What Really Brought Down the Berlin Wall

Prayer.

On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall separating East from West fell, as East Germany allowed its citizens to travel to West Germany unfettered. A great deal of unrest had preceded this decision. I was 15 at the time and followed the story closely, but I had no idea about what led up to the dramatic events surrounding the sudden collapse of the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe and the end of the Cold War that had paralyzed the world for 40 years.

Starting September 20, 1982, East German pastor Christian Fuhrer began "Peace Prayers" that were held every Monday in the Nikolai Church in Leipzig. The prayers focused against the Cold War. This went on for seven years and was seen as sedition by the East German government, while the Lutheran Church approved. By 1989, more and more people were joining the "Peace Prayers" and peaceful, candlelight marches began to flow out of the church in September. These prayer meetings turned to peaceful marchers were called the Monday Demonstrations and the world was forever changed. Alan Nothnagle explains what happened:

Why Leipzig?

Before the Revolution of 1989, Leipzig was best known as the city of Bach and Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. But in 1982, Pastor Christian Führer of Leipzig’s historic St. Nicholas' Church had begun conducting “Monday prayers for peace” at five p.m. in the spirit of Gandhi and Martin Luther King. He conceived this event as a non-violent protest against the nuclear rearmament programs of both the Warsaw Pact and NATO, which  had been planning for decades to unleash full-scale thermonuclear war on German territory if the status quo in Central Europe were disturbed. Non-church members (along with a generous sprinkling of Stasi informants) also used to take part in this peaceful protest, where concerned citizens met to discuss matters of current interest. After all, the church was the only remaining institution that was largely free of direct government supervision and interference.

Führer had scheduled his prayer service carefully. By five o'clock, most ordinary people were already off work and could thus spend their leisure time as they wished. Monday evening was ideal, since nearly all communist party members were busy attending their weekly meetings at the factoryor office. Moreover, downtown shops were still open, which meant that groups of people congregating in the streets outside the church did not stand out to the police and the Stasi. This would later prove to be a convenient time for West German TV journalists to smuggle footage of the demonstrations across the border and broadcast it on their evening news programs.

"We are the people!"

On September 4, 1989, the traditional Monday prayers for peace swelled into a demonstration by several hundred participants for freedom of travel and political reform. Two other Leipzig churches joined in, and the authorities did nothing to stop them. 10,000 assembled on October 2.² Then, on October 9, following the debacle in Prague and the departure of the first "Freedom Trains" to West Germany, the event exploded into a demonstration by 70,000 citizens in this city of half a million. And these demonstrators were armed, too, but not with knives or guns. No, these counterrevolutionaries (as Honecker called them) came equipped with the most dangerous weapon of all: a brilliant slogan.

“Wir sind das Volk!” (“We are the people!”³), the demonstrators chanted. They passed out lighted candles and began parading through the streets. They sang protest songs, including the communists' own Internationale, and marched right past Stasi headquarters itself shouting “No violence!” These “enemies” certainly didn't look very violent. As Pastor Führer pointed out in an interview for Deutsche Welle earlier this year, when you carry a candle, you need two hands – one to hold it, and one to protect the flame from the wind. You have no hand left in which to carry a weapon.

The next Monday, 120,000 demonstrators met in Leipzig. The next Monday? Over 300,000. The peaceful demonstrators put so much pressure on the East German government that by November 9, the Berlin Wall came down and Communism was effectively dead in Eastern Europe. It all happened without the firing of a shot. After the West spent billions of dollars on armament and military defense, the Iron Curtain came down as a result of the rising tide of peaceful demonstrations of people who met under the threat of violence and death. It all began with a prayer meeting to the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.

This story is rarely told. Today, on the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, it needs to be told again and again.  It all began with prayer. Who would have thought it? Who would think it now?

All things are possible with God. 

Comments

[Antje]

I am (West-)German, with half of my family in the East, and a father who could not visit his home town Schwerin for many many years, because he had left it in a sort of semi-legal manner just before the borders were closed.

The iron curtain had quite some impact on my family and myself.

Around 1989, we were aware of the prayer meetings, and I remember how I thought how politically subversive it was to get together like that. Today, as a christian, I do see a different component as well: It was not only subversive, the prayer was probably even effective.

Yet I think that the fact that the "iron curtain" came down had more reasons than peaceful demonstrations (Alan Nothnagle, if I understand him correctly, seems to make that connection). There was a lot more going on, politically and economically.

It`s tempting to romanticize. Its equally tempting though to forget the prayers in Leipzig. So thanks for posting, Alan!

Greetings,
Antje (born 1966)

[Antje]

PS: Hurray for Caelan! So glad! Fully understand what a relief this must be, once more. Blessings to all of you.

[Alan Cross]

Great to hear from you, Antje! It has been a while. I hope that you are well.

I agree with you completely that there were other factors involved. I do not intend to romanticize this, but only desire to point out that prayer and the work of Christians was a precipitating factor in the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. The events in Romania also were sparked by Christians. This is an unknown story among Christians in the West, for the most part, and it is very encouraging. But, you are right - other events were occurring as well. But, that is all God's design too, isn't it? He is so wise.

Thank you for the kind words and prayers for our son, Caelan. We are so blessed and grateful to God!

[Antje]

Yeah, I expected you`d see the greater picture as well; it just says so clearly in the text that prayer brought down the wall. You know, I`ve been a translator for such a long time now, I weigh each and every word (even the texts on shampoo bottles).
And I do see what you`re pointing at! Thanks for these posts (and the other ones as well).

Yes, its been a while that I wrote a comment, but I am a very regular customer :-).

Many greetings from rainy Holland,
Antje

[Alan Cross]

Thank you for that insight. Yes, I can see where I answered my question by only saying "prayer." Good point. Clearly, there were other factors and I oversold my answer as being the singular one. Maybe a better way to say that would be to point to prayer and the role of Christians as an igniting spark. You can see that in Germany and Romania. My post from today points to that. But, yes, there were many political, social, and economic factors that went along with the spiritual.

Thank you for causing me to clarify. That was a very helpful insight! This is why I need an editor! :)

[Antje]

;-).