The USA and the Soviet Union start talks on the limitation of atomic weapons in Geneva.
13 March
1985
A resolution by the Council of Ministers on "Basic principles in travel between the GDR and non-socialist states and West Berlin" and a "Central Order" (a kind of "Führer Order") issued by Erich Honecker in December 1985 considerably enlarge the number of those eligible to apply to travel abroad, as well the list of possible reasons for travel.
Trips on urgent family business can now be applied for if there are so-called "special humanitarian concerns", without any concrete information about the degree of relationship and reasons having to be provided. As this order is interpreted "generously", the number of trips to the West rapidly climbs from 139,000 in 1985 to 573,000 in 1986. In 1987 there are 1,297,399 trips, with 300,000 further applications being either rejected or not accepted in the first place.less
18 March
1985
For the 40th anniversary of the end of the war, the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR (BEK) and the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) publish a joint "Word of Peace".
24 March
1985
Major Arthur D. Nicholson Jr., a staff member of the US military mission in Potsdam, is killed during an inspection in the GDR. The incident casts a shadow on Soviet-American relations, which have been becoming friendlier.
