1989 — Year of Miracles (and Bad Omens)

How fast things fade into the dark zones of memory. Do you still remember the excitement of 1989? The Berlin Wall came down — and thousands of Chinese students took over Tiananmen Square demanding reforms. However, beyond these two mega events, that year brought other major stepping stones — and dark moments. Our Globalist Factsheet presents the key events of a key year.

February 6, 1989

— East German student, Chris Geffroy, is the last person killed attempting to escape over the Berlin Wall.

May 2

— Tens of thousands march through Warsaw calling for reforms in Poland.

May 4

— Massive demonstrations in Beijing and other major Chinese cities are held to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the 1919 democracy movement.

May 30

— Tiananmen demonstrators erect "Goddess of Democracy," inspired by New York City’s Statue of Liberty.

June 3-4

— Chinese army enters Tiananmen Square, killing hundreds of demonstrators. Thousands more are killed in cities throughout China.

June 28

— Slobodan Milosevic gives speech in Kosovo, marking 600th anniversary of Battle of Kosovo Polje. He calls for creation of "Greater Serbia."

August 19

— Large groups of East Germans and Hungarians manage to flee across the Hungarian border with Austria.

September 11

— Hungary opens border and suspends travel restriction treaty with East Germany.

October 30

— About 400,000 people demonstrate in Leipzig for the establishment of democracy .

November 4

— One million people demonstrate in East Berlin.

November 9

— The Berlin Wall is opened.

November 16

— Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution begins. Students march and are attacked by police. In subsequent days, more than one million gather on Wenceslas Square. Communist government resigns on Novemver 24.

December 3

— Slovenia seals border with Serbia.

December 20

— Vaclav Havel is elected the first post-communist president of Czechoslovakia.

December 25, 1989

— Deposed Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena are shot by a firing squad, after a secret military tribunal finds them both guilty of crimes against the state.

Adapted from John Shattuck’s Freedom on Fire: Human Rights Wars and America's Response, pp. 315-316 (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003).