The United States has misinterpreted the end of Communism for a quarter of a century. It's time to set the record straight.
BY Melvyn P. Leffler
Foreign Policy - NOVEMBER 7, 2014
On Nov. 9, 1989, Gunter
Schabowski, an East German regime spokesperson, fumbled through a press
conference and changed history.
Although Schabowski was a
member of the Politburo, he had not attended its meeting earlier in the day
when the committee decided on the Communist Party's new travel regulations. He
hadn't even read them over when he stood before the room full of reporters.
For months, East Germans
had been fleeing to West Germany, either through Hungary or
Czechoslovakia. The regime was deeply embarrassed, and it was shaken
even more
by the growing turmoil in its cities. Demonstrators had been gathering
peacefully in Leipzig, week after week for several months, attracting
ever-larger
crowds. Spurred by church groups, environmentalists, and
non-governmental
organizations seeking peace and disarmament, East Germans marched in the
streets, clamoring for change but also fearing repression.
In her new book The Collapse, historian Mary Sarotte
details the roles of ordinary individuals and the accidents that led to the
fall of the Berlin Wall: Party leaders knew they had to draft new travel rules
to defuse the crisis at home and deflect growing pressure from their comrades
in Prague, Budapest, and Moscow. But they did not want to throw open the
borders. They did not intend to allow East Germans to leave without seeking
permission.
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