The more restrictive approach to granting travel permission soon makes itself felt. Bonn’s Permanent Representative in the GDR, Hans Otto Bräutigam, goes to see Egon Krenz. He tells Krenz that "in the view of the West German government, there must be no noticeable fall in travel numbers."
Krenz replies that "the number of trips is not a factor with permanent validity." He says that everything depends on the "overall relations". In addition, he says, "economic issues and the political atmosphere" must be considered. "The view that the amount of travel is an unchanging fact," Krenz says, "is therefore not correct." He adds that regulations on travel were a "matter for the GDR alone".
Memo on a conversation between Egon Krenz and Hans Otto Bräutigam in East Berlin, 13 April 1988 (in German)less
14 April
1988
After many years of negotiation, the foreign ministers from the USA, the USSR, Pakistan and Afghanistan sign an agreement in Geneva to resolve the conflict in Afghanistan. Among other things, it stipulates the complete withdrawal of Soviet armed forces from the country and the return of more than five million refugees.
19 April
1988
The number of permits to leave the GDR has fallen greatly after 1985 (1985: 20,147; 1986: 16,902; 1987: 10,420). At the end of 1987, 112,000 applications to leave have been presented to the GDR authorities. The pressure from applicants and their willingness to take part in organised and open protest rises.more
The workers go on strike in the largest Polish steelworks, Nowa Huta near Kraków, demanding both a pay rise and the reappointment of workers who have been fired because of their participation in the banned union "Solidarity".
