The Kremlin Minutes "We Should Demolish the Wall Ourselves"
+++ Discussion of the situation in East Berlin, Nov. 3, 1989
Dieser Beitrag stammt aus dem SPIEGEL-Archiv. Warum ist das wichtig?
Kryuchkov: Tomorrow 500,000 people will take to the streets in Berlin and other cities
Gorbachev: Do you believe Krenz can contain himself? We will be unable to contain them (the East Germans) without the help of West Germany.
Shevardnadze: It would be better if we demolished the Wall ourselves.
Kryuchkov: It will be very difficult for the East Germans if we take it down.
Gorbachev: The West doesn't want German unification, but it does want us to prevent it with our hands. It wants to push us into a confrontation with West Germany -- in order to rule out the possibility of a "conspiracy" between the USSR and Germany.
We will act within a triangle, that is, including both West and East Germany -- but with complete openness.
