This led one comrade from the Council of the West City District not to ask for so many agitators on election day since there would now be fewer problems. A comrade from the Deutsche Spedition shipping company said, “Why are we suddenly in such a hurry; no one here can explain that and there is a lot of discussion. Since those leaving are required to leave the GDR on such short notice, we are receiving hauling orders that we cannot even complete due to fuel problems. To me it seems very rushed and not thought through.”
The director of the party task force argued that we have to maintain trust, even if it is difficult to understand some measures at first. But hopefully such people would never be allowed to step foot in the GDR ever again. If what we all hear is true, that people who have left are allowed to visit the GDR three times a year, then the comrades would no longer show any understanding.
One comrade argued, and was supported in her statement by two others, that she did not know what was true about it and what was not, since the facts mentioned obviously came from Western broadcasts, but she understood it to mean that this was due to the GDR’s willingness to compromise in the sense of creating good relations with the FRG and to maintain and secure policies for peace and détente. But the other comrades remained silent on this and it gave the impression that they did not support this explanation.
Source: StAL SED-BL Leipzig, IV/E-2/5/301, sheet 24 f.; reprinted in Henrik Eberle and Denise Wesenberg, eds., Einverstanden, E.H.: Parteiinterne Hausmitteilungen, Briefe, Akten und Intrigen aus der Honecker-Zeit [Agreed, E.H.: Internal Party Memos, Letters, Files, and Conspiracies from the Honecker Era]. Berlin, 1999, pp. 286-88.
Translation: Allison Brown
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