The fall of the Berlin wall

The Chessmen Museum owns chess games from times gone by and nations that no longer exist. A good example of this is the chess game from the former German Democratic Republic. The Fall of the Wall on November 9, 1989, meant the beginning of the end of the GDR. Director Ridder Dijkshoorn speaks about his experience of that eventful night.

“There aren´t many times when I am glued to the television screen and getting all emotional. I don´t care much for the FIFA World Cup or ice-skating. But on the 9th of November, 1989, I was watching TV the whole evening with tears in my eyes, witnessing how crowds of residents of East Berlin gathered at the Wall to gain access to West Berlin.”

“What had happened?? As you know, at the end of the Second World War, Europe was divided into two parts, with Germany and Berlin also being split in two: one half belonging to the ´Eastern Bloc´ and the other half belonging to the ´Free West´. Because many people tried to get from East to West, the Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to prevent them from crossing the border. Even after that many people still tried to reach the free West, losing their lives in the attempt.”

Communism starts to weaken
“In Europe, we had actually begun to get used to this situation, which was part of the Cold War. Russian leaders such as Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev and Andropov ruled firmly over Russia and the Eastern European countries, not allowing any freedom, which Hungary and Czechoslovakia experienced first-hand. Then all of a sudden, there was Gorbachev with his ´Glasnost´ and ´Perestrojka´ and everything started to change, not only in Russia but also in the Eastern European countries. Only the GDR (East Germany) ruled by the rigid Erich Honecker, wished to keep things as they were, until Honecker had to make room for Egon Krenz in October 1989, a young political party leader who realised it was no use maintaining the old situation. He wanted to introduce change, but had to make small concessions to try and save the communist soul of the GDR.”

“But Krenz was overtaken by all of the developments: the people of the GDR were fed up with communism and wanted freedom and to travel freely to the West. Many people took advantage of the holes that had fallen in the borders between the GDR and Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Everything gained momentum when the Politbüro (the executive organ) of the East German communist party SED resigned on November 8, 1989. The people began to gather in East Berlin and demanded free travel to the West.”

A peaceful revolution
“A press conference was held for journalists. Spokesman Schabowski said that the government was trying to come up with an arrangement that would allow free travelling between East and West. One journalist asked when this arrangement would be effective and Schabowski answered: ´immediately´. The people of East Berlin who were able to follow the press conference on the Western Berlin television couldn´t believe their ears and flocked to the Wall even more massively. The guards at the Wall were unaware of the latest developments though and tried to stop the masses. Fortunately, everyone kept calm and people weren´t being shot, which would have provoked an immense blood bath and unforeseeable political consequences.”

“It finally became clear that there was ´no stopping it´ and the border posts were opened. Lots of people then went from East Berlin to West Berlin to go shopping and return home with bags full of western goods. Under the leadership of West German Prime Minister Helmut Kohl, East and West Germany were reunited, though the ´Easties´ and ´Westies´ initially were a bit suspicious of each other, even though it had only been 44 years since their city had become divided.”

GDR memento at the museum
“The Chessmen Museum is home to a silver chess set that was made in the GDR. It is part of the G.M. Glotzbach collection, which is the collection the Chessmen Museum was able to acquire from Mr Glotzbach´s children after his death. Mr Glotzbach used to work at the (then) Wageningen College as a potato consultant and because of his work he frequently travelled abroad. He probably got this heroic-looking chess game during a trip to the GDR.”