Monday, 4. December 1989

An appeal to all members of the »Commercial Coordination« section is read out over the radio: »Call staff meetings to install supervisory groups to prevent further illegal dealings. Inform the German People's Police and the public. Cooperate with other enterprises and with citizens' groups that you trust. If necessary, decide upon joint supervisory measures and be sure to make them public.«

The National People's Army also begins to take security measures, canceling low-flight exercises in the neighborhood of the Kavelstorf weapons depot. The public in the area is extremely worried by the discovery of huge stores of ammunition in simple lightweight structures, and demands that they be removed to more secure depots.

The SED Central Committee is obviously attempting to destroy or ship out incriminating documents. The head of the finance section is arrested. Staff at the Berlin-Schönefeld airport point out that two special planes are being loaded with files, preparatory to being flown to Romania.

The CDU and the LDPD announce that they are leaving the so-called democratic bloc. They maintain that cooperation with other political and social forces in the country is possible only at the Round Table. The CDU Presidium also demands the resignation of Egon Krenz as head of the Council of State and Chairman of the National Defense Council. The various discoveries also lead to other consequences, as cases of vigilante justice increase.

Prominent figures in politics, culture and the economy issue an appeal for a security partnership between citizens' committees and organs of the state:

»Throughout the country there have been manifestations of fury and indignation over abuse of power, corruption, crime and attempts to mask criminal actions. We share this fury and concern. There are signs that actions are emerging from this justified fury that could end by endangering people's safety and life.« This, they say, must not be permitted. For the first time, members of the People's Police and the security forces take to the streets to protest abuse of office, corruption and the destruction of files. They say they will do everything they can to expose these crimes.

The head of the Office of National Security, General Wolfgang Schwanitz, announces that 10,000 former employees of the Ministry for State Security have been laid off.

In the evening, as every Monday, over a quarter of a million people demonstrate in numerous East German cities. In Leipzig, where 150,000 people gather, many black, red and gold flags are in evidence. On homemade posters, Erich Honecker is portrayed in a prison uniform, and banners read »SED - kiss our asses!,« »Corrupt SED nobility to the stocks!,« and »Stasi to the factories.« Because many of the demonstrators are directing their anger at the district headquarters of the Stasi, located nearby, representatives of the citizens' groups and lawyer Wolfgang Schnur of Democratic Awakening are permitted to enter the Stasi stronghold in order to head off a storm. With the help of the police, a spontaneously-formed citizens' committee seals many rooms to prevent further destruction of files.