Table Of ContentPraise for The Collapse
“The fall of the Berlin Wall was one of the landmark events of the twentieth century, but this great change
involved accidental and non-violent causes. In wonderfully readable prose, Mary Elise Sarotte tells a
compelling story of how history works its surprises.”
—Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor and author of The Future of
Power
“In The Collapse, Mary Elise Sarotte provides a needed (and highly readable) reminder that the peaceful
culmination to 1989’s dramatic developments was in no way inevitable.”
—General Brent Scowcroft, former National Security Advisor
“Meticulously researched, judiciously argued, and exceptionally well written, The Collapse describes the
fall of the Berlin Wall from an unprecedented perspective. Mary Elise Sarotte weaves together numerous
German, American, and Soviet accounts, allowing the reader to crisscross the Berlin Wall on the eve and in
the course of its collapse. It will come as a surprise to many that this climactic event in Cold War history
resulted not from agreements reached in Washington, Berlin, Moscow, or Bonn, but from the uncoordinated
actions of people on both sides of the Berlin divide. The Collapse makes it possible for those who made
history in 1989 to speak in their own voices.”
—Serhii Plokhy, author of The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union
“From a remove of 25 years, the fall of the Berlin Wall seems foreordained. In fact, as Mary Elise Sarotte
shows, this historic moment was an improbable concatenation of events and decisions triggering in perfect
if accidental sequence. Catastrophe at times was just seconds away. As someone who was in Leipzig and
Berlin as the crucial events unfolded, I can say that Sarotte gets it exactly right, capturing the fear,
confusion, courage, and growing excitement as hitherto ordinary people peacefully toppled the deadly
barrier that symbolized the Cold War.”
—Mike Leary, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist
“In her compelling and fast-paced narrative, Mary Elise Sarotte reminds us that the end of the Cold War
was not foreordained, but that courageous acts by East German dissidents, offhand comments by GDR
officials, and the actions of one perplexed border-guard changed the course of twentieth-century history.
This is essential reading for those who want to understand the role of contingency and human agency in the
unexpected opening of the Berlin Wall.”
—Angela Stent, author of The Limits of Partnership: US-Russian Relations in the Twenty-First Century
THE
COLLAPSE
THE
COLLAPSE
The Accidental Opening
of the Berlin Wall
MARY ELISE SAROTTE
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
New York
Copyright © 2014 by Mary Elise Sarotte Published by Basic Books, a Member of the Perseus
Books Group All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may
be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address Basic Books, 250
West 57th Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10107.
Books published by Basic Books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the United
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the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200,
Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call (800) 810–4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail
[email protected].
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sarotte, Mary Elise.
The collapse : the accidental opening of the Berlin Wall / Mary Elise Sarotte.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-46505690-3 (e-book) 1. Berlin Wall, Berlin, Germany,1961-1989. 2. Germany (East)
—Politics and government—1989-1990. 3. Berlin (Germany)— History—1945-1990. I. Title. II.
Title: Accidental opening of the Berlin Wall.
DD881.S215 2014
943.087'8—dc23
2014026435
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Dianne and Al, Steve, and Mark
It is not always going from bad to worse that leads to revolution.
What happens most often is that a people that puts up with the most
oppressive laws without complaint, as if it did not feel them, rejects those
laws violently when the burden is alleviated. . . .
The evil that one endures patiently because it seems inevitable becomes
unbearable the moment its elimination becomes conceivable.
—ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE1
Contents
List of Maps and Photos
Abbreviations in the Captions, Maps, and Text
Note on Names
Introduction: Discovering the Causes of the Collapse
PART I: THE STRUGGLE WITHIN THE SOVIET BLOC AND SAXONY
Chapter 1 A Brutal Status Quo
Chapter 2 Marginal to Massive
Chapter 3 The Fight for the Ring
PART II: THE COMPETITION FOR CONTROL IN EAST BERLIN
Chapter 4 The Revolution Advances, the Regime Plays for Time
Chapter 5 Failure to Communicate on November 9, 1989
PART III: THE CONTEST OF WILLS AT THE WALL
Chapter 6 The Revolution, Televised
Chapter 7 Damage Control?
Epilogue Violence and Victory, Trust and Triumphalism
Acknowledgments
Brief Timeline of Major Events Highlighted in the Text
Additional Information About, and Abbreviations in, the Notes and Bibliography
List of Interviews
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Maps and Photos
MAPS
Map 1. Cold War Europe
Map 2. Divided Germany in 1989
Map 3. Leipzig City Center and Ring Road
Map 4. Divided Berlin in 1989
Description:On the night of November 9, 1989, massive crowds surged toward the Berlin Wall, drawn by an announcement that caught the world by surprise: East Germans could now move freely to the West. The Wallinfamous symbol of divided Cold War Europeseemed to be falling. But the opening of the gates that ni
