Chronik der Wende: Teil 2, Die entscheidenden Tage im November und Dezember 1989 (The Fall of the Wall/The Path to German Reunification: Part II)

1994, b/w & color, 90 min. Documentary
Dir.: Wolfgang Drescher,
VHS-NTSC, English subtitles:
Synopsis:

Part 2: The critical days of November and December 1989 – From the fall of the Berlin Wall to the conclusion of the 1989 Monday Demonstrations. November 4, 1989: Mass demonstration at Berlin's Alexanderplatz; half a million demonstrators create a security partnership with the People's Army. November 9, 1989: Interviews of the civil rights leader Bärbel Bohley for the East German press; unintentional public announcement by Günter Schabowski (member of the SED Politbüro) that the borders of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) are opened; the people of Berlin congregate jointly at all border crossings. November 10, 1989: Huge lines of people trying to get into West Germany and flooding West Berlin; almost no GDR citizens show up for work. November 13, 1989: Election of new Parliamentary President (Dr. Günther Maleuda); Government of Willi Stoph takes responsibility for the crisis. December 2, 1989: Dispute over the call for a general strike by the New Forum (Karl-Marx-Stadt); increase of anti-Semitism and right-wing radicalism. December 18, 1989: The Western conservative parties and the East CDU work together; Chancellor Helmut Kohl in Dresden; unions demand the right to strike; conclusion of 1989 Monday Demonstrations in Leipzig. Honored with the top German TV award, the Adolf Grimme Prize in Gold, 1995.