1989 THE FINAL CURTAIN in English Language

The pace of the year 1989 was extraordinarily intensive – as though the whole breakthrough in freedom for Eastern and Central Europe had to take place within the space of that year. In January, the pending changes to the system were little more than a glimmer of hope. By December, the new, independent order was a reality in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia; at the same time in the GDR, Bulgaria, Romania and the Baltic Republics of the USSR, the vision of changes to the existing system were already deeply rooted.