The Production of Historical “Facts”: How the Wrong Number of Participants in the Leipzig Monday Demonstration on October 9, 1989 Became a Convention

Opp Karl-Dieter ()
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Opp Karl-Dieter: Universität Leipzig (Emeritus), University of Washington, Seattle (Affiliate Professor)

Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), 2011, vol. 231, issue 5-6, 598-607

Abstract: This paper deals with the demonstration in Leipzig on October 9, 1989, an important episode in the history of the East German Revolution. It is generally held that 70,000 demonstrators participated. This paper shows that this number is clearly wrong. The paper describes briefly the results of a survey that were inconsistent with this number and how the authors of the study proceeded to make a new estimate. The paper further outlines how the original estimate was made and found its way into the media and historical accounts. Finally, some general lessons are drawn from the case. The case study this paper focuses on is not an example of the faking of data, but rather of negligent data handling. However, it is argued that the lessons from this case discussed in the final section hold for faked data as well.

Keywords: Leipzig demonstrations; Leipzig demonstration on October 9; 1989; East German Revolution; historical “facts”; spread of false beliefs; survey research; reliability of official data; faked data; negligent data handling; Leipzig demonstrations; Leipzig demonstration on October 9; 1989; East German Revolution; historical “facts”; spread of false beliefs; survey research; reliability of official data; faked data; negligent data handling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jns:jbstat:v:231:y:2011:i:5-6:p:598-607

DOI: 10.1515/jbnst-2011-5-603

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