More by Accident than by Design Quiz

Answer: Mikhail Gorbachev

Following two leaders who each had only a very short time in office due to age and health, Mikhail Gorbachev was chosen as the General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party for being younger and more energetic than his predecessors in the hope of finally overcoming the stagnation of the Brezhnev era.

He introduced two significant deviations from the previous party line: The first was Glasnost which meant "openness" and aimed at providing the people and press of the Soviet Union with a greater degree of freedom of speech than before.

It was joined by the greater goal of Perestroika ("reconstruction"), whose key element besides the introduction of some democratic structures was an introduction of a limited amount of private enterprise into the previously completely collectivized Soviet economy. Both factors - privatization and free speech - would later become key demands of the East German protests leading to the events of 1989.

Answer: They massively reduced security on the Austrian border

Like all states at the edge between the Warsaw pact and Western Europe, Hungary had a well fortified border that was almost impassable for people wishing to leave the country without a permit. Those permits were rarely granted for travel beyond the Warsaw Pact states, but East German citizens enjoyed relatively free travel within those states. By removing the fortifications on its border to Austria, Hungary made it possible for tens of thousands of East Germans who legally traveled to Hungary to flee to Austria and then from there enter West Germany.

The East German government reacted quickly by forbidding its citizens from traveling to Hungary.

Answer: They occupied the West German embassy

With the Hungarian escape route blocked and the Czechoslovakian border still secured, thousands who had left East Germany in the hopes of making it into the West fled to a last-hope location: the West German embassy in Prague. Safe from direct intervention by Czechoslovakian police, they camped in the grounds, refusing to leave the embassy even when sanitary conditions became close to unbearable. West German foreign minister Genscher finally negotiated safe travel to West Germany for all those who had fled to the embassy on 30 September 1989.

This was however not the end of it, as they were soon replaced with new refugees from East Germany who received similar permission to travel until, in October, the Czechoslovakian government decided to let any East Germans wishing to leave their country pass unhindered. Once again, the East German government reacted draconically, by completely closing its borders and isolating its citizens on November 3.

Answer: Mondays

The Monday demonstrations, as they quickly came to be known, began in Leipzig, with the first one happening on September 4, 1989. At first, they were small gatherings, but they quickly grew. In October, the situation threatened to explode when, in the week of the German Democratic Republic's 40-year celebration early October 1989, the authorities reacted by incarcerating some of the demonstrators.

However, even this did not discourage the people and by late October, over 320,000 people took to the streets just in Leipzig alone.

Answer: "Wir sind das Volk" (We are the people)

The simple motto of "Wir sind das Volk" was the most to the point expression of the discrepancy between the written words of the East German constitution and the actual reality. On paper, the East German populace lived in a reasonably free, democratic state with complete human and civil rights.

However, reality was different - voters were pressured to cast their ballot openly and there were no opposition candidates to vote for anyway. The eight existing political parties were all united to a single block and it was arranged in advance which of them would receive how many seats in parliament. Similarly, civil freedoms only existed on paper as those citizens who used them quickly suffered the consequences at work, when attempting to buy goods or any of the many other areas of life. "We are the people" summarized the people's desire to receive their alleged rights in real life.

Answer: The opening of the Berlin Wall

In early November 1989, the pressure on the East German government to allow controlled travel and possibly emigration to the West had become overwhelming. With the reopening of the borders to Czechoslovakia and thus the possibility for all East Germans to emigrate through that country (albeit at the cost of leaving most of their possessions behind), a more definite solution was needed. On November 6, a first draft guaranteeing limited travel freedoms was rejected.

A second draft was prepared on November 9, intended to go into effect around noon the next day and permitting orderly departures.

However, a miscommunication ensued and the order was published immediately, without giving the border guards the chance to prepare an orderly process. Hundreds of thousands of citizens in and around Berlin immediately went to the Wall and in the ensuing confusion, there was no option but to immediately and unconditionally open the checkpoints and let the masses stream into West Berlin.

Answer: "2+4 talks"

The numbers 2 and 4 stood for the number of German states and the number of occupying countries (France, Soviet Union, United Kingdom and United States). Since Germany was still technically an occupied country with slight limitations to its sovereignty and with no peace treaty, these talks became necessary.

The most urgent issue of these talks was the military affiliation of the new German state - with the Eastern bloc crumbling, the Western states insisted on NATO membership for the unified state while the Soviet Union wanted a neutral Germany.

In the end, a NATO membership was agreed upon, but Germany agreed to a very significant reduction in troops and also would not conduct any military exercises on East German soil. The latter condition was dropped when NATO expanded further eastward in the later years, including Poland and the Czech Republic.

Answer: 1 DM for 1 M cash, 1 DM for 2 M for most bank accounts

All cash and a limited amount of bank balance (4000 M for most East Germans) were exchanged to DM on a 1 to 1 ratio. Any bank balances beyond the limit (whether held by private individuals or companies) and debts were converted at a 1 for 2 ratio and some balances held by non-Germans were subject to a 1 for 3 devaluation. Salaries, rents and other recurring payments (which were already much lower in East Germany than in the West) were converted 1 to 1. On the same day, July 1, 1990, East Germans also acquired full membership of all branches of the West German social security system (health, unemployment and pension insurance) with all rights and obligations thereof.

Answer: The East German states joined West Germany which had no right to refuse that declaration

The West German constitution, ratified in 1949, contained a clause under which any German state could join the Federal Republic of Germany. However, the states of East Germany had been dissolved under the socialist regime and had been replaced with districts. On October 2, 1990, these districts ceased to exist and were replaced by five new states who then, with effect from October 3, joined the Federal Republic of Germany. Berlin, which had never been a full state either in the West or in the East, was also reunified on the same date with the official abolishment of Allied rule over the city and then also became a state and formally joined the Federal Republic. All the paperwork for this transition had been completed in the days before October 3 and thus the actual merger took place just after midnight that day.

A formal celebration ceremony was held in Berlin and broadcast throughout Germany as well as on many video walls in Berlin. At precisely midnight, the formerly West German anthem, now valid for all of Germany, was sung and all over Berlin, the people joined in, forming a choir that literally had millions of voices. I was personally there for that night, less than a hundred meters away from the former border, very close to the Brandenburg Gate, and it was the experience of a lifetime. Never before or after have I felt the spirit of unity this strongly.

Answer: There were still such discrepancies in 2012

Almost incredibly, many of the collective agreements still had a small difference between salaries in the East and the West of Germany a full 22 years after the reunification. While the salaries for civil servants were equalized relatively quickly, many industries still pay their East German workers, especially unskilled and semi-skilled laborers, less than their West German counterparts. On the other hand, rents and some basic products, especially agricultural ones, are still cheaper in the Eastern states, so in terms of actual living standard, wages are almost comparable.