Exhibition theme: Protest and Flight: Rally against the SED-PDS' retention of power [30/56]
Ultimately, it was the citizens of the GDR themselves who brought down the SED regime. From the summer of 1989 on, thousands of East Germans tried to flee to the West across the Hungarian-Austrian border and via the West German embassies in Budapest, Prague, and Warsaw. In East Germany itself, ever greater numbers of people supported the demands of the citizens' movements for free elections, freedom of the press, and freedom to travel, despite their fear of state repression. In October, mass protests, which now involved hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, spread across the entire country. Aware that their protest could no longer be stopped, people increasingly felt a desire to capture events on film.
Original Caption
"On 15 January 1990, this demonstration, with its ensuing rally, took place under the proclamation, 'Warning Strike'. 30,000 people (almost the entire workforce employed by Jena's large concerns) took part. Following the demonstration around the old town of Jena, participants gathered in the Central Square (called Eichplatz today) in Jena. The reason behind the warning strike was a fear that the old GDR structures would be strengthened during the modernisation process."
