Christian Führer
Protestant pastor of the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig, where peace prayers were held every Monday from 1982. In October 1989 the prayers were the starting point of the demonstrations that the East German state did not put down.
Christian Führer was pastor of the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig. By his own account he had earlier served at Lastau and Colditz (Führer, Recollections of 9 October 1989 (2009), answer 3), established the yearly peace decade at the Nikolaikirche from 1981, and saw peace prayers held there every Monday from 20 September 1982 (Führer, Recollections of 9 October 1989 (2009), answer 1). Richard Schröder says that the parish council, which Führer chaired, opened the church to the prayers after many critical questions, and that Führer and the superintendent never cancelled one under pressure from the state (Schröder, Schwerter und Pflugscharen (2014), paragraphs on the first prayers of 1982).
On 2 October 1989 he asked the other churches of the city to hold peace prayers too (Führer, Recollections of 9 October 1989 (2009), answer 2). A week later the state security service counted more than 5,000 people at prayers in four churches, and 50,000 to 60,000 in the demonstration that set out from the Nikolaikirche (Stasi report on Leipzig, 9 October 1989, Bl. 100). See Churches and the Fall of Communism.
In the timeline
- 9 October 1989, firm dateChurches and the Fall of Communism
On 9 October 1989, after peace prayers in four Leipzig churches, tens of thousands march round the city and the East German state does not use force. A bishop, church groups and party officials had all appealed for calm that day.
Primary sources
Pfarrer Christian Führer erinnert sich an den 9. Oktober 1989
- Führer, Recollections of 9 October 1989 (2009), answer 3sonntagsblatt.de
- Führer, Recollections of 9 October 1989 (2009), answer 1sonntagsblatt.de
- Führer, Recollections of 9 October 1989 (2009), answer 2sonntagsblatt.de