Notes of a Conversation between Comrade Winzer and the Foreign Minister of the FRG, Walter Scheel, on 7 July 1973, 11:50 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Finlandia Hall

Helsinki, 7 July 1973[1] [2]

Notes of a conversation between Comrade Winzer[3] and the Foreign Minister of the FRG, Walter Scheel, on 7 July 1973, 11.50 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. in the Finlandia Hall[4]


Participants:
FRG:
Guido Brunner - Head of the Policy Planning Council, Foreign Office
Mr. Walter[5] [sic] - Bureau of the Foreign Minister

GDR:
Comrade Oskar Fischer[6]
Comrade Dr. Guenter Buehring[7]


Comrade Winzer began by stating that the purpose of the conversation lay in clarifying what was achieved during the first meeting and how to proceed further. There was international relief about the fact that there were no polemics between the GDR's foreign office and the FRG and that both made efforts – each in its own way – to contribute to the success of the conference. This had been mentioned by all participants and it had been registered by many [states] with satisfaction. Hence the relations between the GDR and the FRG had proved to be meaningful for détente. One had to draw conclusions from this. The second stage would take place in Geneva; the contact between the GDR's and the FRG's delegation could be continued. Renewed meetings between both Foreign Ministers lay ahead in New York. One had to take care to avoid any "querelles allemandes" in the UN, too.

At this point, Scheel said that this would be guaranteed without further agreements. Comrade Winzer stated that [the] GDR and FRG would face new problems in the UN and in other international organisations.[8] Diverging approaches concerning several topics would inevitably occur. One had to think about ways to find certain agreements. In the context of the Helsinki experience, it was probably right to say that the normal relations during this conference must not remain reserved for international occasions. One had to settle the relations between the GDR and the FRG to the greatest extent possible. […]

Endnotes

[1] Copyright: Project 'CSCE and the Transformation of Europe', University of Mannheim and the Cold War International History Project at the Woodrow Wilson Center. All rights reserved. The "CSCE and the Transformation of Europe" Project is funded by the VolkswagenStiftung. If cited, quoted, translated, or reproduced, acknowledgement of any document's origin must be made as follows: "Oliver Bange/Stephan Kieninger (eds): "Negotiating one's own demise? The GDR's Foreign Ministry and the CSCE negotiations - Plans, preparations, tactics and presumptions," CWIHP e-Dossier Nr. 17, on behalf of the Project 'CSCE and the Transformation of Europe', University of Mannheim 2008".

[2] For the West German account of this conversation, see AAPD 1973, Doc. 220.

[3] Otto Winzer (1902-1975) was the GDR's Foreign Minister from 1965 to 1975.

[4] Stage I of the CSCE, the meeting of Foreign Ministers, took place in Helsinki's Finlandia Hall from 3 to 7 July 1973.

[5] This appears to be a misnomer by the GDR's note-taker, Guenter Buehring. Karl-Walter Lewalter was deputy head of the Foreign Minister's office in the Auswaertiges Amt.

[6] Oskar Fischer (1923) was the GDR's Deputy Foreign Minister and was Otto Winzer's successor as Foreign Minister from 1975 to 1990.

[7] Guenter Buehring (*1937) was part of Otto Winze's personal staff at the time. He had previously served in the Grundsatzabteilung of the MfAA and, after a spell as counselor at the East German embassy in Paris, he would head East Berlin's delegation to the Stockholm Conference on Confidence Building Measures from 1984-1986.

[8] Both German states became UN members on 18 September 1973.