It was Helmut Hackenburg, second secretary of the Party district leadership, who finally made the call, both figuratively and literally. He decided that there would be no force used. He eventually connected with Honecker’s second-in-command Egon Krenz on the phone and got him to agree. All the government forces in Leipzig were told “to take no active action against persons if there were no anti-state activities and attacks against security forces, objects and facilities.”
