Year 41 of the GDR is the most exciting in GDR history. Between the 7th October 1989 and the 3rd October 1990 a rush of events is taking place: The people in the GDR overthrow the SED government and force it to open the border, a parallel government is formed and asserts democratic elections. Those are won by the conservative party alliance which pushes for a fast German unification which is realised within a few months with the support of the Allied Forces. The authors describe these events in a concise way while giving insights into the workings of the East-German State with documents, background material and reports from contemporary witnesses.

This book is a compact description of the history of the GDR with a chronicle of events, portraits of important figures, reports of contemporary witnesses and background information as well as a lot of jokes from the GDR.