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| 1988, May |
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| The Communist Party's renunciation of one-party rule in Hungary and the subsequent opening of the Hungarian-Austrian border led thousands of East Germans to pour into Hungary before going on to West Germany. | 1 |
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| 1989, Spring |
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| Throughout the spring, the Honecker regime expressed open hostility toward Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev's reform movement. | 2 |
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| Sept |
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| Despite Gorbachev's requests for political and economic reforms, the Honecker regime resisted, insisting that change was unnecessary. Popular opposition to the Communist government began to mount very quickly. In the five months following September 1989, party membership shrank from 2.3 million to 890,000. Thousands of East Germans either burned or sent back their party booklets. | 3 |
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| Oct. 6–7 |
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| Soviet president Gorbachev's visit to East Germany for its fortieth anniversary acted as the catalyst for the resignation on Oct. 18 of Erich Honecker, who had been in power for 18 years. Egon Krenz was elected to succeed him. | 4 |
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| Nov. 5 |
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| As popular discontent against Communist rule mounted, so did the exodus to West Germany. On the weekend of Nov. 5, 10,000 East Germans left for the West via Czechoslovakia. | 5 |
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| Nov. 9 |
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| A revolutionary atmosphere took hold in East Berlin. Acting independently, some Politburo members authorized that a few border crossings to West Berlin be opened for a limited time. Thousands of East Germans streamed to the Wall, and local authorities found it impossible to stem the tide. The Berlin Wall was broken open, and East Germany opened its borders to West Germany. The Wall was torn down in the following months. | 6 |
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| Nov.–Dec |
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| The Communist government and the Politburo resigned; the Communist Party renounced its leading role. | 7 |
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