HANOVER, Germany (RNS/ENI) The Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) is encouraging parishes to commemorate the “peaceful revolution” of 1989 that marked the end of communism in Eastern Europe and prepared the way for the fall of the Berlin Wall.

“In various countries in Central and Eastern Europe the churches played an important role as a motor for change,” said Bishop Wolfgang Huber, who heads the EKD, Germany’s biggest Protestant umbrella group, in a foreword to a collection of Internet resources for worship and commemorative events.

In formerly communist East Germany, “it was the Protestant church especially that prepared the way for freedom and unity,” said Huber, the Protestant bishop in the German capital, where the 96-mile-long Berlin Wall divided the city for 28 years.

East Germany’s 1989 peaceful uprising has been dubbed a “Protestant revolution” because of the prominent role played by churches, and the street demonstrations that followed packed prayer meetings for peace and change.

Huber noted how churches had also taken an active role in the round tables that opened the way for democratic structures, and how in 1990 Christians had been lawmakers in the first freely elected East German parliament.

The EKD resources include suggestions for worship and commemorative events, as well as background information about the events of 1989.