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Günter Schabowski Quotes

d. 2015 Germany

Günter Schabowski (4 January 1929 – 1 November 2015) was the German Democratic Republic's (GDR) Politbüro member who accidentally gave the order for the Inner German Border to be opened in Berlin. Prior to that, on October 18, 1989, he and Egon Krenz had forced the resignation of Erich Honecker in a Politburo meeting.

Germany

Also known as: Schabowski

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Private travel into foreign countries can be requested without conditions (passports or family connections). Permission will be granted instantly. Permanent relocations can be done through all border checkpoints between the GDR into the FRG or Berlin (West).

Ostalgie [≈ “East German Nostalgia”] is not my kind of thing. To some, the GDR appears in a backward-looking bleary-eyed view as a palladium of social security. In truth, the GDR collapsed not least because, being economically inefficient, it could not finance its social promises.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Günter Schabowski (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.