September 1, 1987
The Olof Palme Peace March began, an 18-day-long transnational peace march/demonstration that took place in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany.). The peace march involved people from West Germany, East Germany and Czechoslovakia. It began at Stralsund on the Baltic Sea coast, and crossed the territory of East Germany, taking a far from direct route, to end at Dresden. It was considered remarkable because members of East German political opposition groups were permitted to participate in the march legally. The march was named to honor the former prime minister of Sweden, Olof Palme, who had been shot dead by an unidentified assailant on a Stockholm street the previous year Palme had opposed the nuclear arms race and advocated a nuclear weapons-free corridor in central Europe.
