period. It draws upon published and unpublished primary sources, including twenty-five interviews with oppositionists, movement participants and state officials, as well as archive materials from the Stasi, police, SED and civic groups. It brings to prominence previously unexplored events, including the ‘battle of Dresden station,’ the ‘December uprising’ and the strike wave of January 1990. In addition, as a resident of East Germany in the late 1980s and an active participant in the civic groups and street protests of 1989, Gareth Dale succeeds in bringing an immediacy and vividness to the narrative.
This is the most comprehensive account in English of East Germany’s ‘peaceful’ revolution. As a piece of sustained original research, this book will be an indispensable reference for historians of Germany and Eastern Europe. As an accessible narrative history, written in a fluent style and with an eye for the telling anecdote, it is keyed to the needs of students and lay readers.