Overview 1967
14 February: In Bonn, the first discussion takes place on the "Concerted Action" ("Konzertierte Aktion"), a process aimed at bringing together unionists, employers and the West German government to regulate the economic crisis.
20 February: The GDR Volkskammer passes the "Law on the Citizenship of the GDR", which introduces a separate "GDR citizenship" instead of the joint German citizenship that has been in force up to now.
12 April: West German Chancellor Kiesinger delivers a government statement to the Bundestag on the German question. He proposes measures aimed at providing "easier living conditions in the whole of Germany."
17-22 April: The 7th SED party conference takes place in East Berlin, attended by the CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev. In a speech, Ulbricht says that all class differences have been abolished in the GDR, and proclaims the "socialist community" ("sozialistische Menschengemeinschaft"). With regard to economic policy, it is decided to shift from the "New Economic System of Planning and Management" (NÖSPL) to the "Economic System of Socialism" (ÖSS).
19 April: Former West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer dies aged 91 in Rhöndorf near Bonn.
24-26 April: A conference of the communist parties of Europe in Carlsbad, CSSR, proposes convoking a European security conference.
1 May: A new version of the "Regulation 30/10", issued by the Ministry for National Defence to promote the "organisation and leadership of border security in the border company", enters into force. The paragraphs about using firearms are largely identical with those in the old regulation from 1964. The "use of firearms" is limited "to the temporary arrest of people who do not obey orders from border guards, i.e. who do not stop at the call of "Stop – border guard – hands up!’ or after a warning shot, but obviously try to break through the national border to the German Democratic Republic, and no other possibility of temporary arrest exists." The use of firearms is, the regulation states, the "utmost measure of force against people. It is only allowed when all other measures fail or when it is not possible to use other measures because of the situation." The regulation also says, however, that firearms may not be used when the threat of attack is no longer present
2 June: At a student demonstration against the visit by the Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, in Berlin at the Schöneberg Town Hall in Berlin, supporters of the Shah attack the demonstrators. In the evening, the student Benno Ohnesorg is shot dead by a police officer. His death becomes a rallying call for the radicalisation of the student movement and the Extra-Parliamentary Opposition (APO) in West Germany.
14 June: In West Germany, the "Law on the Promotion of Stability and Growth" goes into force. The law sets out an economic policy programme for "global guidance" with four objectives that are soon described as a "magical square": stable prices, high employment rate, balanced foreign trade and economic growth.
17 June: The People’s Republic of China sets off its first hydrogen bomb. The CPSU fears that the Soviet Union could be one of the first targets of an attack by the growing Chinese superpower.
1 July: The European Economic Community (EEC) turns into the "European Community" (EC).
13 August: On the sixth anniversary of the Wall’s construction, the GDR press justifies it as an action taken against "the most cunning of robbers".
25 August: At a meeting held by the military council of the command of the GDR border troops, at which the progress and success of mine placement at the inner-German border is discussed, the Stasi representative, Lieutenant Colonel Harnisch, states: "I am not in favour of reducing the mine obstacle. The focus must not be on the expense. First and foremost, we must see the political and moral damage done to our republic when the border is violated. (…) There must not be any sentimentality regarding the mines."
18 September: The chairman of the GDR Council of Ministers, Willi Stoph, proposes a draft treaty on the establishment of "normal" relations based on international law to West German Chancellor Kiesinger. In his answering letter of 28 September, Kiesinger rejects this as something that would cement the division of Germany.
1 October: The songwriter Wolf Biermann follows an invitation by the East Berlin embassy of the People’s Republic of China to the Chinese national holiday. According to a report by the GDR State Security, which is holding him under surveillance, Biermann asks, after two films have been screened: "How does the Chinese state react when it is criticised?" He received the answer that the state did not need to intervene in the case of criticism, as the people themselves would take care of that.
1 December: The GDR changes the name of its currency from "Mark der Deutschen Notenbank" ("Mark of the German Central Bank") (MDN) to "Mark der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik" ("Mark of the German Democratic Republic") (M).
14 December: In the Harmel Plan, the NATO council redefines the tasks of the Western defence alliance. The strategy of "flexible response" becomes the new NATO military doctrine.
