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The goal of this article is to analyse East Germany’s 1989 ‘Peaceful Revolution’ by emphasising this movement’s open and uncertain character. Using the archives of the East German political police, this article argues that the abrupt collapse of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Communist regime was caused less by the actions of a powerful opposition movement, than by the political regime’s (in)ability to react. Violence appeared to be a serious option until the fall of 1989 ; by the time they had to act, however, the members of the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED - Socialist Unity Party) politburo no longer considered violence a legitimate means. As a consequence, the Stasi was rendered powerless and made the peaceful revolution possible.