In July 2005 the IISH received a beautiful collection of documentation about this Unabhängiger Frauenverband (Unaffilialted Women's Movement) in East Berlin. After the wall had been torn down, about 1000 women in East Berlin came together on 3 December 1989 to organise and coordinate women's groups throughout the country.
The official founding congress of the Unabhängiger Frauenverband (UFV) took place in Berlin on 17 February 1990. The women demanded an important say in politics, and wanted to have representation in the coming social reforms.
New women's publications very quickly appeared, and efforts were made to establish women's centres. There were also demands for women's houses throughout the entire country.
According to the UFV, in the former DDR most of the women had been well trained and completely integrated in the labour market; child care had always been well managed and special days off for working women had always been a part of labour legislation. The UFV women feared that the reunion of both Germanies would negate all this. One female minister in the last DDR cabinet under Modrow came from the UFV. After 1996 there were fewer and fewer activities, until finally, in 1998, the UFV ceased to function.