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Chronicle 1990

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    • 4 April

      1990

      The West German cabinet discusses the recommendations made by the board of the German Bundesbank on 30 March with regard to the intended currency union with the GDR. more
    • 4 April

      1990

      At a meeting of advisers in the West German chancellery, Boris Meissner, an expert on Soviet affairs, suggests offering the Soviet Union a comprehensive bilateral treaty on non-aggression and cooperation. more
    • 5 April

      1990

      In East Berlin, the first freely elected Volkskammer is constituted. Sabine Bergmann-Pohl (CDU) is chosen as its president. The parliament gives Lothar de Maizière (CDU), as the top candidate of the strongest parliamentary party, the task of forming a government.
    • 5 April

      1990

      In Bonn, the West German chancellor discusses the guiding principles for the draft of a treaty with the GDR with experts from the finance ministry and the Bundesbank. more
    • 11 April

      1990

      In the evening, Lothar de Maizière informs the West German chancellor by telephone about the progress in coalition negotiations and the formation of a government in the GDR. more
    • 12 April

      1990

      Lothar de Maizière accepts the congratulations of his predecessor on his election as chairman of the GDR Council of Ministers
      The preamble of the coalition treaty of the government of Lothar de Maizière contains the following declaration: "In view of the special situation in the GDR since 9 November 1989, it is necessary, in order to solve the future tasks arising in the process of uniting both parts of Germany, to put aside party interests and to form a large coalition for the period in which the two German states are growing together." more
    • 14 April

      1990

      Three Berlin artists have been trying for weeks to create a flowery landscape alongside the Wall. more
    • 16 April

      1990

      The chairman of the Council of Ministers, Lothar de Maizière, receives an unofficial letter (non-paper) of the Soviet leadership from the Soviet ambassador in the GDR, Vyacheslav Kotshemassov. In it, Moscow expresses objections to the GDR merging with West Germany quickly according to Article 23 of the Basic Law. more
    • 16 April

      1990

      People’s Police destroy bugging devices of the former Ministry for Security
      In the new GDR government, there are serious fears that despite the State Security’s apparent dissolution, its still existent structures could destabilise the government. There are rumours that members of the State Security have found refuge at bases of the Soviet armed forces and could prepare attacks from there.
    • 19 April

      1990

      The government statement by Lothar de Maizière is a declaration of belief in a unified Germany. Among other things, his statement stresses: "The unification must come as fast as possible, but the conditions under which it takes place must be as good, as sensible and as sustainable as necessary."
    • 24 April

      1990

      West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and the chairman of the GDR Council of Ministers, de Maizière, meet in Bonn and discuss the West German government’s proposals for a currency union and issues connected with a treaty between the two German states. more
    • 25 April

      1990

      With a 12-vote majority (179-167), the Volkskammer rejects the request by the parliamentary party Bündnis 90/Grüne (Alliance 90/Greens) to discuss the draft of a new GDR constitution. The Round Table working group "New GDR constitution" had continued to elaborate the draft even after the Round Table had finished its work, and tabled it for the first time on 5 April.
    • 27 April

      1990

      The German-German negotiations on the creation of a currency, economic and social union begin. Bundesbank director Hans Tietmeyer heads the negotiations for West Germany, and State Secretary Günther Krause for the GDR. The basis for the negotiations is a paper put forward by the West German government that proposes an exchange rate of 1:1 for income and pensions as well as for cash and savings pro capita up to 4,000 East German marks.
    • 27 April

      1990

      The head of the GDR border troops, Major General Dieter Teichmann, reports to the minister for disarmament and defence, Rainer Eppelmann, on the extent of demolition work needed to dismantle border security facilities.

      He says altogether 1,476 km of front barriers and 1,510 km of rear barriers (Wall and fences), 716 watchtowers and command posts and 845 km of anti-vehicle trenches need to be removed; around 1.7 million tonnes of material have to be transported away and reprocessed or got rid of. He estimates that four to five years are needed for the work. Letter from the head of the border troops to the minister for disarmament and defence, 27 April 1990 (in German) In Berlin, a start is made with taking down the anti-tank wall at the Brandenburg Gate. In the past week, the removal of border facilities has been stepped up. Although only 2.91 km of the "Border Wall ‘75" (=6.1%) and 7.17 km of the segment of the Wall constructed of precast concrete slabs (=14%) have been taken down, 57.1 km of the border signal fence (77.2%), 25.9 km of barbed wire on the border signal and barrier fence (=86.1%) and nearly 90% of all the alarms on the various fences have been removed. Sixty-two watchtowers and command posts (=31%) have been knocked down and removed. The Wall is to have disappeared by March 1991 in Berlin and by the end of 1991 in the Potsdam district. less
    • 28 April

      1990

      In the prestigious Inter-Continental Hotel in West Berlin, three original segments of Wall are auctioned off; two are from Checkpoint Charlie, one from the Brandenburg Gate. more
    • 28 April

      1990

      Around 1,500 people gather in the Thüringenhalle in Erfurt. They are among the thousands forced to leave their homes on the 1,400-km-long inner German border at extremely short notice in May/June 1952 as part of the operation "Border" ("Grenze") and "Pests" ("Ungeziefer"). more
    • 28 April

      1990

      In Dublin, an EC summit comes to a close. The mistrust so in evidence at the Strasbourg summit has evaporated. The European Council comes out in favour of German unification. more
    • 29 April

      1990

      Prime Minister Lothar de Maizière arrives in Moscow for talks with Soviet party and state leader Mikhail Gorbachev. more
    • 30 April

      1990

      The Volkskammer president Sabine Bergmann-Pohl and the Bundestag president Rita Süssmuth hold a discussion during which they decide to form a joint parliamentary committee on German unity. more
    • April 1990

      In April, 16,000 people have left the GDR; since the start of 1990, the number is over 170,000. The announcement of an economic, monetary and social union by 1 July 1990 has, however, reduced emigration.
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