Tonight is the night of November 09. A day and night that will always be most special for Germans, because on that day, 36 years ago the Berlin wall fell.
A day of liberation out of circumstances that seemed to be impossible to change.
Foto: iStock.com/RolandBlunck
We, as the people of east Germany, were locked up in our country since August 13 th 1961. We were not able to speak freely, travel or make decisions in ways we wanted to. The system dictated how we should think, act and be. And the Stasi took care that we did exactly that. People who wanted to leave the country where shot at the boarders.
I grew up in this system. A system were you where taught from the very beginning that you can’t say what you think. That you have to hide if you think differently from the public opinion and where you had to be silent if you didn’t want to be in danger.
When the wall fell I was barely 14 years old. Little did I know at that time that it would be the beginning of my personal liberation as well.
It is such a remarkable moment of history that the wall opened on the very same day that marked another historical event in Germany. This time it was one of worst. On November 9 1938, the night of the broken glass, 1.400 synagoges were torched, businesses of jewish people were wrecked. Thousands of Jews were assaulted or arrested. It was the beginning of the Holocaust – the genocide in Europe that killed 6 million jewish people.
Today we live in a world that is again threatened by wars, deep division, pain and hopelessness. But in all of that the good news are often not seen.
So I want to remind you that change is possible and I am doing that by telling you the story behind the fall of the Berlin Wall.
It started with a peaceful revolution in Leipzig.
People met in the Nikolaikirche and prayed for peace. Beginning with only a handful of people in the years before, the summer of 1989 marked a turning point. More and more people showed up at the church.
At the beginning of September there were about 1.000 people. At the end of September there were 5.000 to 10.000 protestors.
On October 9 1989 Leipzig hosted the biggest protest demonstration in the history of East Germany. The pastors Christian Führer and Christoph Wonneberger knew that something huge was about to happen. „There were 8.000 people inside – more couldn’t fit in. When we came out of the church there were so many people expressing themselves and demanding their freedom.“ Outside of the church there were 70.000 peaceful demonstrators.
All of that happened under the feared Stasi (which was a secret police) and thousands of armed policemen and army.
Protestors were beaten by the police on October 2. And Führer and Wonneberger were arrested in late September. They were pressured to call off the Monday Meetings or else something could happen. The biggest threat was that east german politicians praised China to use violence against democracy activists. People in east Germany had seen the photos from Beijing and no one knew what was about to happen.
On October 9 the pastors Führer, Wonneberger and other people at the Nicolaikirche decided to go ahead with the scheduled protests. Everyone knew that it could have been a very possible outcome that the state would suppress the demonstrations and do that of course violently, if necessary.
On that day at 5 pm more than 8.000 people attented the prayers for peace in the Nikolaikirche. Other churches in Leipzig opened for thousands of protestors. After the service Führer led the people on the nearby Augustusplatz. Prominent people of Leipzig like Kurt Masur, which was the conductor of Leipzigs Gewandhaus Orchestra appealed to the demonstrators and the police alike to keep the peace.
The crowd began walking around Leipzigs ring road accompained by thousands of policemen, past the Stasi headquarters, all along with everybody being in huge tension. The crowd carried nothing but candles and banners reading „we are the people“ and protestors chanting „no violence“.
Leipzig was the start of the german mircacle. The demonstrations on the following Mondays grew bigger and bigger. On October 23. there were about 300.000 people. On November 6 about 500.000 people. No one knew at the time what the outcome would be. But those demonstrations led to the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 09.
Today I am a proud citizen of Leipzig. The history of my beloved city and fellow citizens still moves me deeply.
And I want to remind you: wherever you are in your life. Whatever makes you unhappy, feeling despaired or in the wrong place: change is possible.
Every change starts with a decision. This decision can be small or big. Maybe it is a decision that things can’t go on like they are now, maybe it’s a decision towards youself, maybe it is a decision that, for a long time, you have been wanting to make.
What holds us back is fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of judgement, fear of loosing something or someone important in our lifes, maybe it is even the fear of loosing ones life. But as the people in Leipzig showed, fear is always the campaignon of change. And the true empowerment happens when you make a decision anyway.
So ask yourself: what is this step for you? What is the leap of faith that you are wanting to make? What is the decision you are going to take?