Social Europe

  • EU Forward Project
  • YouTube
  • Podcast
  • Books
  • Newsletter
  • Membership

Germany’s Zeitenwende of 1989-90 and its contemporary European reverberations

Knut Dethlefsen 7th January 2020

Sepia images of the historical sweep via the fall of the Berlin wall to the reunification of Germany, and so of Europe, look much clearer than today’s turning point.

1989
Knut Dethlefsen

Nineteen eighty-nine was the most formative political and personal moment of my generation. To become an adult during such a societal transformation made these world-historical events very immediate. We were 20-year-old witnesses to a non-violent revolution—we could see with our own eyes that such a revolution was not only possible but could move history in entirely new directions.

What happened in 1989, culminating in the fall of the Berlin wall, and what happened in its aftermath, as Germany was reunited in July 1990 while the cold war came to an end, is not just a German story of east and west. It is not only a German-American story either. It is also a story of European union, driven by the citizens of central and eastern Europe—especially Poles, Czechs, Slovakians, Hungarians and east Germans.

Important truths

The revolutions of 1989, which made possible the fall of the wall, reveal two important truths.  Freedom cannot be suppressed forever: when people no longer fear those who suppress them, they will rise and demand liberty. And authoritarian governments and tyrants—no matter how powerful they seem—cannot rule through weapons and violence indefinitely: the dialectics of history and the power of freedom will sweep them away.

The revolutions were also made possible by many people in the years before that eventful autumn. Two stand out. The then US president, John F Kennedy, stood by Berlin when the wall was thrown up in 1961 and became a symbol of American commitment to the freedom of west Berlin and the federal republic. We are forever grateful for the solidarity of our American partners. And the social-democrat leader Willy Brandt fought over the course of his life to overcome the division of Europe and Germany. He sought to make life in divided Germany more bearable while looking for cracks in the ‘iron curtain’ for rapprochement, changing the European political environment step by step.

A personal example of the consequences of this rapprochement: in the summer of 1990, I made my first trip to Poland, to spend a year and a half working as a volunteer at Auschwitz/Oswiecim—small Polish city, memorial, museum—the byword for unimaginable brutality and horror as the site of the largest and most notorious Nazi extermination camp. Only a few decades after the darkest days in human history, I could witness the daily dawn of hope, peaceful revolution and democracy in Poland. A better world was possible.

In the shadow of the horrors of the 20th century, Polish-German friendship was hardly a given. From my experience in that most formative trip, however, that Poland was able to take its place in the centre of Europe and become a good neighbour of a unified German republic was no miracle. It was the result of civil conviction, courage, optimism and a fight for democracy.



Don't miss out on cutting-edge thinking.


Join tens of thousands of informed readers and stay ahead with our insightful content. It's free.



Missed opportunities

But I also saw then how difficult daily life was for those living in the middle of a radical economic transformation and how disappointing the immediate results of 1989 could seem. It was not a perfect revolution. Some of those disappointments might also be called missed opportunities. Freedom had won, but we had imagined that this victory would result in deeper political changes: we thought 1989 would beget a more egalitarian and just society. 

Such hopes did not quite materialise. Unchecked capitalism indirectly triumphed. For many the transformation meant not only disappointment but often great hardship. This is probably one of the reasons why, over 30 years after the splendid events of that year, we seem to be experiencing so many setbacks. 

November 9th 1989 can remain a symbol of freedom, but the real struggle for freedom and justice never ends, because our democracies are not given but must be secured and renewed on a daily basis. And when I reflect today on what that Zeitenwende of 1989-90 means for our current political moment, this seems a much less clear turning point than the one three decades ago.

As we enter a new decade, with fundamental change all around us in the way we work, communicate and live, we see greater geopolitical tensions and a world order struggling to survive. Social-democratic leaders must make a better job of understanding and explaining the transformation of our time, not getting lost in the challenges of day-to-day politics. More importantly, social democracy must provide a sense of security for those who feel threatened by the changes they are undergoing and do more to preserve the global institutions we helped to build.

Knut Dethlefsen

Knut Dethlefsen serves as the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung representative to the US and Canada. Previously, he led FES offices in Warsaw, Jerusalem and Shanghai and was head of its Asia and Pacific Department in Berlin.

Harvard University Press Advertisement

Social Europe Ad - Promoting European social policies

We need your help.

Support Social Europe for less than €5 per month and help keep our content freely accessible to everyone. Your support empowers independent publishing and drives the conversations that matter. Thank you very much!

Social Europe Membership

Click here to become a member

Most Recent Articles

u4219834dafae1dc3 2 EU’s New Fiscal Rules: Balancing Budgets with Green and Digital AmbitionsPhilipp Heimberger
u42198346d1f0048 1 The Dangerous Metaphor of Unemployment “Scarring”Tom Boland and Ray Griffin
u4219834675 4ff1 998a 404323c89144 1 Why Progressive Governments Keep Failing — And How to Finally Win Back VotersMariana Mazzucato
u42198346ec 111f 473a 80ad b5d0688fffe9 1 A Transatlantic Reckoning: Why Europe Needs a New Pact Beyond Defence SpendingChristophe Sente
u4219834671f 3 Trade Unions Resist EU Bid to Weaken Corporate Sustainability LawsSocial Europe

Most Popular Articles

u4219834647f 0894ae7ca865 3 Europe’s Businesses Face a Quiet Takeover as US Investors CapitaliseTej Gonza and Timothée Duverger
u4219834674930082ba55 0 Portugal’s Political Earthquake: Centrist Grip Crumbles, Right AscendsEmanuel Ferreira
u421983467e58be8 81f2 4326 80f2 d452cfe9031e 1 “The Universities Are the Enemy”: Why Europe Must Act NowBartosz Rydliński
u42198346761805ea24 2 Trump’s ‘Golden Era’ Fades as European Allies Face Harsh New RealityFerenc Németh and Peter Kreko
startupsgovernment e1744799195663 Governments Are Not StartupsMariana Mazzucato
u421986cbef 2549 4e0c b6c4 b5bb01362b52 0 American SuicideJoschka Fischer
u42198346769d6584 1580 41fe 8c7d 3b9398aa5ec5 1 Why Trump Keeps Winning: The Truth No One AdmitsBo Rothstein
u421983467 a350a084 b098 4970 9834 739dc11b73a5 1 America Is About to Become the Next BrexitJ Bradford DeLong
u4219834676ba1b3a2 b4e1 4c79 960b 6770c60533fa 1 The End of the ‘West’ and Europe’s FutureGuillaume Duval
u421983462e c2ec 4dd2 90a4 b9cfb6856465 1 The Transatlantic Alliance Is Dying—What Comes Next for Europe?Frank Hoffer

ETUI advertisement

HESA Magazine Cover

With a comprehensive set of relevant indicators, presented in 85 graphs and tables, the 2025 Benchmarking Working Europe report examines how EU policies can reconcile economic, social and environmental goals to ensure long-term competitiveness. Considered a key reference, this publication is an invaluable resource for supporting European social dialogue.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Eurofound advertisement

Ageing workforce
The evolution of working conditions in Europe

This episode of Eurofound Talks examines the evolving landscape of European working conditions, situated at the nexus of profound technological transformation.

Mary McCaughey speaks with Barbara Gerstenberger, Eurofound's Head of Unit for Working Life, who leverages insights from the 35-year history of the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS).

Listen to the episode for free. Also make sure to subscribe to Eurofound Talks so you don’t miss an episode!

LISTEN NOW

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

Spring Issues

The Summer issue of The Progressive Post is out!


It is time to take action and to forge a path towards a Socialist renewal.


European Socialists struggle to balance their responsibilities with the need to take bold positions and actions in the face of many major crises, while far-right political parties are increasingly gaining ground. Against this background, we offer European progressive forces food for thought on projecting themselves into the future.


Among this issue’s highlights, we discuss the transformative power of European Social Democracy, examine the far right’s efforts to redesign education systems to serve its own political agenda and highlight the growing threat of anti-gender movements to LGBTIQ+ rights – among other pressing topics.

READ THE MAGAZINE

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

WSI Report

WSI Minimum Wage Report 2025

The trend towards significant nominal minimum wage increases is continuing this year. In view of falling inflation rates, this translates into a sizeable increase in purchasing power for minimum wage earners in most European countries. The background to this is the implementation of the European Minimum Wage Directive, which has led to a reorientation of minimum wage policy in many countries and is thus boosting the dynamics of minimum wages. Most EU countries are now following the reference values for adequate minimum wages enshrined in the directive, which are 60% of the median wage or 50 % of the average wage. However, for Germany, a structural increase is still necessary to make progress towards an adequate minimum wage.

DOWNLOAD HERE

S&D Group in the European Parliament advertisement

Cohesion Policy

S&D Position Paper on Cohesion Policy post-2027: a resilient future for European territorial equity

Cohesion Policy aims to promote harmonious development and reduce economic, social and territorial disparities between the regions of the Union, and the backwardness of the least favoured regions with a particular focus on rural areas, areas affected by industrial transition and regions suffering from severe and permanent natural or demographic handicaps, such as outermost regions, regions with very low population density, islands, cross-border and mountain regions.

READ THE FULL POSITION PAPER HERE

Social Europe

Our Mission

Team

Article Submission

Advertisements

Membership

Social Europe Archives

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Miscellaneous

RSS Feed

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641