The speakers during the demonstration were members of the opposition, representatives of the regime and artists, and included the dissidents Marianne Birthler and Jens Reich, the writer Stefan Heym, the actor Ulrich Mühe, the former head of the East German foreign intelligence service Markus Wolf and Politburo member Günter Schabowski.

On 18 October, reformist members of the Politburo forced Erich Honecker to resign as the chair of the council of state and general secretary of the Socialist Unity Party (SED).

It was not the first meeting as on 7 October, the 40th anniversary of the German Democratic Republic, actors of the Volksbühne had invited their colleagues to discuss the political situation.

The opening speeches were given by Marion van de Kamp, Johanna Schall, Ulrich Mühe and Jan Josef Liefers, who were stage actors from East Berlin.

Ulrich Mühe, actor at the Deutsches Theater demanded in his speech the abolition of the first paragraph of the East German constitution which guaranteed the leading role of the Socialist Unity Party.

[3] Later, the dissident Bärbel Bohley would say about Markus Wolf, former head of the East German foreign intelligence service and speaker during the demonstration: When I saw that his hands were trembling because the people were booing I said to Jens Reich: We can go now, now it is all over.

"[7]The speakers were, in order of appearance: lawyer Gregor Gysi, Marianne Birthler of the opposition group Initiative for Peace and Human Rights, Markus Wolf, Jens Reich of the opposition group New Forum, LDPD politician Manfred Gerlach, actor Ekkehard Schall, SED Politburo member Günter Schabowski, writer Stefan Heym, theologian and dissident Friedrich Schorlemmer, writer Christa Wolf, actor Tobias Langhoff, film director Joachim Tschirner, dramatist Heiner Müller, university rector Lothar Bisky, university student Ronald Freytag, writer Christoph Hein, Hungarian student Robert Juhoras, and actress Steffie Spira.

[4] To mark the tenth anniversary in 1999 a series of events under the title "We were the people" (German: Wir waren das Volk) were held in Berlin.