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GDR Topic 4 - Coggle Diagram
GDR Topic 4
Economy
in 1970, the debt was 2.2 billion. by 1989 this was 46 billion DM
between 1977-81, debt to the west doubled
by the 1980s, people started wanting better consumer goods because they saw what was on offer in the west
SED could no longer afford to keep up the social contract, but wanted to because they wanted to keep the productivity high, GDR had highest productivity of all the Eastern Bloc
it was estimated that debt would rise to 52.6 billion DM by 1995, and the only solution would be to cut consumption by 25-30%
Gorbachev
Brezhnev announced the end of the Brezhnev Doctrine in 1989, and later that same year Poland elected its first non-communist leader
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the GDR citizens latched onto Gorbachev as a new kind of communist leader, an alternative
in 1988, a survey found that 83% of young people in the GDR supported Gorbachev
it all came to a head at the 40th anniversary of the GDR celebrations, where people started shouting 'Gorby!' and some even 'Gorby save us!' in front oh Honecker, the SED, and Gorby himself
Honecker and Krenz
Honecker was very unpopular, 77 and had been ill for some time. He had cancer, and the second tumour eventually killed him, but he was removed beforehand
Krenz was Honecker's protege and was reluctant to take over, he originally wanted to wait until Honecker was dead, but things were so dire that he took over before
he was also unpopular though, in fact a common joke said that both Honecker and Krenz were the same man, except one still had a gall bladder
when Krenz took over, 30,000 people protested against him
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Elections
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but, elections took place and a Western group that advocated for reunification won 48% of the vote
reunification happened in 1990, just one year after the fall of the wall
in January 1990 alone, 70,000 people went to the west
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Events of 1989
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many people rushed to the wall, and at 11:30pm the security opened the wall as a security measure
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the wall was officially opened on 12th November, when mayors of both states agreed to open the gates
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Leipzig saw regular crowds of 70,000 every Monday night