ABSTRACT
The autumn uprising began in Leipzig on 4 September, with the resumption of Peace Prayers at the St Nicholas Church following the summer recess. As usual, emigration applicants were prominent in the demonstration that spilled out onto the streets after the service. By coincidence the autumn Trade Fair was underway, and the presence of the international media offered a degree of protection. However, unlike previous demonstrations, their chants of ‘We want out!’ inspired and provoked others – soon to be dubbed ‘herestayers’ – to challenge them.2 Chants of ‘We’re staying here!’ were now heard, and banners were unfurled that called for ‘freedom of association’ and ‘freedom of travel instead of mass exodus’. The ‘here-stayers’ began to join the weekly demonstrations in significant numbers, raising slogans critical of both the regime and, implicitly, the emigrant applicants. For the latter, the chief purpose of protesting was to provoke the authorities into expatriating them; for ‘here-stayers’ the aims were to test the possibilities of public protest, to show strength, and to show that strategies oriented to domestic change were at least thinkable.
