Foreign
PARLIAMENTARIANS from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc on Monday gathered in Leipzig to mark 30 years since peaceful demonstrations helped to bring down East Germany’s communist government.
Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and their Bavarian sister-party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), were to pass a Leipzig Appeal on Monday.
The appeal was to commend the citizens who showed their civil courage over decades and dared to offer resistance to the dictatorship in the GDR (East Germany).
The regular Monday demonstrations, that started on Sept. 4, 1989, were seen as paving the way for the peaceful revolution that resulted in the opening of the Berlin Wall in November that year.
The gathering was to be addressed by Michael Kretschmer, the CDU premier of Saxony, the eastern state where Leipzig is located.
Meanwhile, Merkel had been due to attend, but cancelled because of another engagement.
In its appeal, the CDU/CSU warned against nostalgia for the days of communist rule.
“In times of trivialisation, white-washing and nostalgia for the east, we state unequivocally that the German Democratic Republic (GDR) is a dictatorship,“it said. (dpa/NAN)
– Oct 14, 2019 @ 12:45 GMT |
Tags: German conservatives gather in Leipzig to mark peaceful revolution
