The Fall of the GDR by Childs David

Author:Childs, David [David Childs]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781317883081
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

8 November: The Politburo resigns

Within the SED the calls for change became ever greater. This was spurred on by revelations in the GDR media about the privileges of the top party brass and their cronies. It started with the revelation in the Berliner Zeitung of the new home being built for Gerhard Nennstiel, Chairman of the trade union IG Metall. Workers from the Berlin underground railway using materials imported from West Germany were constructing the house. Nennstiel was forced to resign the same day, 1 November. It never occurred to most ordinary members of the SED that in the basement of the Central Committee headquarters in Berlin there was a store were the comrade functionaries could buy Western imports and other luxuries with GDR marks. This was true of all the mass organisations as well. Also revealed were the holiday homes on the Baltic Sea Island of Vilm, a place out of bounds for ordinary East Germans. Then there were the holidays in West for the chosen few and their friends. Many ordinary members became disillusioned: some stayed passively watching the unfolding drama; some turned to drink as they thought of the time and money they had wasted on the SED; others left the party and/or their trade union. No doubt some of these saw themselves as victims of political fraudsters. No doubt others had joined the SED to gain advantage and now realised its days were numbered. If the official figures are correct, in 1989, up to 8 November, 66,000 had left the SED, while only 36,000 had taken up membership. By the end of November 200,000 had returned their party documents.15 As the old guard became more defensive under the impact of these exposures, those who wanted a Gorbachev-style change got bolder. Some really believed a new beginning was possible. A wave of resignations started. The first ‘big fish’ to go was Harry Tisch, Chairman of the trade union federation. He resigned under pressure on 2 November after he was told that a ‘workers’ revolt’ was likely if he did not. Tisch was expelled from the union on 29 November and arrested on 3 December. Other less important resigners on 2 November were Gerald Götting, Chairman of the CDU, Heinrich Homann, Chairman of the NDPD, and Margot Honecker, Minister for People’s Education. Götting and Homann were both expelled from the parties they had led and investigated for corruption.

On 8 November about 15,000 pro-reform SED members congregated in front of the ZK headquarters demanding changes at the top and policy changes. Dieter Klein, Michael and André Brie, Gregor Gysi and Markus Wolf had done their best to mobilise these members. Honecker later reflected that it appeared that a group of GDR Gorbachev-supporters with Stasi connections were attempting to decapitate the SED leadership.16 The result of the demonstration was that the entire Politburo was forced to resign and the Central Committee elected a new one. Krenz retained his position. Including Krenz it consisted of 11 full and 6 candidate members. The leadership had taken another small step in the direction of renewal.

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