In the summer of 1989, there was a state of emergency at Marienfelde Refugee Centre. The new arrivals had to take waiting numbers from orange machines and be patient. There were hardly any beds left. Even in the staff offices there were bunk beds; office work was now done in quickly erected tents. One refugee recalls: "For me, it was indeed not an emergency refugee centre but a neat housing complex, crowded with people, but it was a pleasant place of shelter."
People had been running away from the GDR already before the fall of the Wall on November 9, 1989. The only legal way out of the country was to officially apply for an exit visa. Applicants often had to wait for years, were monitored, discriminated against and were often subjected to vehement attempts to convince them to withdraw their application. In 1989, the GDR authorities approved an unusually large amount of departures. The state party SED hoped to get rid of the dissatisfied and thus consolidate its position of power. Instead, those fleeing made the country’s general crisis visible.
Until the autumn of 1989, 27,000 people from the GDR came to West Berlin. Since the Federal Republic considered them to be its own citizens, they were entitled to state support, for example, in the form of accommodation or social benefits. They shared the scarce space with thousands of people of German descent from Poland, Romania or the Soviet Union. From September 1989 onwards, they were joined by those from the GDR who had managed to flee to the West via Hungary and Czechoslovakia. On November 9, the Wall fell and tens of thousands of East Germans celebrated in West Berlin. Most returned home after a few blissful hours. Some, however, feared that the borders would soon close again and submitted applications for admission in Marienfelde. There were so many that on November 10 the reception centre rented a factory building in addition to the residential containers and gymnasiums.
In the Federal Republic, there were also critical voices. Why did so many East Germans want to go to the West when they could now enjoy freedom to travel and hope for democracy? Many, however, did not trust the changes in their country and they wanted to finally live in freedom. The federal government stuck to its course. And so, the people leaving the country contributed to the SED regime losing further power. It was not until after the free elections in March 1990, that significantly fewer people left the GDR again. On October 3, the two German states became one. The "vote with the feet" against SED rule, reinforced by West Germany’s willingness to welcome people from the GDR, paved the way for unification.
