Homepage > Chronicle

Chronicle 1983

  • January 
  • March 
  • April 
  • May 
  • June 
  • July 
  • August 
  • September 
  • October

     
    • 3 October

      1983

      The debate on the stocking up of arms motivates the GDR defence minister, in his order 101/83, to speak of a "dangerous escalation of the international situation" that makes it necessary to raise the combat readiness of the border troops.

      He says political education should direct its efforts not only towards instilling love of the socialist fatherland, but also towards conveying "a class-based concept of the enemy that allows a clear recognition of the threat of imperialist aggression, removes doubts about the brutality and underhandedness of the enemy, and creates revulsion and hate." less
    • 5 October

      1983

      GDR automatic firing device (SM-70) with mounting
      SED General Secretary Erich Honecker publicly announces the dismantling of the some 60,000 automatic firing devices (SM-70) on the inner German border. They are removed by 31 December 1984; the landmines are also taken away by 1 July 1985. more
    • 5 October

      1983

      An exchange of letters between party and state leader Erich Honecker and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl makes clear their difference in attitudes to the stationing of missiles in West Germany and the faltering INF negotiations in Geneva on the removal of nuclear medium-range missiles from Europe. more
    • 25 October

      1983

      West German rock musician Udo Lindenberg and his "Panikorchester" (famous for the hit "Sonderzug nach Pankow" ["Special Train to Pankow"]) perform in the East Berlin Palace of the Republic at the invitation of the FDJ (Free German Youth).
  • November 
  • December 
Top of page