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| Central
Europe, January 1990 |
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| 01.1990 | AL | Albanian students demonstrate in Tirana by marching in silence. The Sigurimi, unprepared for such tactics, split the crowd up by attacking with rubber truncheons. |
| DDR | Egon Krenz is expelled from the PDS/SED. | |
| Week 1 | RO | Romania authorises the formation of political parties and organisations. Ceauºescu's programme of village destruction is halted. "Socialist Republic" is deleted from the state name. |
| 01.01.1990 | CS | Havel's New Year address to the Czechoslovak people includes the words: "My dear fellow citizens. For the past 40 years on this day you have heard my predecessors utter variations on the same theme: how our country is prospering .. Our.. to the totalitarian system .. None of us is merely a victim of it, because all of us helped to create it. As the supreme commander of the defence forces, I intend to guarantee that the defence capability of our state will never again be a pretext to thwart courageous peace initiatives .. People, your government has returned to you !" |
| DDR | Fifth session of the DDR Round Table. | |
| PL | Poland's big bang economic forms are initiated. | |
| RO | Ion Iliescu describes the economic situation
as disastrous, warning of "total social anarchy." He announces a partial
privatisation programme, abolishes the death penalty and announces the
disbanding of the Securitate. Their head, Ilulian Vlad and 2 deputy ministers
of the interior are arrested. Shevardnadze is expected in Bucharest on
Friday. PM Petre Roman denies a Libyan involvement in the revolution.
Roman's deputy, Kasimir Ionescu, says 60 000 died in the demonstrations
and fighting.
First trials before the courts |
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| RO,
HU |
Gyula Horn assures Romania of Hungary's economic aid. | |
| YU | Currency reform in Yugoslavia. The New Dinar is worth 10 000 old Dinars and pegged to the DM at 7:1 for a period of six months. Simultaneously devalued 8.2% | |
| 02.01.1990 | BG | Bulgarian Government and Communist Party officials hold talks with the umbrella Union of Democratic Forces. Petar Mladenov, reformist Communist party leader: "Let our whole society learn the alphabet of democracy." |
| CS,
DDR |
Havel states his opposition to a "wild" fusion of both German states, but does not rule out a united Germany while on his first foreign visit as President, to East Berlin. In this event, certain conditions would have to be met. He stated that no-one need fear a peaceful, democratic German state, be it as large as it wants. Size is not the issue, rather democratic consciousness and a democratic system. | |
| DDR | PM Modrow issues a step-by-step plan towards unification with the West and neutrality for Germany. FRG politicians do not accept this well. | |
| 03.01.1990 | BG | Day one of Bulgaria's round table talks. Opposition parties announce they have no ambitions for a grand coalition with the Communists. All "former totalitarian structures" are already discredited. CP statement: all reforms must remain "within the framework of Socialism." |
| DDR | Sixth Round Table session. Opposition
groups and parties give Modrow an ultimatum: if the government cannot prove
the disarmament of the former state security forces, then they will leave
the round table by 08.01.1990
6 groupings (Demokratischer Aufbruch, Demokratie Jetzt, das Initiative Frieden und Menschenrechte, Neues Forum, Sozialdemokratische Partei, Vereinigte Linke) join together to form a common list for Volkskammer elections, the "Wahlbündnis 90". |
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| 04.01.1990 | RO | Authorities announce an amnesty for political prisoners. |
| 05.01.1990 | DDR | Peter Koch, responsible for the Stasi dissolution, states that 85 000 employees had been working in the Ministry for State Security, in over 2 000 separate building complexes. |
| 06.01.1990 | PL | The Sejm renames Poland, dropping the "People's Republic" for "Republic." The constitutional leading role of the communist party is also removed. The state eagle regains his crown. |
| 07.01.1990 | ||
| 08.01.1990 | AL | Participants in demonstrations in Albania are hanged in public to terrify from more open protest. |
| DDR | First Montagsdemonstration of 1990 in Leipzig. The majority chant "Deutschland einig Vaterland." | |
| 09.01.1990 | COMECON conference in Sofia. | |
| 10.01.1990 | ||
| 11.01.1990 | DDR | Modrow's government statement to the Volkskammer. Parliament decides to permit the participation of foreign capital in the creation of new companies. The travel law is passed. |
| 12.01.1990 | CS | The Czechoslovak round table announces free legislative elections for June. |
| DDR | Private ownership of the means of production is permitted in the DDR. | |
| 13.01.1990 | DDR | The SDP renames itself SPD. |
| 14.01.1990 | ||
| 15.01.1990 | DDR | Seventh Round Table session in the DDR.
Modrow names Peter Steglich as the new government representative to replace
Peter Koch for the Stasi dissolution.
In the evening, 2 000 storm the Ministry of State Security headquarters in Normannenstraße, home of the Stasi, and demand its immediate disbanding. In other cities, 500 000 in total protest against the restoration policies of the SED and its security apparatus. |
| 16.01.1990 | ||
| 17.01.1990 | ||
| 18.01.1990 | ||
| 19.01.1990 | ||
| 20.01.1990 | DDR | Founding of the Deutsche Soziale Union, DSU, in DDR from around twelve christian, conservative groups and parties. |
| 21.01.1990 | YU | The 14th (extraordinary) Congress
of the League of Communists opens, officially to discuss a policy document
"For A New Outline of Democratic Socialism for Yugoslavia." It votes to
end the party's constitutional leading role by an overwhelming majority.
Cyril Ribièiæ, leader of the Slovenian League of Communists, outlines proposals for a new, 8-member structure, with each entity free to make its own reforms at its own pace. Milo±eviæ rejects this straight away. |
| 22.01.1990 | YU,
SLO |
Slovene delegation walks out of the 14th Congress. |
| 23.01.1990 | DDR | First session of the German-German economics commission in East Berlin. |
| YU | Congress of the League of Communists adjourns indefinitely in Yugoslavia. PM Markoviæ, addressing the nation, states that Yugoslavia will "continue to function with or without the League of Communists of Yugoslavia and its decisions will not affect government plans." | |
| 24.01.1990 | ||
| 25.01.1990 | DDR | Council of Ministers permits full freedom of profession for craftworkers, traders and services. |
| 26.01.1990 | ||
| 27.01.1990 | DDR | Constituent party congress of "Deutsche Forumpartei (DFP)". Neues Forum constitutes itself as an association, but wishes to remain a citizens' movement. |
| 28.01.190 | DDR | The date of Volkskammer elections is brought forward from 06.05 to 18.03.1990 |
| 29.01.1990 | ||
| 30.01.1990 | CS | The Communist Party in Czechoslovakia loses its absolute majority in parliament. |
| DDR | Hans Modrow visits Moscow. Gorbachev approves plans for the Vertragsgemeinschaft with the FRG. | |
| PL | Former United Polish Workers Party (PVAP) passes a new social democratic statute. | |
| 30-
31.01.90 |
YU | Protesters outside the federal parliament in Belgrade demand the sending of JNA troops to Kosovo to restore order. |
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