Notes on a Conversation with Vortragendem Legationsrat 1st Class Dr. Blech, 19 August 1974

Bonn, 19 August 1974 [1]
Permanent Representation of the GDR in the FRG

Notes on a conversation with Vortragendem Legationsrat 1st class Dr. Blech [2], 19 August 1974

The conversation took place on the invitation of the Foreign Representation, Bonn [3] (see notes on a conversation with Legation Counselor Dr. Kastrup [4] from the AA [5] on 14 August 1974).

Concerning the FRG's attitude towards the European Security Conference, B. made the following remarks: [. . .]

-The FRG paid special attention to the following issues in the context of the conference: questions of agenda topic III, [6] the problem of mutually agreed changes of frontiers, the problem of confidence-building measures. Solutions to these and other questions would justify a high-level summit.

-Right from the beginning, the FRG had not been interested in letting the ESC become "a conference about the German problem". Specifically, it held the view that the purpose of the ES [7] could not be a multilateral sanctification of the treaties with the USSR and other socialist states. It also could not agree to a potential attempt to utilise the results of the [CSCE] conference for stepping back from regulations agreed in the framework of the [FRG's Eastern] treaties. [. . .]

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 (http://www.CSCE-1975.net)".

[2] Dr. Klaus Blech (*1928) headed the FRG's delegation to the CSCE from November 1974 onwards. From 1974 to 1977, he also headed the Policy Planning Staff of the Auswaertiges Amt. In August 1974, he headed the so-called 'Deutschlandabteilung' – the bureau that was responsible for 'Germany and Berlin as a whole'. '(Vortragender) Legationsrat' refers to the diplomatic rank – the out-dated prefix 'Vortragend' referring to the individual's right to report to the court.

[3] A Permanent Representation is an institution which fulfils the functions of an embassy in the case that the implementation of an embassy is not possible. This can be the case if the Permanent Representation is in a country which the state that the Permanent Representation belongs to does not officially recognise. States have Permanent Representations at international organisation/institutions, too – like the UN or the EU. The governments of the FRG and the GDR opened Permanent Representations in East Berlin/Bonn on 2 May 1974, as the FRG did not recognise the GDR according to international law.

[4] Dr. Dieter Kastrup (*1937) was a diplomat in the Auswaertiges Amt whose expertise lay in the relationship between both German states. In 1974, Kastrup was deputy head of the so-called 'Deutschlandabteilung'. From 1980 on, he headed this department. During the events of 1989/90, Kastrup was Political Director in the Auswaertiges Amt.

[5] AA stands for 'Auswaertiges Amt', the foreign office in Bonn.

[6] Agenda topic III was about free(r) movement of people, information and ideas.

[7] ES here stands for ESC or CSCE