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Chronicle 1987

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    • 5 September

      1987

      Independent peace groups demonstrate in East Berlin against nuclear weapons in East and West. The state law enforcement officers react in a fairly restrained manner in view of the upcoming visit by Honecker to West Germany.

    • 7-11 September

      1987

      Erich Honecker visiting Johannes Rau at Benrath Palace, 1987
      Erich Honecker visiting Johannes Rau at Benrath Palace, 1987 (Photo: The Federal Government, Photographer: Burkhard Jüttner)
      Party and state leader Erich Honecker visits West Germany and is received with all honours due to a head of state. It is the first visit by a GDR head of state to West Germany.

      Various agreements are signed on environmental protection, radiation protection and scientific and technological cooperation. Honecker then also visits the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Bavaria.

      RIAS report on the visit by Erich Honecker to West Germany (with excerpts from the after-dinner speeches by Helmut Kohl and Erich Honecker), 7 September 1987 (in German) (Source: Archiv Deutschlandradio, Broadcast: Radio-mobil, Moderation/Reporter: Jürgen Schiller, Peter Schulz, Helmut Hormann, Ernst Steinke)
      A report by the State Security on the mood among the GDR population after Honecker’s visit makes plain the SED and Stasi’s concern that the visit could lead to an undesirable "softening" of firm ideological principles. Many GDR citizens, even "progressive forces", expect concessions on humanitarian issues, above with regard to travel.

      The paper expresses the growing uncertainty of the surveillance apparatus about how to deal with the problems of travel and emigration in the future. Ministry for Security/ZAIG (Zentrale Auswertungs- und Informationsgruppe/Central Evaluation and Information Group) report: "Information on Reactions of the Population" to Honecker’s visit to West Germany, 16 September 1987 (in German) less

    • 27 September

      1987

      US Vice President George Bush visits Poland, meeting with both state leader Jaruzelski and the leader of the banned union "Solidarity", Lech Walesa. The trip aims to improve ties between the two countries after sanctions have been relaxed.
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