9th October as a Civic Remembrance Day

9th October is a key date of the Peaceful Revolution. It was the day of decision. The state authorities posed an enormous threat yet they did not intimidate the protesters in Leipzig. The peaceful protest march of 70,000 people from Leipzig and all over Central Germany along the ring road represented the turning point in the events of the autumn of 1989. It was the day that changed Germany.

For this reason, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Peaceful Revolution in 2009, the city of Leipzig is turning the 9th October into an annual Civic Remembrance Day. This is not done to historicise remembrance but to incorporate 9th October as a “Day of Freedom” into the permanent memory of the city and to use it as an encouragement for forward-looking activities.