Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Schwesig commemorates Gorbachev: Unity without him is not possible

Schwerin (dpa/mv) - Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig emphasized the importance of the former Soviet head of state Mikhail Gorbachev for Germany: "Without Mikhail Gorbachev there would not have been German unity," said the SPD politician on Wednesday.

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Schwesig commemorates Gorbachev: Unity without him is not possible

Schwerin (dpa/mv) - Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig emphasized the importance of the former Soviet head of state Mikhail Gorbachev for Germany: "Without Mikhail Gorbachev there would not have been German unity," said the SPD politician on Wednesday. "With his reforms, he played a major role in the peaceful revolution taking place in the fall of 1989."

Many people in East Germany who demonstrated peacefully for freedom and democracy in the fall of 1989 referred to him. "We mourn the loss of a great and courageous statesman who made the world a better place."

Schwesig recalled that in 2018 the state of Gorbachev awarded the medal for special services to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in a united Europe and the world. He was one of only two people to receive this award, along with former Polish Foreign Minister Władysław Bartoszewski.

Gorbachev died in Moscow on Tuesday evening at the age of 91.