Civil rights movement Halle (Saale)

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The civil rights movement in Halle (Saale), which was formed in 1989 during the fall of the Wall , was the bearer of the peaceful revolution to end the SED dictatorship.

As in many other cities in the GDR , small civil rights groups formed a larger movement in Halle (Saale) in the 1980s . They met in church parishes to point out violations of basic human rights by the communist SED regime.

In addition to this development, there was also increasing resistance from employees and students at the local university to the persecution of democrats by the Stasi and SED.

The civil rights movement in Halle differed from the civil rights groups in other GDR cities in terms of their conceptual work. The only call for an uprising written in the GDR that could even be smuggled into the West was written in Halle. It was a textbook for the impending revolution, in which, from the biographies of important revolutionaries, lessons were drawn from history for the implementation of the anti-communist revolution. The call for revolution was published in 1999 under the title "Our revolution is not over yet".

In addition, the "Global Change Security Concept" was created in Halle, the only known foreign and security policy concept of the GDR civil rights movement.

On October 7, 1989, the 40th anniversary of the founding of the GDR, there was a first public protest in Halle following a church event. 48 participants were arrested but released after a short time. On October 16, 1989, around 1,500 people demonstrated for nonviolence and political freedom. On October 23, 1989 there were already over 7,000. As a result, Lord Mayor Eckhard Pratsch (SED) felt compelled to show willingness to dialogue and agreed to take part in a dialogue event in the Volkspark, in which 6,000 citizens took part. There, however, there was little willingness to change on the part of those in power. On October 30th, more than 50,000 people took part in the Monday demonstration in Halle. On November 6th there were even 80,000 people who called for the resignation of the first secretaries of the district SED, Hans-Joachim Böhme . On November 9, 1989, Böhme had to resign and Roland Claus took over the party office.

literature

  • Johannes Mehlig: Turning times. The strangulation of the mind at the universities of the GDR and its renewal, Bad Honnef: BOCK + Herchen Verlag, 1999.
  • Hans Krech : The last year of the GDR. The diary of a civil rights activist from Halle / S. (1988–1989), Berlin: Verlag Dr. Köster, 2005. (Contributions to Peace Research and Security Policy, Vol. 20).
  • Hans Krech: Our revolution is not over yet. The historical-literary revolutionary textbook by a civil rights activist from 1989 and 1999. With documentation of the monitoring of the author by the Ministry for State Security ( MfS ), Berlin: Verlag Dr. Köster, 1999.
  • Hans Krech: The security concept "Global Change" from the former GDR civil rights movement, Berlin: Verlag Dr. Köster, 2002. (Contributions to Peace Research and Security Policy, Vol. 4).
  • Patrick Wagner (editor): Steps to Freedom / The Peaceful Revolution 1989/90 in Halle an der Saale, ISBN 978-3-89812-645-8
  • Hermann-Josef Rupieper: The peaceful revolution 1989/90 in Saxony-Anhalt
  • Detlev Lintzel: One hundred and ninety days: The Round Table of the Halle District 1989–1990, Halle 1997.