East German Round Table

The Round table first convened in East Berlin on 7 December 1989, the day after Egon Krenz had resigned as the head of the Socialist Unity Party (SED) government.

It was set up as a forum in which members of East German government-aligned organizations (such as the so-called bloc parties, trade unions, etc.)

[1] The final three members were the moderators, all clergymen, from the Protestant, Catholic and Methodist churches, who did not have a vote.

The Round Table's first three meetings, held on 7, 18 and 22 December 1989, took place in the Protestant church's Bonhoeffer House near Friedrichstraße in Berlin-Mitte.

Because popular interest created a need for more space, from the fourth meeting on 27 December to the sixteenth and final meeting on 12 March 1990, the Round Table met in the conference building of the SED-dominated Council of Ministers in Ossietzky St. near Schönhausen Palace in Berlin-Pankow.