Heiligendamm ( German pronunciation: [ˈhaɪlɪɡəndam] ) is a German seaside resort founded in 1793.
75-486: It is the oldest seaside spa in continental Europe. Heiligendamm is part of the town Bad Doberan in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and historically belongs to Mecklenburg . The cluster of resort architecture mansions and spa buildings at the seafront are reminders of the glory days when this part of the Baltic Sea was one of the playgrounds of Europe's aristocracy. Due to the classicist white buildings lining
150-520: A famous building of the ensemble was demolished. The mansion next to the Grand Hotel was reconstructed until 2011, though. Renovations of other mansions are undergoing or planned. On July 13, 2006, United States President George W. Bush stayed at Heiligendamm while on a state visit to see German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Stralsund . On June 6 to 8, 2007, Heiligendamm's Grand Hotel hosted
225-683: A healing spa. In 2005 the new town hall was inaugurated. On 13 July 2006 the US president, George W. Bush , stayed overnight in Heiligendamm. From 6 to 8 June 2007, the G8 Summit took place in Heiligendamm, which included participation by Stephen Harper (Canada), Nicolas Sarkozy (France), Angela Merkel (Germany), Romano Prodi (Italy), Shinzō Abe (Japan), Vladimir Putin (Russia), George W. Bush (USA), Tony Blair (UK) and José Manuel Durão Barroso (EU). The classicist buildings characterizing
300-616: A net exporter of technology. Its shared language, cultural and personal connections with West Germany helped to boost its economy. Its trade with West Germany was 50 to 60 percent of its total trade with Western nations. Although it was hailed as a communist success story, by the late 1980s its economic growth had slowed to less than 1% per year and the government's economic goals were not reached. It had to deal with increasing global competition with run-down industrial infrastructure, and shortages of labour and raw materials. From 1986, its products were often seen as inferior and orders delivered to
375-621: A real democracy, the people determine how the country is governed. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, in demonstrations calling for German reunification, this morphed into "Wir sind ein Volk" ("We are one people"). Churches were often pivotal in the demonstrations. The Leipzig "Monday demonstrations" stemmed from Monday prayer meetings at the Nikolaikirche (Church of St Nicholas). Prayers were said for people who had been mistreated by
450-511: A year, the sale of the magazine was reinstated, and censored editions of the issues from the preceding year were made available in a special edition for East Germans. East Germany's economy was stronger than other Eastern Bloc countries and it was the most successful of the CMEA countries. It was the Soviet Union's most important trading partner, although it was very much subordinate. It was
525-407: Is a place name that probably derives from a Slavic Old Polabian personal name, meaning "good" ( dobry ). According to legend, the name Doberan originated when the monastery was being built. It is said that a passing deer startled several swans, who shrieked with terror " dobre dobre ". Whereupon the monks called the place Doberan. Even today, a deer and swan adorn the arms of the town. Bad Doberan
600-422: Is a town in the district of Rostock , Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , Germany. It was the capital of the former district of Bad Doberan . In 2012, its population was 11,427. Bad Doberan is situated just 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) west of Rostock 's city centre and is therefore part of one of the most developed regions in the north-eastern part of Germany. The town nestles between beech tree forests just 6 km from
675-515: Is also home to the " Molli ", a historic 19th century steam railway that is a tourist attraction as well as a daily commuter service in the town and to the nearby beach village. The town hosts an annual festival celebrating the music of Frank Zappa , the Zappanale , and also displays a bust of the artist. Every year the Zappanale music festival takes place in Bad Doberan. Bad Doberan
750-509: The 33rd summit of G8 leaders. During this time, thousands of anticapitalist activists from around the world blocked the roads to Heiligendamm and an estimated 25,000 anti-globalization protesters demonstrated in nearby Rostock . In July 2013, the Grand Hotel Heiligendamm was bought by Hannover -based accountant Paul Morzynski, who intends to carefully extend and reorganize the hotel. The resort architecture near
825-639: The Baltic Sea and is one of the earliest German settlements in Mecklenburg. Today the town is a very popular bathing resort, thanks to Heiligendamm , a district of Bad Doberan situated directly at the cliff line of the Baltic. Historically, Doberan used to be the summer residence for the Mecklenburg Dukes who resided in Schwerin , and for their entourage. The name Doberan, originally Dobran ,
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#1732772909659900-729: The Daily Mirror of August 19, 1989: “Habsburg distributed leaflets far into Poland, on which the East German holidaymakers were invited to a picnic. When they came to the picnic, they were given gifts, food and Deutsche Mark, and then they were persuaded to come to the West.” But with the mass exodus at the Pan-European Picnic, the subsequent hesitant behavior of the Socialist Unity Party of East Germany and
975-567: The German reunification in 1989/1990, a group of investors bought most of the buildings and undertook a major programme of refurbishment. A new company, the Kempinski Grand Hotel , opened in spring of 2003 – it used six historical buildings including the historical Kurhaus at the beach of Heiligendamm. The development has led to some conflict with residents, as main streets and cycle paths have been removed or rerouted. Also again
1050-556: The Nazi Party had an absolute majority in the town council assembly, and published articles still exist from that time, so it was generally accepted that Hitler was really honoured in this way. With the town hosting the G8 summit in June 2007, it was decided on April 2 that Hitler should be removed from the town's roll of honour, although normally an honorary citizenship of this kind ends upon
1125-633: The Prague Spring (1968) – were harshly put down by Soviet troops. The Soviet reaction to the Polish crisis of 1980–1981 was already one of non-intervention. Having initiated a policy of glasnost (openness) and emphasized the need for perestroika (economic restructuring), in July 1989, Gorbachev permitted the Warsaw Pact nations to initiate their own political and economic reforms within
1200-704: The SED , supported the crackdown by the Chinese authorities. The German People's Congress proclaimed it was "a defeat for counter-revolutionary forces." Sixteen civil rights activists in East Berlin were arrested for protesting against the actions of the Chinese government. However, growing political agitation in East Germany was part of wider liberalisation within the Soviet bloc resulting from Gorbachev's reforms –
1275-600: The Soviet sphere of influence and other shifts to the Soviet Union's foreign policy. In East Germany—the former German Democratic Republic (GDR or DDR)—the peaceful revolution marks the end of the ruling by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) in 1989 and the transition to a parliamentary system . This peaceful transition later enabled the German reunification in October 1990. The peaceful revolution
1350-520: The Thirty Years' War . The status of Doberan was considerably enhanced the 18th century when the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin , Frederick Francis I chose it for the recreation and entertainment of the ducal family, the Mecklenburg nobility and, later, some of the wealthy bourgeoisie too. From England it been realised that swimming in the sea was especially beneficial to health. As a result, in 1793,
1425-464: The historic town centre and the monastery of Bad Doberan were thoroughly renovated as part of its urban development . In 1994, the rural district ( Landkreis ) of Bad Doberan was formed from the districts of Bad Doberan and Rostock Land and Amt Schwaan . The rehabilitation clinic of Moorbad was opened in 1996 and the Median Clinic, Heiligendamm, in 1997. Since 2000, Bad Doberan has been
1500-473: The 40th anniversary of the founding of the GDR, were marred by demonstrations. There had been protests in the preceding weeks, and Hungary and Czechoslovakia now allowed East Germans to travel freely across their borders to the west. From 1 to 8 October, 14 "Freedom Trains" took 12,000 East German refugees from Prague across GDR territory to West Germany, with cheers from East Germans as they passed. All were signs that
1575-462: The 8,000 armed security forces present to tackle. "The message from Leipzig soared over the entire country: The masses had the power to topple the regime peacefully". When numerous East Germans were arrested for protesting the 40th-anniversary celebrations, many of them sang " The Internationale " in police custody to imply that they, rather than their captors, were the real revolutionaries. On 18 October, only eleven days after these events, Honecker
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#17327729096591650-525: The Austrian side of the border. The opening of the border gate then set in motion a peaceful chain reaction, at the end of which there was no longer a GDR or an Iron Curtain , and the Eastern Bloc had disintegrated. The idea of opening the border at a ceremony came from Otto von Habsburg and was brought up by him to Miklós Németh , the then Hungarian Prime Minister, who promoted the idea. The border
1725-712: The Berlin demonstration. On the 28 October 1989, to try to calm the protests, an amnesty was issued for political prisoners being held for border crimes or for participation in the weekly demonstrations. The first wave of demonstrations ended in March 1990 due to the forthcoming free parliamentary elections on 18 March . On 8 October 1989, Erich Mielke and Erich Honecker ordered the Stasi to implement "Plan X"—the SED's plan to arrest and indefinitely detain 85,939 East Germans during
1800-920: The Eastern bloc states had strongly isolationist policies and they developed complex systems and infrastructure to restrict their citizens travel beyond the Iron Curtain . About 3.5 million people left the GDR for West Germany before the building of the Berlin Wall and the Inner German border in August 1961. After that it was still possible to leave legally, by applying for and receiving an Ausreiseantrag [ de ] (permission to leave). Between 1961 and 1988 about 383,000 people left this way. The government also forcibly exiled people, and political prisoners and their families could be ransomed to
1875-525: The GDR government of Prime Minister Hans Modrow was influenced by the Central Round Table, which put into action the dissolution of the Stasi and prepared free elections. After an election win for a coalition of parties that supported German reunification, the political path within the GDR was clear. Despite previously hoping to rehabilitate their nation , East German activists eventually supported reunification. East German citizens welcomed
1950-618: The German reunification following 40 years of repression and inaction by the East German elites. Significant events: A fundamental shift in Soviet policy toward the Eastern Bloc nations under Mikhail Gorbachev in the late 1980s was the prelude to widespread demonstrations against the Socialist Unity Party , which had ruled East Germany since the country was founded on 7 October 1949. Previous uprisings – East Germany (1953) , Czechoslovakia (1953) , Poland (1956) , Hungary (1956) and
2025-599: The Hungarian government began dismantling its border fence with Austria . This encouraged East German citizens to start travelling to Hungary in the hope of being able to get to the west more easily, not only over the border, but also by going to the West German embassy in Budapest and seeking asylum. On 27 June 1989 the Hungarian foreign minister Gyula Horn and his Austrian counterpart Alois Mock symbolically cut
2100-554: The Iron Curtain. In particular, it was examined whether Moscow would give the Soviet troops stationed in Hungary the command to intervene. The West German government was already prepared for the mass escape, and trains and coaches were ready to take the escapees from Vienna to Giessen , near Frankfurt , where a refugee reception centre was waiting for the new arrivals. After the Pan-European Picnic, Erich Honecker dictated to
2175-636: The Leipzig demonstrations on 11 September and going through until 2 October. After the demonstration on 9 October, in which the security forces were completely outnumbered by the 70,000 protesters and unable to hinder them, the demonstrations in Leipzig and elsewhere remained relatively peaceful. The largest gatherings were the Alexanderplatz demonstration in Berlin on 4 November 1989, and 11 November in Leipzig, each with an estimated 500,000 protesters, although there are claims that up to 750,000 were at
2250-414: The SED leadership was already increasingly isolated within the Eastern Bloc when it permitted the opening of the border at the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989. Through a change in leadership and a willingness to negotiate, the SED attempted to win back the political initiative, but control of the situation increasingly lay with the West German government under Chancellor Helmut Kohl . From December 1989,
2325-454: The Soviet Union were increasingly rejected due to poor quality control standards. Other communist countries were pursuing market-led reforms, but the government of Erich Honecker rejected such changes, claiming they contradicted Marxist ideology. More than one-fifth of the government's income was spent on subsidising the costs of housing, food and basic goods. Poor sewerage and industrial infrastructure led to major environmental problems. Half
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2400-610: The Status of Refugees on 14 March 1989, refused. From 10 September 1989, the Hungarian government allowed all East Germans to cross the Austro-Hungarian border without hindrance. Tens of thousands left and many also travelled to Czechoslovakia, whose government also gave in to demands to open its western border. The East German government gave in to pressure to allow special trains carrying East German refugees from Prague to West Germany, to travel via East Germany. Between
2475-528: The West German government , although those involved had no choice in the matter. Between 1964 and 1989 a recorded 33,755 political prisoners and about 250,000 of their relatives and others were "sold" to West Germany. Most of those who tried to escape illegally after 1961 travelled to other Eastern Bloc countries, as they believed their western borders were easier to breach than East Germany's. Around 7,000–8,000 East Germans escaped through Bulgaria , Hungary and Czechoslovakia between 1961 and 1988. However,
2550-412: The anniversary, which Mikhail Gorbachev attended, would not run smoothly. Although there were almost 500,000 Soviet troops stationed in the GDR, they were not going to help suppress any demonstrations. It later emerged that Gorbachev had ordered that the troops were to stay in their barracks during the commemorations. As the reformist Gorbachev was paraded along Unter den Linden , cheering crowds lining
2625-557: The beach promenade, the town is also known as the "White Pearl" ( German : Weiße Perle ) or the "White Town by the Sea" ( German : Die weiße Stadt am Meer ). Today, the area by the sea is occupied by a five-star hotel, the Grand Hotel Heiligendamm . A narrow-gauge steam railway, known as the " Molli ", links Heiligendamm with Kühlungsborn and Bad Doberan. Heiligendamm was developed as an elegant meeting place for
2700-641: The beaches of Heiligendamm, consisting of classicist and historicist mansions and spa buildings, is part of a unique heritage, as the first such buildings of the European continent can be seen here. The area of the Grand Hotel is partly accessible to visitors, but should be experienced respectfully to not disturb the hotel guests. The narrow gauge railway known as Bäderbahn Molli ("Molli Resort Railway") runs through Heiligendamm from Kühlungsborn to Bad Doberan. The line between Bad Doberan and Heiligendamm
2775-427: The border fence just outside Sopron . After the demolition of the border facilities, the patrols of the heavily armed Hungarian border guards were tightened and there was still a shooting order. On 10 August 1989, Hungary announced it would be further relaxing its handling of first-time East German border offenders, which had already become lenient. It stamped the passports of people caught trying to illegally cross
2850-428: The border, rather than arresting them or reporting them to the East German authorities; first-time offenders would just get a warning, and no stamp. It also announced a proposal to downgrade illegal border crossing from a crime to a misdemeanour. The Pan-European Picnic at the Austro-Hungarian border followed on 19 August 1989. This was a celebration of more open relationships between east and west, near Sopron, but on
2925-611: The centre of the town. The town earned the status of a resort and the prefix Bad in 1921 ("Bad" means "spa" or "resort" and is a common prefix in Germany). In August 1932, Adolf Hitler was granted an honorary citizenship; Bad Doberan was the first town in Germany to do so. In fact, as the certificate was lost, there was disagreement for several years as to whether he had been granted honorary citizenship or not. However, in Spring 1932
3000-704: The centres of Bad Doberan and Heiligendamm were all built between 1801 and 1836 by the architect, Carl Theodor Severin. However, the most famous building is the Doberan Minster ( Doberaner Münster , 1368), which was once the church of Doberan Abbey , and is one of the most impressive examples of Brick Gothic architecture in the Baltic Sea region. It is the most important religious sight on the European Route of Brick Gothic . The monumental grave of King Albert of Sweden can be found there. Bad Doberan
3075-606: The country was not as isolated as China. Although Gorbachev visited Beijing in May 1989 to normalize Sino-Soviet relations, and the Chinese people were enthusiastic about his ideas, he had no influence with the Chinese government. Rather than stifle the East Germans' protests, the Tiananmen Square demonstration was further inspiration for their desire to instigate change. Celebrations for Republic Day on 7 October 1989,
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3150-672: The country's domestic sewage was untreated, as was most industrial waste. Over a third of all East Germany's rivers, and almost a third of its reservoirs and half of its lakes were severely polluted. Its forests were damaged by sulphur dioxide and air pollution in cities was a problem. Protests about these environmental problems played a large part in the Peaceful Revolution. Workers in East Germany earned more than those in other communist countries and they had better housing than most of them. But East German workers compared themselves with West Germans, who were much better off, which
3225-557: The country. Other new political organisations including Democratic Awakening , United Left , and the Socialist Democratic Party formed. They all had similar aims, wanting greater democracy and environmental reforms. East Germans could see news about the Tiananmen Square democracy demonstration between April and June 1989 on West German television broadcasts. When the Chinese regime brutally crushed
3300-542: The critically acclaimed Chinese-style pavilions, including the gem of garden architecture, the so-called Kamp . The prince's gratitude to the builder who shaped the appearance of Doberan so much, was thin; Severin died in poverty and oblivion in Bad Doberan, where he is buried at an unknown location. The heyday (1793: 900, 1840, 3,000, 1870: 4,000 inhabitants) only lasted a few decades. Gradually Heiligendamm evolved, once just an appendage of Doberan's, into an independent resort, and around Doberan it became quiet again. Neither
3375-460: The death of the person involved. On June 12, 2011, a document surfaced that most likely points to Rosenkopf as the first German town to grant Adolf Hitler honorary citizenship (July 22, 1932), not Bad Doberan. From about 1965 to 1985 the large residential areas of Buchenberg, with 1,049 homes, and Kammerhof with 589 homes, were built in Plattenbau style. After the end of the GDR in 1990,
3450-400: The demonstration on 3–4 June, several hundred and possibly several thousand protesters were killed. This caused concern for the nascent East German protest movement, that had demonstrated against electoral fraud in May. "We too feared the possibility of a 'Chinese solution,'" said Pastor Christian Fuehrer of the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig. The Neues Deutschland , the official newspaper of
3525-475: The development of the village of Doberan. In addition to the monastery, there was a craftsman's village, the Kammerhof (the old monastery farm), two pubs, a brickworks, a blacksmith and several cottagers ( Kötter ). It changed little after the monastery was transferred in 1552 to the sovereign. A ducal office was established in the monastery, and a mill and hunter's lodge appeared. Doberan suffered badly in
3600-633: The duke bathed on the advice of his Rostock physician, Samuel Gottlieb Vogel , at the Heiliger Damm in the Baltic Sea, marking the birth of the first German seaside resort, Heiligendamm . The bathers stayed in Doberan and played on slot machines (the ducal resort coffers collected 30,000 thalers of royalties from Doberan's casinos ), dancing, and horse racing (probably the first horse race in Germany took place here on 10 August 1822). Renowned architects, such as Carl Theodor Severin , students of
3675-423: The election, opposition activists called for it to be boycotted, and distributed a leaflet criticising Erich Honecker's regime. Nevertheless, the result of the election was proclaimed as 98.5 percent "Yes". Clear evidence of electoral fraud was smuggled to the West German media. When this information was broadcast, it was picked up in East Germany, instigating protests. Citizens demanded their legal right to observe
3750-512: The first and eighth of October 1989, 14 so-called "Freedom Trains" (German: Flüchtlingszüge aus Prag [ de ] ) carried a total of 12,000 people to Hof , in Bavaria. Large crowds gathered to cheer the trains as they passed. As a result of new hopes inspired by the mass exodus of East Germans via Hungary, several opposition groups formed in Autumn 1989, with the aim of bringing about
3825-410: The granting of town rights to Doberan in 1879 (motto: Hirsch, crook and swan, are the arms of Doberan) nor the construction of the railway line from Rostock via Bad Doberan to Wismar in 1883/84, nor the establishment of a narrow gauge steam railway between 1886 and 1910 altered the situation much. The railway, known locally as Molli still runs today via Heiligendamm to Kühlungsborn , passing through
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#17327729096593900-407: The list. However, before the 7 May 1989 election there were open signs of citizens' dissatisfaction with the government and the SED was concerned that there could be a significant number of "No" votes. The number of applications for an Ausreiseantrag (permission to leave the country) had increased and there was discontent about housing conditions and shortages of basic products. In the weeks before
3975-403: The majority of attempts were thwarted and those caught were arrested and sent back to face the East German legal system. Some were also shot and killed by border guards. The Hungarian leader, János Kádár , retired on 22 May 1988 and other political parties were formed which challenged the old socialist order in Hungary, leading to a period of liberalisation. Almost a year later, on 2 May 1989,
4050-527: The nobility and high society. Among its most prominent guests were the German Emperors . Its founder and first guest in 1793 was the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg Friedrich Franz I ; he made the resort fashionable. Between 1793 and 1870, Johann Christoph, Heinrich von Seydwitz, Carl Theodor Severin , and Gustav Adolph Demmler created a veritable Gesamtkunstwerk for bathing and lodging. Heiligendamm
4125-471: The non-intervention of the Soviet Union broke the dams. About 100,000 East Germans then travelled to Hungary, hoping to also get across the border. Many people camped in the garden of the West German embassy in Budapest, in parks and around the border areas. Although the East German government asked for these people to be deported back to the GDR, Hungary, which had signed the 1951 Convention Relating to
4200-473: The planned picnic was made by posters and flyers among the GDR holidaymakers in Hungary. The Austrian branch of the Paneuropean Union , which was then headed by Karl von Habsburg , distributed thousands of brochures inviting them to a picnic near the border at Sopron. Habsburg and Imre Pozsgay saw the event also as an opportunity to test Mikhail Gorbachev ’s reaction to an opening of the border on
4275-475: The reforms, by 1988 relations had soured between Gorbachev and Honecker, although the relationship of KGB and the Stasi was still close. In November 1988, the distribution of the Soviet monthly magazine Sputnik , was prohibited in East Germany because its new open political criticisms annoyed upper circles of the GDR leadership. This caused a lot of resentment and helped to activate the opposition movement. After
4350-575: The same sorts of reforms in the GDR that had been instituted in Poland and Hungary. The largest of these was the New Forum (German: Neues Forum ). It was founded by the artist Bärbel Bohley along with Jens Reich and Jutta Seidel . It had over 200,000 members within a few weeks of being set up. On 20 September 1989 it applied to field candidates in the March 1990 general election. New Forum acted as an umbrella organisation for activist groups across
4425-429: The state authorities, so the meetings took on a political character. The numbers attending grew and on 4 September 1989, it became a demonstration of over 1000 people in front of the church. The Stasi arrived to break it up, taking some demonstrators away in trucks. The demonstrations became a regular weekly event in Leipzig and around the country, with tens of thousands joining in. There were mass arrests and beatings at
4500-594: The street called out "Gorbi, Gorbi," and "Gorbi, help us." However, there were still fears of a Tiananmen Square-style crackdown, as on 2 October, the SED party official Egon Krenz was in Beijing , at the anniversary of the founding of People's Republic of China . There, he said, "In the struggles of our time, the GDR and China stand side by side." On 7 October, a candelight demonstration with 1,500 protesters around Gethsemane Church in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin
4575-675: The terms of the treaty. The policy of non-interference in Soviet Bloc countries' internal affairs was made official with Gorbachev's statement on 26 October 1989 that the "Soviet Union has no moral or political right to interfere in the affairs of its East European neighbors". This was dubbed the Sinatra Doctrine , by Gorbachev's spokesman Gennadi Gerasimov who joked "You know the Frank Sinatra song, 'I Did It My Way'? Hungary and Poland are doing it their way." Following
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#17327729096594650-408: The two old masters of Classicist architecture, Carl Gotthard Langhans and Friedrich Gilly , and Johann Christoph von Seydewitz built in rapid succession in the pure Classicist style: the guest house ( Logierhaus ), the parlour building ( Salongebäude ) with its prestigious ballroom in the Empire style , the Prince's Palace ( Prinzenpalais ), the Stahlbad bathing house, several town houses and
4725-410: The vote count. Election monitors from churches and other groups showed the figures had been falsified. About 10 percent of voters had put a line through every name on the list, indicating a "No" vote, and about 10 percent of the electorate had not voted at all. After the initial protests on 7 May, there were demonstrations on the seventh of every month in Alexanderplatz in Berlin. The Soviet Union and
4800-416: The week. In Erfurt , for example, they happened on Thursdays. The first wave of these was from 4 September 1989 to March 1990. They continued sporadically until 1991. The protesters called for an open border with West Germany, genuine democracy, and greater human rights and environmental protections. The most noted slogan protesters shouted was "Wir sind das Volk" ("We are the people"), meaning that in
4875-424: Was always regarded as the most elegant seaside resort in Germany. Nobility from throughout Europe used it as a summer getaway well into the 20th century. After the Second World War , the buildings of Heiligendamm were used as sanatoria and recovery ward. When Mecklenburg became part of the communist GDR , some of Heiligendamm's famous buildings were demolished and replaced by more utilitarian structures. After
4950-443: Was another cause of dissatisfaction. In practice, there was no real choice in GDR elections, which consisted of citizens voting to approve a pre-selected list of National Front candidates. The National Front was, in theory, an alliance of political parties, but they were all controlled by the SED party, which controlled the Volkskammer , the East German parliament. The results of elections were generally about 99% "Yes" in favour of
5025-415: Was built in 1886. The Protestant Forest Church ( Evangelische Waldkirche ) was renovated after die Wende , the Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart ( Herz-Jesu-Kapelle ) is close by. Heiligendamm also has a 200-metre-long pier into the Baltic Sea that allows great views of the White Pearl Mansions at the beach. Bad Doberan Bad Doberan ( German pronunciation: [baːt dobəˈʁaːn] )
5100-431: Was crushed by security forces, who beat people up and made around 500 arrests. Other protests outside the Palace of the Republic were also brutally repressed. There were protests throughout the country, the most organised being three consecutive demonstrations in Saxony on 7, 8 and 9 October in Plauen , Dresden and Leipzig respectively. In Leipzig, there was no violence, as the 70,000 participants were too many for
5175-474: Was documented in 1177 as villa Slavica Doberan , but as early as 1171 Cistercian monks from Amelungsborn Abbey in the Weser Uplands founded a monastery in the Althof three kilometres southeast of the town, now a suburb of Bad Doberan. In 1179, these monasteries were largely destroyed in a Slavic uprising. Seven years later, the Cistercians made a second attempt to found a monastery on the site of today's abbey. The Romanesque abbey church, dedicated in 1232,
5250-406: Was marked by nonviolent initiatives and demonstrations. The GDR's lack of competitiveness in the global market economy, as well as its sharply rising national debt, hastened the destabilization of the SED's one-party state , similar to destabilization of such regimes in other Eastern Bloc countries. Because of its hostile response to the reforms implemented within its "socialist brother lands",
5325-444: Was one of the first cities that appointed Adolf Hitler in August 1932 an honorary citizen. On 2 April 2007, the city council formally withdrew his honorary citizenship. Die Wende [REDACTED] Opposition [REDACTED] Government The Peaceful Revolution ( German : Friedliche Revolution ) – also, in German called Die Wende ( German pronunciation: [diː ˈvɛndə] , "the turning point") –
5400-458: Was one of the peaceful revolutions of 1989 at the peak of the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in the late 1980s. A process of sociopolitical change that led to, among other openings, the opening of their borders to the Western world . These events were precipited by Solidarity's peaceful revolution in Poland and enabled by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev 's decision to abandon intervention
5475-447: Was removed as head of the party and the state and was replaced by Egon Krenz. In addition to the GDR 40th anniversary demonstrations and the protests against electoral fraud, from September 1989 there were regular weekly pro-democracy demonstrations in towns and cities across the country. They are referred to as "Monday demonstrations" as that was the day they occurred in Leipzig, where they started, but they were staged on several days of
5550-546: Was replaced by a high Gothic church after the fire of 1291, the construction of which probably began in 1295, with the remaining parts of the Romanesque church being incorporated into the new building. The Gothic church was consecrated in 1368. The Doberan Abbey became very rich due to its economic activities is and had a large estate. Until the dissolution of the monasteries during the Reformation in 1552, it shaped
5625-664: Was temporarily opened at 3 p.m., and 700–900 East Germans, who had travelled there after being tipped off, rushed across, without intervention from Hungarian border guards. It was the largest escape movement from East Germany since the Berlin Wall was built in 1961. The local organization in Sopron took over the Hungarian Democratic Forum, the other contacts were made via Habsburg and the Hungarian Minister of State Imre Pozsgay . Extensive advertising for
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