The general crisis in the Eastern Bloc in the 1980s and the Soviet reforms of Gorbachev also

heralded changes in eastern Germany, although Honecker rejected any plans to liberalise

communism. In 1985, the "Initiative for Peace and Human Rights" was launched, which was

the leading organisation of the emerging opposition. The first major demonstration was

scheduled for 17 January 1988 in Berlin. However, most of the participants were arrested

before the banners were developed. The breakthrough point was the municipal elections of 7

May 1989 - the incentives from the opposition to boycott them met with a considerable

response, but the SED announced that the turnout was 99%. Such a blatant lie was a final

straw. Changes in other countries, including Poland, showed that the changes demanded by

the East German society could be made. More and more crowds of demonstrators were

gathering in the streets, which were no longer dispersed by the militias. Apart from the

demonstrations, the inhabitants of the GDR fled the country on a large scale, among others via

Hungary, to Austria.

On October 18, 1989, Honecker was dismissed from the post of party leader, which only

partially satisfied the "eastern Germans". During subsequent protests, there were voices

demanding the reunification of Germany. The biggest demonstration, on 4th November in

Berlin, attracted almost a million people. On the night of 9-10 November 1989, the Berlin

Wall collapsed. A mass exodus from East Germany to West Germany started. In this situation,

on 7 December 1989, the authorities began a dialogue with the opposition. It was decided to

hold free parliamentary elections (18 March 1990), in which Christian democracies from the

CDU won (48%) before socialists from the SPD (over 21%) and the successor of the SED -

the Party of Democratic Socialism (16%). Finally, on October 3, 1990, Germany was united.