Günter Schabowski (; 4 January 1929 – 1 November 2015) was a German politician who served as an official of the

Socialist Unity Party of Germany The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (, ; SED, ) was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from the country's foundation in 1949 until its dissolution after the Peaceful Revolution in 1989. It was a Mar ...

(''Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands'' abbreviated ''SED''), the ruling party during most of the existence of

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

. After climbing up the party ladder, he became the regime's unofficial spokesman. He gained worldwide fame in November 1989 when he improvised a slightly mistaken answer to a press conference question about the future of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

, that seemed to announce the Wall's immediate end and raised popular expectations much more rapidly than the government planned. Massive crowds gathered at the Wall the same night, which forced its opening after 28 years. Soon afterward, the entire

inner German border The inner German border ( or ''deutsch–deutsche Grenze''; initially also , zonal boundary) was the frontier between the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and the West Germany, Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West ...

was opened; not much later, East Germany ceased to exist.

Early career

Schabowski was born in

Anklam Anklam (), formerly known as Tanglim and Wendenburg, is a town in the Western Pomerania region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in north-eastern Germany. It is situated on the banks of the Peene river, just 8 km from its mouth in the , the western ...

Pomerania Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...

(then in the

Free State of Prussia The Free State of Prussia (, ) was one of the States of the Weimar Republic, constituent states of Weimar Republic, Germany from 1918 to 1947. The successor to the Kingdom of Prussia after the defeat of the German Empire in World War I, it cont ...

, now part of the federal state of

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its Anglicisation, anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a Federated state, state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's States of Germany, sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpom ...

). After completing his ''

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

'', Schabowski joined the

Free German Trade Union Federation The Free German Trade Union Federation ( or ''FDGB'') was the sole national trade union centre of the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) which existed from 1946 to 1990. As a mass organisation of the GDR, nominally representing al ...

Zentralorgan ''Zentralorgan'' is a 19th-century German term for journals associated with a certain technical field, party or political movement. Later it was reduced to a term for official party papers and journals of socialist and worker parties since the 19t ...

'' newspaper, ''Tribüne'' as an editor in 1947. He studied journalism at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig's "Red Monastery", the only institution in the GDR offering training to become a journalist, after which he became deputy editor-in-chief of ''Tribüne''. In 1952, he became a member of the SED, having been a candidate member and member of the

Free German Youth The Free German Youth (; FDJ) is a youth movement in Germany. Formerly, it was the official youth wing of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. The organization was meant for young adults, both male a ...

since 1950.

SED career

From 1967 to 1968, he attended the party academy of the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

. Afterwards, he began a career in the newspaper ("New Germany"), which as the official organ of the SED was considered to be the leading newspaper in the GDR. He first was a deputy editor-in-chief before becoming First Deputy in 1974. In 1978, he rose to the position of editor-in-chief when Joachim Herrmann became a full member of the

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

and Central Committee Secretary for Agitation, replacing the deceased Werner Lamberz. In 1981, he became a member of the

Volkskammer The Volkskammer (, "People's Chamber") was the supreme power organ of East Germany. It was the only branch of government in the state, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs were subservient to it. The Volkskammer was initia ...

, the SED Central Committee and candidate member of its

. In November 1985, he rose to become the First Secretary of the

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

chapter of the SED and a full member of the SED

, replacing Konrad Naumann, who had been deposed. Before the

Peaceful Revolution The Peaceful Revolution () – also, in German called ' (, "the turning point") – was one of the peaceful revolutions of 1989 at the peak of the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in the late 1980s. A process of sociopolitical change that led to, am ...

, Schabowski was not known as a reformer. In 2009, writer

Christa Wolf Christa Wolf (; Ihlenfeld; 18 March 1929 – 1 December 2011) was a German novelist and essayist. She is considered one of the most important writers to emerge from the former East Germany.Wende'', saying: "I remember a few appearances of him in front of the writer's guild. You were scared of him."

Opening of Berlin Wall

In October 1989, Schabowski, along with several other members of the Politbüro, turned on the longtime SED leader

Erich Honecker Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the post ...

and forced him to step down in favor of

Egon Krenz Egon Rudi Ernst Krenz (; born 19 March 1937) is a German former politician who was the last Communist leader of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) during the Revolutions of 1989. He succeeded Erich Honecker as the Secretary (title), ...

. As part of the effort to change the regime's image, Schabowski was named the regime's unofficial spokesman and he held several daily

press conferences A press conference, also called news conference or press briefing, is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicians, corporat ...

to announce changes. He had already been in charge of media affairs for the Politbüro. He was also reportedly named the second man in the SED, Krenz's old role. Schabowski had spent most of his career in communist-style journalism in which reporters were told what to write after events had already happened. Thus, he found it somewhat difficult to get used to Western-style media practice.Sarotte, p. 115 On 9 November 1989, shortly before that day's press conference, Krenz handed Schabowski a text containing new, temporary travel regulations. The text stipulated that East German citizens could apply for permission to travel abroad without having to meet the previous requirements for those trips, and it allowed for permanent emigration across all border crossings, including those between East and West Berlin. The text was supposed to be embargoed until the next morning. Schabowski had not been on hand when Krenz read the text earlier in the day to several Politbüro members during a cigarette break at that day's Central Committee plenum or when it was discussed before the full committee. However, he felt comfortable discussing it at the press conference; he said later that all one needed to do to conduct a press conference was to be able to speak German and read a text without mistakes. Accordingly, he read the note aloud at the end of the press conference. One of the reporters asked when the regulations would come into effect. Schabowski assumed that it would be the same day based on the wording of the note, and he replied after a few seconds' pause: "As far as I know... effective immediately, without delay." () Accounts differ on who asked that question. Both

Riccardo Ehrman Riccardo Ehrman (4 November 1929 – 14 December 2021) was an Italian journalist whose question at a government press conference in the former East Germany is said to have precipitated the fall of the Berlin Wall. Early life Ehrman was born on ...

, the Berlin correspondent of the ANSA news agency, and the German '' Bild Zeitung'' (a tabloid) reporter Peter Brinkmann were sitting in the front row at the press conference and claimed to have asked when the regulations would come into force. Later, when asked whether the new regulations also applied to travel between East and West Berlin, Schabowski looked at the text again and discovered that they did. When Daniel Johnson of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' asked what that meant for the Berlin Wall, Schabowski sat frozen before giving a rambling statement about the wall being tied to the larger disarmament question. After the press conference, Schabowski sat down for a live interview with

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

Tom Brokaw Thomas John Brokaw (; born February 6, 1940) is an American author and retired network television journalist. He first served as the co-anchor of Today (American TV program), ''The Today Show'' from 1976 to 1981 with Jane Pauley, then as the anch ...

. When Brokaw asked him if it was indeed true that East Germans could now travel without having to go through a third country, Schabowski replied in broken English that East Germans were "not further forced to leave GDR by transit through another country," and could now "go through the border." When Brokaw asked if this meant "freedom of travel," Schabowski replied, "Yes of course," and added that it was not "a question of tourism" but "a permission of leaving GDR." The West German public national television channels showed parts of Schabowski's press conference in their main evening news reports at 19:17 on

ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...

's ''

heute ''heute'' (; German for ''today'') is a television news program on the German channel ZDF. The main program is broadcast at 19:00, and includes news, with an emphasis on political news from Germany, Europe and the world, plus 'mixed' news from ...

'' and at 20:00 on ARD's '' Tagesschau'', which meant that the news was broadcast to nearly all of East Germany as well, where West German television was widely watched. The news then spread like wildfire, with news reports continuing to repeat the news throughout the night. As the night progressed, thousands of East Berliners began proceeding to the six border crossings along the

and demanded to be let through. Live television reported on the gathering people which only increased the numbers of East Berliners coming to the gates. The crowds vastly outnumbered the

border guards A border guard of a country is a national security agency that ensures border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Germany, Italy or Ukraine) and rescue service duties. Name and uniform In diffe ...

, who tried initially to stall for time. However, no one was willing to order deadly force. Finally, at 23:30,

Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...

Officer

Harald Jäger Harald Jäger (born 27 April 1943) is a former East German Stasi officer and border guard who was in charge of a passport control unit. On 9 November 1989, he opened the Bornholmer Straße border crossing of the Berlin Wall, under pressure from ...

decided to open the gates at the

Bornholmer Straße border crossing The Bornholmer Straße border crossing was one of the border crossings between East Berlin and West Berlin between 1961 and 1990. The crossing was named after the street on which it is located, Bornholmer Straße ("Bornholm Street"), which in tur ...

and to allow people into West Berlin. The fall of the Berlin Wall was the key event leading to the end of the East German regime, a state that had been crumbling for many weeks as citizens had been fleeing through intermediate countries surrounding East Germany. Indeed, Victor Sebestyen later wrote that when the gates were opened, for all intents and purposes, East Germany "ceased to exist". He also wrote that many of Schabowski's colleagues suspected he was either an American or West German agent and could not believe that he had made "a simple cock-up". In 2014, his wife claimed that Schabowski had been well aware of the possible consequences of what he said in the press conference. In the following purges of the "party's old guard", Schabowski was quickly expelled from the Party of Democratic Socialism, the successor to the SED, in an attempt to improve the party's image.

Political life after reunification

After

German Reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

, Schabowski became highly critical of his own actions in East Germany and those of his fellow Politbüro members as well as of

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

-style socialism in general. He worked again as a journalist and between 1992 and 1999, as editor for ''Heimat-Nachrichten'', a weekly local paper that he co-founded with a West German journalist in

Rotenburg an der Fulda Rotenburg an der Fulda (, ; officially ''Rotenburg a.d. Fulda'') is a town in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, in central Germany, situated, as the name says, on the river Fulda (river), Fulda. Geography Location The town ...

. His support for the

Christian Democratic Union of Germany The Christian Democratic Union of Germany ( , CDU ) is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is the major party of the centre-right in German politics. Friedrich Merz has been federal chairman of the CDU since 31 ...

(CDU) prompted some of his former comrades to call him a wryneck (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

: '' Wendehals''). The word refers to a bird that can turn its head almost 180 degrees; it became a popular term used to mock communists who had turned capitalist. Together with other leading figures of the GDR regime, he was charged with the murders of East Germans attempting to flee the GDR. In January 1995, Berlin prosecutors pressed charges against him. In August 1997, Schabowski was convicted along with

and Günther Kleiber. Because he accepted his moral guilt and denounced the GDR, he was sentenced to only three years in

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

. In December 1999, he began serving his sentence in Hakenfelde Prison in

Spandau Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs of Berlin, boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence (geography), confluence of the Havel and Spree (river), Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smalle ...

. However, in September 2000, he was pardoned by Governing Mayor

Eberhard Diepgen Eberhard Diepgen (born 13 November 1941) is a German lawyer and politician who served as Mayor of West Berlin from 1984 to 1989 and again as Mayor of (united) Berlin, from 1991 until 2001, as member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). E ...

and released in December 2000 after he had served only a year. He was critical of the PDS/Left Party, the successor to the Socialist Unity Party. In 2001, he collaborated with

Bärbel Bohley Bärbel Bohley (24 May 1945 – 11 September 2010) was an East German opposition figure and artist. Biography As an artist, Bohley won prizes from the authorities, including a trip to the Soviet Union. Her opposition to the government did not ...

as advisor to Frank Steffel (CDU).

Death

According to his wife, Schabowski lived in a Berlin nursing home during the last years of his life, after a number of heart attacks and strokes. He died in Berlin, after a long illness, on the morning of 1 November 2015, aged 86.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schabowski, Gunter 1929 births 2015 deaths People from Anklam Politicians from the Province of Pomerania Members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany Members of the 8th Volkskammer Members of the 9th Volkskammer Free German Youth members Free German Trade Union Federation members Neues Deutschland editors German male journalists German journalists Berlin Wall Leipzig University alumni German people convicted of manslaughter German politicians convicted of crimes German prisoners and detainees Recipients of German pardons Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold Recipients of the Banner of Labor Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples 20th-century German criminals Prisoners and detainees of Germany Criminals from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania