austin-murphy-the-triumph-of-evil

136 THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL
The international publicity had made it known to all East Germans
that there were reasonably safe ways to emigrate to West Germany. East
Germans could watch both East and West German television channels,
and so news of the emigrations through Hungary could be seen from
both points of view. Those who had been most interested in emigrating
now saw a favorable chance, and, although most had initially sought
refuge in Hungary, dozens of other refugees had meanwhile also broken
their way into the West German embassy of Czechoslovakia and into
the West German consular office in East Berlin itself.
THE TRAIN THROUGH DRESDEN
After trips to Hungary were no longer freely allowed in September
1989, East Germans seeking to emigrate began concentrating on the
other West German embassy targets. For instance, by the end of September,
hundreds of East Germans had taken refuge in the West German
embassy in Poland, and many more were breaking into the West German
embassy in Czechoslovakia again.
Czechoslovakia was the most popular travel destination for East Germans
(9 million East Germans visited Czechoslovakia in 1988) because
it was nearby and no special visa was required (Bahrmann and Links,
1994). For those seeking emigration from East Germany, Czechoslovakia
was also now an attractive destination because they could not only
enter the West German embassy there, but they could also conceivably
travel through the lightly guarded Czech border with Hungary, from
which they could freely emigrate via the open Hungarian border with
Austria. By the end of September, the number of East Germans who had
emigrated via Hungary over the prior few months exceeded 20,000, and
the West German embassy in Czechoslovakia was soon fi lied up with
thousands of East Germans (Goertemaker, 1994). The East German
government then negotiated a similar solution as was imposed on it in
the Hungarian case. It "temporarily" terminated unrestricted travel to
Czechoslovakia but decided to fo rmally allow the legal emigration of
all East German refugees in the West German embassy in Czechoslovakia
(Bahr, J 990). As part of the emigration agreement in the Czechoslovakian
case, over ten thousand refugees around the West German
embassy in Czechoslovakia were to travel by train through the southern
part of East Germany before reaching West Germany (Keithly, I 992).
CHAPTER 3
137
One set of trains filled with refugees was scheduled to ride through
the East German city of Dresden early in the morning of October 5,
1989 at about 1 :30 A.M., and details of the events that followed are
reported by Bahr ( 1990). To prevent any East Germans in Dresden
from climbing aboard the trains in transit to West Germany, the East
German police closed off the train station in Dresden late in the night of
October 4, 1989. Notified by West German television of the trains that
were to pass through, over five thousand East Germans came to look
on and complain, frequently claiming to suddenly want to take a train
ride somewhere. As the complaints became heated, violence erupted as
normal Dresden people (mostly teenagers and very young adults) tried
to break into the train station, and others threw rocks at the train sta­
tion windows. The police counterattacked. Hundreds of people were
clubbed and/or arrested by the police.
THE LAST BIRTHDAY OF EAST GERMANY
Meanwhile, in East Berlin, preparations for the 40th anniversary of
the founding of the East German government were being made. The
borders to tourist traffic were temporarily closed to reduce the possi­
bility of foreign-instigated disorder (preventing myself from meeting a
cute East German woman with whom I had an evening rendezvous!),
and known East German dissidents were put under especially close
observation, as was usual during such times (Riecker, Schwarz, and
Schneider, 1990). Communist leaders and sympathizers all over the
world were going to attend the October 7 ceremonies, including the
leader of the Soviet Union (Michael Gorbachev), and the East German
government did not want any embarrassing riots.
On October 6, on the eve of the celebration, over one hundred thou­
sand members of the East German youth organization (the Free German
Youth) marched through the center of East Berlin holding torches in
demonstration of their support for their country, just as they had on this
day for the last few decades. There was one major difference in their
peaceful demonstration this time, however. On October 6, 1989, instead
of shouting in support of their own country's leader, the Free German
Youth chanted "Gorbi, Gorbi, Gorbi" (Krenz, 1990).
As reported by Bahrmann and Links (1994), the ceremonies on Octo­
be
r 7 • 1989 went smoothly for most of the day. However, early in the