Candles were the symbol of the Peaceful Revolution in the fall of ’89, which started in Leipzig. Candles and light will therefore also be at the center of remembrance on October 9, 2024. Leipzig is dedicating an outstanding program to the 35th anniversary of the Peaceful Revolution. For this occasion, the Leipzig Light Festival will take place on October 9, 2024 from 7 p.m. to midnight on the entire inner city ring along the authentic demonstration route. Over 20 local, national and international teams of artists take up the historical events and make them tangible in public spaces: spectacular mappings, projections, music, performances and other interventions will inspire and touch tens of thousands. Several of Leipzig’s partner cities are also represented with their own projects: Frankfurt am Main, Krakow, Lyon and Brno. A huge candle 89, traditionally decorated with thousands of lights by visitors, will stand on Augustusplatz. In 2024 it will also be called “Light Festival XXL”: In the anniversary year, five light projects can be seen beyond the Light Festival evening and into the weekend (October 10th-12th, 7 p.m.-11 p.m.).
Further highlights on October 9th are the joint ceremony between the Free State of Saxony and the city of Leipzig in the Gewandhaus with, among others, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Marianne Birthler, former GDR civil rights activist and former federal commissioner for Stasi records, as speakers, as well as the peace prayer in the Nikolaikirche.
Highlights on October 9, 2024:
2:30 p.m ceremonyGewandhaus in Leipzig (live broadcast ARD)
5 p.m Peace prayerNikolaikirche Leipzig (livestream on www.mdr.de)
7pm-midnight Leipzig Light Festivalentire inner city ring
All information at: www.lichtfest.leipziger-freiheit.de
Background: October 9, 1989 in Leipzig – decision day
October 9, 1989 was the breakthrough for the Peaceful Revolution and a key event in German and European history. The date is considered a catalyst for the fall of the Wall on November 9, 1989 and ultimately German reunification in 1990. 2024 marks the 35th anniversary of the events. The courage of the demonstrators and October 9th have gone down in history. Every year on October 9th, the city commemorates the Peaceful Revolution in the fall of 1989 with the Leipzig Light Festival.
Since 1982, peace, environmental and human rights groups have regularly invited people to pray for peace in St. Nicholas Church. The Monday demonstrations started from here in September 1989. After the peace prayers, over 70,000 people finally gathered in Leipzig’s city center on October 9th – also known as Decision Day – to demonstrate around the inner city ring with the famous shouts of “We are the people” and “No violence”. With courage and prudence, the demonstrators exposed the GDR officials’ progressive loss of power; the feared military offensive did not materialize. The SED regime capitulated to the peaceful supremacy of the citizens. The courage of each participant cannot be overestimated. The non-violent course of the Monday demonstrations is a stroke of luck in history, or, as the then pastor of the Nikolaikirche, Christian Führer, assessed in retrospect, “a miracle of biblical proportions.”
The Peaceful Revolution in Leipzig – can be explored all year round:
Even outside the important date of October 9th, guests can not only follow in the footsteps of the Peaceful Revolution on city tours. Museums and other institutions keep the memory of the events alive in authentic places.
Selection:
Nikolaikirche Leipzig:
The Nikolaikirche Leipzig became a symbol of the Peaceful Revolution in 1989. Through the Monday peace prayers, which still take place every Monday at 5 p.m. in the St. Nicholas Church, the St. Nicholas Church became the starting point of the Peaceful Revolution in 1989. There is an exhibition about this in the south chapel. The column placed in front of the church, with its classicist column motif from inside the church, is a reminder of those participants who could no longer find space in the overcrowded St. Nicholas Church in the fall of ’89: https://www.nikolaikirche.de/friedensgebet/friedensgebete/
Memorial Museum in the “Round Corner”
The building in which the Leipzig district administration for state security was based for 40 years now houses the memorial museum in the “Round Corner”. In the former offices of the Stasi officers, visitors can find out about the function, working methods and history of the Ministry for State Security. The authentic environment has largely been preserved to give guests an idea of the working atmosphere that prevailed in the “Round Corner” until 1989. Linoleum floors, yellow-brown wallpaper, scissor bars on the doors and windows, cable ducts and old radiators can still be seen throughout the museum. History becomes visible and tangible here. Guided tours in the house and city tours “In the footsteps of the Peaceful Revolution” complete the offer. The memorial is sponsored by the Citizens’ Committee Leipzig e. V.: www.runde-ecke-leipzig.de
Open-air exhibition “Places of the Peaceful Revolution”
The spirit of optimism in the GDR in 1989/90 can be experienced at 20 original locations in downtown Leipzig. Designed as a chronological tour, the open-air exhibition at the Memorial Museum in the “Round Corner” illustrates how the oppositional actions of individuals gave rise to a mass movement that brought down the SED dictatorship in the GDR and paved the way for German unity . The steles with German-English texts and images offer a special kind of city tour for anyone who wants to find out about Leipzig’s role as the city of the Peaceful Revolution: www.runde-ecke-leipzig.de
Contemporary History Forum Leipzig
The Contemporary History Forum addresses the history of the division of Germany, everyday life in the GDR and the reunification process as well as the challenges that the reunified Germany faces in the 21st century: How has Germany been growing together again since 1990? What motivates people today? https://www.hdg.de/zeitgeschichtliches-forum
European cultural heritage “Iron Curtain”
Since 2012, the St. Nicholas Church, the Museum Memorial in the “Round Corner” and the Leipzig inner city ring have officially been listed as sites of the European “Iron Curtain” cultural heritage. The network brings together twelve places and sites that represent the creation, existence and overcoming of the wall and barbed wire. Leipzig is the only one of the selected locations that is not on the former German-German border and makes it clear that the fall of the Iron Curtain would not have been possible without the Peaceful Revolution: www.netzwerk-eiserner-vorhang.de