I found a book on Amazon that might help called "The Fall: A Comparative Study of the End of Communism in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary and Poland". Here's the jist of Wikipedia: There were major Revolutions in 1989, called the "Autumn of Nations", close to the end of the Cold War. Basically, the Soviets repealled an act called the Brezhnev Doctrine, which stated that "When forces that are hostile to socialism try to turn the development of some socialist country towards capitalism, it becomes not only a problem of the country concerned, but a common problem and concern of all socialist countries." This made it possible for Eastern European countries to break free of Soviet control. Poland and then Hungary where the first to revolt peacefully due to turmoil over trade unions, The Senate, and Solidarity in Poland, and basically just to break free from the Soviets in Holand (the remained a Socialisty nation). As soon as the Hungarian governments opened their borders, thousands of Eastern Germans, who had nowhere to turn but Czechoslovakia, flooded into Western Europe. During this, Czechoslovakians began their "Velvet Revolution" in late 1989. This was a short, non-violent revolution that overthrew the Communist powers. Soon after, Czechoslovakia opened their borders, lifting their part of the Iron Curtain, and allowing Eastern Germans a direct route into West Germany. Their was no way for the Eastern German authorities to stop the flood of refugees from Western Germany, and finally, in 1990, the Berlin Wall was destroyed, the Cold War had ended, and Eastern and Western Germany were reunited once more. Does this help?
