In a memo on a conversation with the Bavarian Prime Minister Franz Josef Strauss, SED foreign currency procurer Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski records Strauss as saying that Helmut Kohl had a "bad team" and was showing "serious leadership faults as Chancellor."
Schalck goes on to say that Strauss was convinced "that neither he nor his children and grandchildren will live to see a change in the current political borders in Europe. That also goes for the existence of the GDR and the FRG. A reunification is imaginable only if a new situation emerges throughout Europe." He says Strauss was "pleased that Erich Honecker is leading the destinies of the GDR as chairman of the State Council and General Secretary."
Memo by Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski about a conversation with Franz Josef Strauss in Munich, 10 June 1985 (in German)less
10/11 June
1985
The French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius becomes the first government leader from the three Western Powers to go on a state visit to the GDR.
11 June
1985
In the biggest spy exchange of the Cold War, 25 Western agents are swapped for four Eastern agents on the Glienicke Bridge between Potsdam and West Berlin.more