Chronicle of the GDR (1971–1980)
Chronicle of the GDR (1971–1980) supplements the main article History of the German Democratic Republic with a chronology of the events in the German Democratic Republic in the 1970s .
1971
On January 1st, the results of the population, occupation, living space and building census are published: The GDR had 17,053,699 inhabitants on the reference date. On January 29th, the Council of Ministers passed a resolution on social policy measures. These include price reductions for various textiles and other industrial goods and improvements in social security . Telephone traffic between East and West Berlin will resume on January 31st.
On February 1st, basic wages and minimum pensions will be increased. On days 24./25. February an exchange of letters takes place between the Chairman of the GDR Council of Ministers , Willi Stoph , and the Governing Mayor of Berlin (West), Klaus Schütz , about the start of negotiations.
The GDR and Chile establish diplomatic relations on March 16; 28 states have now recognized the GDR diplomatically.
At the 16th meeting of the SED Central Committee on May 3, Erich Honecker was elected as the successor to Walter Ulbricht as the first secretary of the SED Central Committee. He replaces Ulbricht, who has resigned "for reasons of age". The actress and widow of Bertolt Brecht , Helene Weigel (* May 12, 1900 ), dies on May 6 in Berlin.
The 8th party congress of the SED takes place from June 15 to 19 . He formulated the new main task “unity of economic and social policy” and passed the directive for the five-year plan 1971–1975. The People's Chamber elects Erich Honecker as chairman of the GDR's National Defense Council on June 24th.
On August 5th, Erich Honecker, Leonid Iljitsch Brezhnev and Nikolai W. Podgorny had talks about “perfecting and deepening cooperation” between the GDR and the USSR.
On August 17, the partial report on the tactical testing of the SM-70 fragmentation mine ( self -firing system) (VVS-No. G / 079675) reads: “The fragmentation effect on the game species shot at: roe deer, black game and game birds allow a certain conclusion, that border violators damaged by SM-70 have fatal or so severe injuries that they are no longer able to overcome the barrier fence. "
On September 3rd, the ambassadors of the USA , the USSR , Great Britain and France sign the four-power agreement over Berlin . A party and government delegation from the GDR under the leadership of Erich Honecker will be in Poland from September 18 to 20 . A decision is made on passport-free and visa-free travel between the GDR and Poland. On September 30th a protocol on postal negotiations between the Federal Republic and the GDR is signed. There are improvements in domestic German postal traffic.
A Council of Ministers decision on the promotion of private housing from 1972 is published on October 21.
Elections to the People's Chamber and the district days will take place on November 14th . Officially, 99.85% of the votes are cast for the candidates of the National Front . On November 18, the Central Committee of the SED and the Council of Ministers decide to freeze prices for consumer goods and services until 1975. On November 26, the constituent meeting of the People's Chamber takes place. The Chairman of the Council of State is Walter Ulbricht, and Chairman of the Council of Ministers is Willi Stoph.
The State Secretary in the Federal Chancellery of the Federal Republic of Germany Egon Bahr and the State Secretary at the Council of Ministers of the GDR Michael Kohl sign the agreement on transit traffic between the two German states on December 17th . On December 20, the People's Chamber passed a law on the five-year plan from 1971 to 1975.
An agreement between the Senate of West Berlin and the GDR on travel and visitor traffic and on the exchange of territories is signed.
1972
In January, passport-free and visa-free travel was introduced between the GDR and Poland (January 1) and between the GDR and the ČSSR (January 15).
On February 11th, the "German Television Radio " was renamed " Television of the GDR ".
On March 9, the People's Chamber passed the law on the interruption of pregnancy (14 votes against and eight abstentions for the first time).
GDR Foreign Minister Otto Winzer is in Moscow on March 11th. The international convention on the prohibition of the development, manufacture and storage of bacteriological and toxic weapons and their destruction is signed.
On 27./28. April the 5th meeting of the Central Committee of the SED takes place. A joint resolution is passed by the Central Committee, the Federal Executive Committee of the FDGB and the Council of Ministers on social policy measures, including an increase in minimum pensions and, in some cases, rent reductions for new apartments.
On May 12, the treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance between Romania and the GDR is signed.
On May 17th, the Bundestag of the Federal Republic of Germany decides to ratify the Eastern Treaty (see also: Oder-Neisse border ).
The transit agreement between the two German states comes into force on June 3rd.
The Central Committee of the SED and the Council of Ministers decide on measures to promote housing construction on June 23.
The 6th meeting of the Central Committee of the SED will take place on July 6th and 7th. “Wideness and diversity” in cultural policy are discussed, a commission to revise the party program and the statute of the SED is set up and a decision is made on the nationalization of private companies and companies with state participation .
At the Summer Olympics in Munich from August 26th to September 11th, the GDR took third place in the unofficial medal ranking ahead of the Federal Republic of Germany.
On the occasion of the 23rd anniversary of the founding of the GDR, the State Council of the GDR issued an amnesty for political and criminal offenders on October 6th . According to official figures, more than 30,000 people will be released, some of them to the West.
On October 16, the People's Chamber passed the law on the Council of Ministers of the GDR: upgrading of the Council of Ministers as a government body compared to the Council of State.
The GDR joins UNESCO on November 24th .
Between December 7th and 28th, the GDR established diplomatic relations with various neutral and western states.
On December 13th, the GDR becomes a member of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (ECE). On December 21st, the basic treaty between the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany is signed.
1973
In the period from January 5th to 22nd, another 13 states (including Spain , Italy and the Netherlands ) establish diplomatic relations with the GDR.
Kurt Hager, Secretary of the Central Committee of the SED , speaks on January 26th at a meeting of the Presidia of the Kulturbund , the artist associations and the Academy of Arts of the GDR against the thesis of a unified German cultural nation and emphasizes the development of a socialist culture in the GDR.
On February 2, the GDR joins the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations .
The NATO states France and Great Britain establish diplomatic relations with the GDR on February 9th.
On March 1, the regulation of the Council of Ministers on the activities of foreign publications and their correspondents in the GDR is published.
In the period from March 5th to 7th, correspondents for ARD , ZDF and newspapers and magazines from the Federal Republic of Germany will be accredited in the GDR.
On March 8, the GDR rejects any form of reparation payments to Israel .
On 14./15. March a delegation of the FDGB meets with representatives of the DGB in Düsseldorf .
Japan established diplomatic relations with the GDR on April 15.
On May 30th and 31st there will be a meeting of the Bundestag parliamentary group chairman Herbert Wehner ( SPD ) and Wolfgang Mischnick ( FDP ) with Erich Honecker.
The treaty on the foundations of relations between the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany ( basic treaty ) comes into force on June 21.
An agreement between the sports associations DTSB and DSB on intra-German sports relations fails on July 2 due to the question of including West Berlin.
The Xth World Festival of Youth and Students will take place in East Berlin from July 28th to August 5th . The Federal Constitutional Court decides on July 31 that the basic treaty with the Basic Law is compatible. Walter Ulbricht (1893–1973) dies on August 1st in East Berlin.
The GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany become members of the UN on September 18. At the 10th meeting of the SED Central Committee on October 2, a housing construction program for the years 1976–1990 was discussed.
On October 3rd, Willi Stoph was elected by the People's Chamber to succeed Walter Ulbricht as Chairman of the State Council of the GDR. Horst Sindermann becomes chairman of the Council of Ministers.
On November 5, the GDR announced that the minimum exchange rate would double . Visitors from “non-socialist states and West Berlin” have to exchange 20 DM when visiting the GDR and 10 DM when visiting East Berlin at a rate of 1: 1 for GDR marks from November 15th .
1974
By order of the Ministry of the Interior of the GDR, from January 1st, GDR motor vehicles must display the symbol “GDR” instead of the previous “D”, the international license plate for Germany .
The GDR becomes a member of the International Labor Organization (ILO) on January 1st .
On January 28th, the 3rd Youth Act is passed by the People's Chamber.
Günter Guillaume , Willy Brandt's personal assistant , was arrested on April 25 on suspicion of espionage for the GDR (see Guillaume affair ).
On April 30, the joint decision of the SED Politburo, the Council of Ministers and the FDGB Federal Executive Committee on further measures to implement the social policy program, including an increase in the annual minimum vacation.
The permanent representations in Bonn and East Berlin will open on May 2nd. The permanent representative of the Federal Republic of Germany in the GDR will be Günter Gaus , and the permanent representative of the GDR in the Federal Republic of Germany will be Michael Kohl .
The GDR Foreign Ministry protested on June 20 against the proposed establishment of the Federal Environment Agency of the Federal Republic of Germany in West Berlin.
On June 29th, the German-German border commission reached an agreement on the course of the border and fishing in the Bay of Lübeck .
On September 4th, the USA established diplomatic relations with the GDR.
The State Bank of the GDR issues new banknotes on September 14th.
On September 27, the People's Chamber passed the “Law to supplement and amend the Constitution of the German Democratic Republic of October 7, 1974”. All references to the “German nation” will be deleted, a new judicial constitution law will be enacted and the Council of Ministers will have to be redeployed.
The minimum exchange rate for visitors to the GDR and East Berlin, which was doubled on November 5, 1973, was reduced by a resolution of October 26 from November 15 from DM 20 to DM 13 and from DM 10 to DM 6.50. Persons under 16 years of age and pensioners are exempted from the minimum exchange by resolution of December 10th with effect from December 20th.
In a pastoral letter on November 17th, the Catholic bishops of the GDR turn against the state monopoly on education.
On December 11th and 12th, an agreement on the shipment of waste from West Berlin to the GDR is concluded.
An agreement on the continuation of the swing regulation in domestic German trade for the period 1976–1981 (maximum DM 850 million) is concluded on December 12th.
1975
After Otto Winzer's resignation on January 20, Oskar Fischer becomes the new Foreign Minister of the GDR .
On July 26th, an agreement on the coordination of the national economic plans of the USSR and the GDR for the period 1976–1980 is concluded.
The CSCE Summit will take place in Helsinki from July 30th to August 1st . On August 1st, after two years of negotiations, the Helsinki Final Act was signed . The signatories include the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR. Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and Erich Honecker meet on the fringes of the conference .
The People's Chamber passed the new Civil Code (ZGB) on September 16 .
At the UN General Assembly on September 24th in New York, the Foreign Ministers of the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany expressed the different positions of their governments on the German question.
Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker sign a new "Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance" between the USSR and the GDR in Moscow on October 7th.
On October 29, the government of the GDR and the Senate of West Berlin reached an agreement on mutual assistance in the event of accidents in border waters.
Günter Guillaume and his wife were sentenced on December 15 to 13 and 8 years in prison respectively for espionage for the GDR.
On December 19, an agreement was reached between the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany on the expansion of the transit routes to Berlin.
1976
A postal and telecommunications agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR is signed on March 30th.
On April 23, the Palace of the Republic will open on Marx-Engels-Platz in the center of East Berlin.
A consular agreement between the GDR and Great Britain is signed on May 4th in East Berlin.
From May 18th to 22nd the IX. Party conference of the SED in the Palace of the Republic. The delegates decide on a new program and a modified statute. Erich Honecker accepts the title of "Secretary General".
The Central Committee of the SED, the Federal Executive Committee of the FDGB and the Council of Ministers jointly decide on further social policy measures on May 27th. Among other things, the minimum wages and minimum pensions will be increased and measures taken to support working mothers.
On June 24th, the People's Chamber decided to elect all representative bodies for a period of five instead of the previous four years. The active and passive voting age drops from 21 to 18 years.
On 29./30. June a conference of the communist workers' parties of Europe takes place in East Berlin. Among the 29 participating parties are the Italian and Spanish Communist Parties, which advocate Eurocommunism . Das Neue Deutschland , the party newspaper of the SED, prints its statements in full.
The Council for Mutual Economic Aid (Comecon) will hold its 30th meeting in East Berlin from July 7th to 9th. Among other things, relations with the EEC are discussed.
On July 10th, on the initiative of the doctor Karl Heinz Nitschke, a “civil rights initiative” is formed in Riesa , which calls for human rights and the CSCE final act to issue exit permits.
At the Summer Olympics in Montreal from July 17 to August 1, the GDR took second place in the unofficial medal classification behind the USSR and ahead of the USA, and the Federal Republic of Germany fourth.
Pastor Oskar Brüsewitz set himself on fire on August 18th as a fanal on the square in front of the Michaeliskirche in Zeitz and accused the GDR school policy. After the SED publicly defamed him, there were expressions of solidarity inside and outside the churches (including Bettina Wegner and Wolf Biermann ).
In the elections for the People's Chamber and for the district days on October 17th, according to official figures, 99.86% will vote for the National Front's unified list.
On October 26th, the Berlin Ordinarienkonferenz becomes a Berlin Bishops ' Conference independent of the Fulda Bishops' Conference by decree of the Holy See .
The constituent meeting of the People's Chamber on October 29 elects Willi Stoph as the new Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Erich Honecker as the Chairman of the National Defense Council. At the same time, Honecker succeeds Stoph as Chairman of the State Council. Horst Sindermann becomes President of the People's Chamber.
On November 16, the songwriter Wolf Biermann is expatriated. He is currently on a concert tour through the Federal Republic of Germany when he is prohibited from returning to the GDR. Numerous GDR intellectuals show solidarity with Biermann until November 21. There are arrests (including Jürgen Fuchs ). Declarations of consent to Biermann's expatriation are printed in the GDR press.
Robert Havemann was placed under house arrest on November 26th .
1977
The 5th meeting of the Central Committee of the SED advises on 17./18. March on economic policy and takes a decision on the development of construction.
Reiner Kunze moves to the Federal Republic of Germany on April 14th. More writers and artists will follow in the next few months.
On June 16, the People's Chamber passed a new Labor Code (AGB).
On August 23, Rudolf Bahro was arrested (after the publication of an excerpt from his book "Die Alternative" in the West German news magazine Der Spiegel the day before).
On October 7th, youth riots broke out on Alexanderplatz in East Berlin and in Weimar . Three people were killed, two of them riot police . Several young people are arrested in Weimar.
On December 20, the expansion of the motorway between the border control posts in Helmstedt (FR Germany) and Marienborn (GDR) is agreed.
1978
The German news magazine “ Der Spiegel ” publishes the first part of a “ Manifesto of the Federation of Democratic Communists in Germany ” on January 2nd . The GDR authorities then close the "Spiegel" office in East Berlin.
On March 6, Erich Honecker had a conversation with the board of the Conference of Evangelical Church Governments in the GDR under the leadership of Bishop Albrecht Schönherr .
On March 30th, the Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky visited the GDR as the first Western head of government.
A state delegation from the GDR visits Paris from June 5th to 8th . Talks about mutual economic relations are being held.
On June 7th, Erich Honecker received a delegation from the PLO led by Yasser Arafat .
On June 25, an episcopal circular was sent to the communities with critical remarks on the introduction of military science lessons in the GDR schools.
On June 30th, Rudolf Bahro was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for “establishing contact with the secret service”.
On August 26th, Sigmund Jähn will take off into space alongside Valery Fyodorowitsch Bykowski on board the Soviet spaceship " Soyuz 31 ". He is processed propagandistically by the GDR media as the “first German in space”.
With the beginning of the school year on September 1st, military science lessons will be introduced in the 9th and 10th grades of the polytechnic high schools.
On October 13th, the People's Chamber passed a new law on national defense.
The GDR Foreign Minister Oskar Fischer visited from 26./27. October Italy . An agreement on scientific and technical cooperation is concluded.
On December 16, the decision was made to build a Berlin - Hamburg motorway , maintain the transit waterway to West Berlin and reopen the Teltow Canal .
1979
State Council Chairman Erich Honecker and Prime Minister Willi Stoph will visit India from January 8 to 21 . An agreement on economic and scientific cooperation is signed.
Erich Honecker will travel to Libya , Angola , Zambia and Mozambique from February 15 to 24 .
A consular agreement is signed with the USA on September 4th.
On September 16, 1979, the Strelzyk and Wetzel families from Pößneck in Thuringia managed a spectacular escape from the GDR with the help of a self-made hot air balloon . During the 18-kilometer balloon ride from the town of Oberlemnitz near the border , they cross the GDR border at an altitude of two and a half thousand meters. After a flight time of 28 minutes, the eight balloonists land in a field near the small town of Naila in Upper Franconia (Bavaria).
The Central Committee of the SED, the Council of Ministers and the Federal Executive of the FDGB decide on September 28 to increase pensions and to expand social benefits with effect from December 1.
On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the GDR, Leonid Brezhnev paid a visit to the GDR from October 4th to 8th and announced the withdrawal of 20,000 soldiers and 1,000 tanks.
On November 7th, Klaus Gysi will be the new State Secretary for Church Affairs.
Rudolf Bahro was released from prison on November 10 under an amnesty and left for the Federal Republic of Germany.
The NATO -Staaten agree at a special meeting on 12 December in Brussels on the NATO double-track decision .
On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the GDR, an amnesty will be issued on December 14th. 21,928 prisoners are released.
On December 21, the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany sign a veterinary agreement.
1980
On January 1, the GDR becomes a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for two years .
The introduction of the transit flat rate for traffic between the Federal Republic of Germany and West Berlin on January 1st, amounting to 50 million D-Marks annually, releases German citizens and West Berliners from road tolls for transit trips.
On January 30th, at the request of both parties, Chancellor Helmut Schmidt's planned February / March visit to the GDR will be postponed. The reason is the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan .
The 3rd framework agreement on transport issues between the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR will be signed on April 30th in East Berlin.
The actor and singer Ernst Busch dies on June 8th in East Berlin.
Chancellor Helmut Schmidt cancels a planned meeting with Erich Honecker at the Werbellinsee on August 22nd due to the strikes in Poland . The "Danzig Agreement" is signed on August 31st. After mass strikes across Poland, the government admits the formation of free trade unions, the right to strike and social improvements. In the days that followed, the Solidarność trade union's action program was drawn up. On October 30, visa-free traffic between the GDR and Poland will be abolished.
Erich Honecker will visit the Republic of Austria from November 11th to 13th .
