Education in East Germany had been highly centralized, and Margot Honecker, the wife of the President, had ruled education with iron hand for 25 years. The school and Humboldt researchers had recognized the sterility and boredom of program of studies that emphasized content without taking the interests and developmental process of youth into consideration. As evidence of underhanded activities and illegal processes in the old German Democratic Republic (GDR) came to light, those educators, who had committed themselves to its spoken ideals began to feel betrayed by the leaders, the Stasi, and the "system." The Academy of Pedagogical Sciences had been the institution responsible for planning and implementing matters, such as curriculum throughout the GDR. When the Berlin Wall came down on 9 November 1989, the response of higher education personnel was active and general. Vocational educators took advantage of the Wende to inform themselves as fully and as quickly as they could of vocational education programs in West Germany.