Editing Hans Modrow (section)

==Peaceful Revolution and premiership==
During the Peaceful Revolution of 1989, Modrow ordered thousands of [[Volkspolizei]], Stasi, [[Combat Groups of the Working Class]], and [[National People's Army]] troops to crush a demonstration at the [[Dresden Hauptbahnhof]] on 4–5 October. Some 1,300 people were arrested. In a top secret and encrypted [[telex]] to Honecker on 9 October, Modrow reported: "With the determined commitment of the comrades of the security organs, anti-state terrorist riots were suppressed".<ref name="focus">{{cite web |author=Gerhard Besier |url=https://www.focus.de/politik/deutschland/sed-pds-vom-ehrlichen-hans_aid_161613.html |title=SED/PDS Vom ehrlichen Hans |work=[[Focus (German magazine)|Focus]] |date=25 November 1996 |access-date=17 July 2019 |language=de |archive-date=17 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717005231/https://www.focus.de/politik/deutschland/sed-pds-vom-ehrlichen-hans_aid_161613.html |url-status=dead}}</ref>

When Honecker was toppled on 18 October, Gorbachev hoped that Modrow would replace him; [[Egon Krenz]] was selected instead.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sebetsyen|first=Victor|title=Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire|publisher=[[Pantheon Books]]|location=New York City |year=2009|isbn=978-0-375-42532-5|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/revolution1989fa00sebe}}</ref> <!--According to Modrow, Soviet General Secretary [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] asked Krenz to bring Modrow into the government. -->Following [[Willi Stoph]]'s resignation on 13 November, four days after fall of the [[Berlin Wall]], Modrow became Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Premier). On 1 December, the SED gave up its "[[leading role of the party|leading role]]," formally ending communist rule in East Germany. Krenz resigned two days later. With the SED Politburo, until then the top leadership body, in disarray, Modrow, as Premier and the top state (rather than party) official, and thus the only person with a viable claim to power outside the imploding SED structure, became leader of the country more or less by default.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wilke |first=Manfred |date=13 November 2013 |title=Sündenbock der Partei |trans-title=Party scapegoat |url=https://www.focus.de/politik/deutschland/suendenbock-der-partei-mauerfall_id_2168856.html |access-date=16 February 2023 |website=[[Focus (German magazine)|Focus]] |language=de |archive-date=17 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230217045248/https://www.focus.de/politik/deutschland/suendenbock-der-partei-mauerfall_id_2168856.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Wehner |first=Markus |date=16 April 2007 |title=Die Partei, die Partei, die hat niemals Schuld |language=de |trans-title=The party, the party, is never to blame |work=[[Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung]] |url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/sed-vergangenheit-die-partei-die-partei-die-hat-niemals-schuld-1436236.html |access-date=17 February 2023 |issn=0174-4909}}</ref>

Seeking to defuse growing pressure to dissolve the [[Ministry of State Security (East Germany)|Ministry of State Security]], Modrow arranged for its renaming to the "Office for National Security" (Amt für Nationale Sicherheit – AfNS) on 17 November. A second rebranding as the "Office for the Protection of the Constitution of the GDR" (Verfassungsschutz der DDR) failed due to public and opposition pressure; the AfNS/Stasi was disbanded on 13 January 1990.{{sfn|Friedheim|1995|p=168}} The Modrow government gave orders to destroy incriminating Stasi files.<ref name="focus"/>

On 7 December, Modrow's government agreed at the [[East German Round Table|Round Table]] to hold [[1990 East German general election|free elections]] in May 1990. Modrow and the Round Table agreed on 28 January to bring the elections forward to 18 March. By this time, the SED had added "[[Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany)|Party of Democratic Socialism]]" to its name; this became its sole name in February. Some of the left-wing Round Table groups opposed [[Helmut Kohl]]'s conservative [[Third Kohl cabinet|government]] in the West, and worked with Modrow to arrest the pace of unification with West Germany. With his authority as head of the regime rapidly waning, in February, he proposed a three-stage process that would create a neutral German Confederation and continued to oppose "rapid" reunification. Nonetheless, popular support was with the opposition in favor of merger with the West and Modrow's stance quickly became untenable.{{sfn|Friedheim|1995|pp=167–174}}

On 5 February, Modrow appointed eight opposition [[Minister without portfolio|ministers without portfolio]] to [[Modrow government|his cabinet]]. On 13 February, Modrow met with West German Chancellor [[Helmut Kohl]], asking for an emergency loan of 15&nbsp;billion [[Deutsche Mark|DM]] to stabilize the collapsing Eastern economy, which was rejected by Kohl.<ref>{{Cite news |author=Holger Schmale |url=https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/treffen-von-hans-modrow-und-helmut-kohl-1990-die-delegation-aus-ost-berlin-fuehlte-sich-gedemuetigt-3307722 |title=Treffen von Hans Modrow und Helmut Kohl 1990: Die Delegation aus Ost-Berlin fühlte sich gedemütigt |newspaper=Berliner Zeitung |date=12 February 2015 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Modrow remained premier until the formation of the [[De Maizière cabinet]] in April following [[1990 East German general election|elections in which the PDS placed third]].<ref name="Zur Person"/> The PDS had already ejected [[Erich Honecker|Honecker]], [[Egon Krenz|Krenz]], and other Communist-era leaders in February.<ref>{{Cite news |author=Stefan Reinecke |url=https://taz.de/PDS-Rauswurf-von-Egon-Krenz-1990/!5654863 |title=PDS-Rauswurf von Egon Krenz 1990|newspaper=die Tageszeitung |date=20 January 2020}}</ref>

<gallery widths="190px" heights="135px">
File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1989-1117-018, Hans Modrow.jpg|Modrow addressing the Volkskammer on 17 November 1989
File:KohlModrowMomperBrandenburgerTor.jpg|Modrow with West German Chancellor [[Helmut Kohl]] during the opening of the [[Brandenburg Gate]] on 22 December 1989
File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1990-0313-021, Demmin, PDS-Wahlkampfauftritt Hans Modrow.jpg|Modrow giving a speech at a rally on 13 March 1990
File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1990-0412-024, Berlin, Lothar de Maiziere und Modrow.jpg|Modrow congratulating his successor, [[Lothar de Maizière]], on his election as Minister-President
</gallery>