Exhibition theme: Protest and Flight: Arrival of East German refugee train at Hof central station [29/56]
OBJECT INFORMATION
Info
October 1 1989
Hof (Saale), central station
Created By:
Markus LohneisenLicense:
From the Set
Thousands of East German refugees travelled with special East German Railway trains, arriving in the West German town of Hof in October 1989. After fleeing to the German Embassy in Prague, many of the people had been there since August until finally granted permission to leave the country on 30 September.
Depicts
aid agency,
car,
city,
crowd,
refugee,
track,
train,
train stationcamp,
curiosity,
escape,
family,
food,
freedom,
joy,
photographer,
wave of refugeesPeople/Organizations
Ministry for State Security,
police (FRG)Places
Hof (Saale)Text in image
Pol[izei]
Other items in this set
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.
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