a little Lutheran priory on the eastern outskirts of Berlin to prepare for a visit to Gerald Götting the next day. This led, finally, to the resignation of Götting as party leader on 2 November 1989, to be replaced by Lothar de Maizière. On 9 November 1989 protesters breached the Berlin Wall. It quickly became apparent that the Soviet troops in East Germany had received no orders to intervene, and the future trajectory of the Peaceful Revolution became a little clearer. In January 1990 Ackermann found herself invited to resume her teaching at the Charité where, in August 1991, she took over as acting director of the Pharmacology-Toxicology Institute. In Neuenhagen, newly elected to the local council, Ackermann participated in local round table negotiations, as the politically engaged struggled to find a path ahead. In March 1990 the German Democratic Republic held its first (and, as matters turned out, last) freely conducted general election. Else Ackermann stood for election as a Christian Democratic Union candidate and was elected, representing the Frankfurt (Oder) electoral district in the National Parliament (Volkskammer). German reunification formally took place in October 1990. This was accompanied by a dissolution of the East German Volkskammer, and the transfer of 144 (out of the 400 former members) Volkskammer members into an enlarged German Bundestag. Those making the transfer, which included Elise Ackermann, were elected by fellow members. The East German Christian Democratic Union had leap-frogged into first place in the March election, as a result of which 71 of the 144 eastern members transferring to the Bundestag on 3 October 1990 came from the eastern Christian Democratic Union and its close ally, the German Social Union. The eastern and western CDUs were now merged, leaving Ackermann as a member of the pan-German Christian Democratic Union. She remained a Bundestag member until the general election which took place in December 1990. After reunification Ackermann found herself back in the Bundestag in October 1991 following the resignation from the assembly of Lothar de Maizière, who had served as East Germany's last prime minister during the summer of the previous year. Ackermann was selected to take on her former colleague's Brandenburg seat. She now remained a member till the 1994 election after which she withdrew from national politics, though she remained politically active in her own region. Ackermann returned to the Charité, was appointed a director in 1994, and remained engaged