#30YEARSPEACEFULREVOLUTION
... and what DHL has to do with it
The Peaceful Revolution 1989: An event that went down in history, an event that changed Germany and the life of its people. An event that has influenced many DHL Hub Leipzig employees.
We asked colleagues to remember the times in Autumn 1989 and share their memories. Many have followed this call, telling us gripping, frightening and eventful stories.
Wilfried Grünert, 56 years old, works in sorting at DHL Hub Leipzig. He grew up in Leipzig and was part of the Nikolai Church Community. The Nikolai Church is the oldest and biggest cathedral in Leipzig and besides the Thomas Church the most popular cathedral of the city. He later volunteered as church council, caretaker or company craftsman.
On October 9, 1989 he continued his normal duties: setting up the candles, decorating the church with flowers and cleaning up the floor. In the afternoon he had some time to stroll around the city center and he recognized a „ghostly atmosphere“. At around 4.30 pm, the church was overcrowded. More than 3000 visitors crowded in to listen to the prayer of peace: „ Pastor Führer always found the right words on every occasion,“ Wilfried recalls. When the church doors reopened the circle around the Nikolai Church was full of thousands of people. The entire inner city circle ring was full of people forming a human chain. „There were chants like ‚No Violence‘ and ‚We are the people‘“, Wilfried continues. In the middle of it he was pushed forward by the crowd’s right next to the ‘Gewandhaus’. He noticed armed military, riot police and brigade groups. They all let the demonstrators pass by untouched. At that moment, he realized something was about to change, because "the balance of power had turned around," he says. Today, 30 years later, he looks back and summarizes: “Astonishment and gratefulness stay with me: wonder at the fact that such an inhomogeneous community, [...] has almost always done the right thing. Gratefulness that bloodshed and civil war had been spared. Nobody had the opportunity to exercise a peaceful revolution. But the majority have done the right thing.“ — Christiane Gehb
