Havel at Columbia



This Day in The Velvet Revolution, 1989

November 1: East Germans cross into Czechoslovakia on way to the West

East Germany eases border restrictions with Czechoslovakia, and several thousand cross into the country trying to obtain refuge in the West German embassy in Prague. Despite the reforms going on in neighboring Eastern Bloc countries, the Czechoslovak communist leadership maintains its hard-line stance. Havel and other opposition activists continue to press for changes in the regime's position and for dialogue between the government and citizens' groups.