German Embassy to mark 30th anniversary of GDR exodus via Prague

The German Embassy in Prague this Saturday will mark the 30th anniversary of the mass influx of East Germans to the Czech capital in the early autumn of the revolutionary year of 1989.

Thousands of citizens of the former GDR had flocked to Prague after Czechoslovak authorities agreed not to prevent them from emigrating via the West German Embassy. The Berlin Wall fell months later.

To mark that anniversary, the Lobkowicz Palace will be open to the public, who can take part in a debate with the witnesses of the seminal events of 1989, and view exhibitions of photographs and historical documents.

At the time, the Czech capital was suddenly filled with hundreds of Trabants, whose owners had abandoned them often with the keys still in the ignition. A display of historic East German cars on Malostranské náměstí will recall the phenomenon.