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b. Relations with other Eastern European countries

Recognized as a sovereign state by all the Communist countries of Eastern Europe, East Germany strives to obtain from its "fraternal socialist" allies a binding commitment to support all East German political objectives. In particular, East Germany relies on the other Eastern European countries to support the regime's drive to gain membership in various international organizations and to encourage other nations to establish official relations. The Communist nations of Eastern Europe have been willing up to a point to support the GDR in attaining these objectives because they clearly regard the existence of a separate East German state to be essential to their own security arrangements. relations with these countries were strained at times, however, because of such issues as West Germany's Ostpolitik, which the East German regime tried to block and which the other Communist nations regarded favorably. Another irritant has been the receptivity of these nations to Bonn's drive to expand trade relations with Eastern Europe, along with the success of the West Germans in negotiating agreements for exchanging trade missions with Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria. From the East German point of view, a particularly galling aspect of these agreements has been the implicit recognition by the Communist nations of Bonn's claim that West Berlin is a part of the Federal Republic.

Bonn was unable or unwilling to follow up its early successes immediately, but in early 1967 the new West German Government again sought improvements in West German relations with Eastern Europe. Its efforts met with some success when Romania established diplomatic relations with Bonn, and Prague and Budapest agreed to receive Bonn's emissaries. This led to feverish East German diplomatic efforts in early 1967 to convince the Warsaw Pact states that they should not improve their relations with the Federal Republic until Bonn gave up its claim to be the sole representative of Germany and recognized the German Democratic Republic as a sovereign state.

This diplomatic activity was highlighted by a series of visits by Ulbricht to various Warsaw Pact states and the signing of mutual assistance treaties with Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria. From the East German viewpoint, these treaties provided reassurance that East German interests would not be completely ignored even if other Eastern European countries eventually established diplomatic relations with Bonn.

By mid-1968, relations between Pankow and other capitals in Eastern Europe had worsened. Bonn's Ostpolitik was proving to be attractive to other bloc countries in addition to Romania, and the East German regime feared eventual isolation if West German initiatives succeeded. The prospect of a liberal, Western-oriented Czechoslovakia posed the most serious and immediate threat. As a result, the Ulbricht regime launched a vitriolic attack on the Dubcek leadership with the purpose of raising doubt about the ideological loyalties of the government in Prague and reversing the trend toward liberalization in Eastern Europe. East Germany's criticism of Dubcek was often more vehement than that of the Soviets, and on 20 August, when Soviet-led Warsaw Pact forces invaded Czechoslovakia, it was made to appear in East Germany that Ulbricht's policies had been vindicated.

During 1969-1970 the Ulbricht regime pursued an active but defensive foreign policy in its attempt to coordinate and restrict East European approaches to Bonn. The East Germans succeeded in delaying moves towards detente between Bonn and the Communist forms, but the regime suffered a sharp setback in August 1970 when the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression treaty with the Federal Republic. The agreement was a particularly bitter bill for the East German Government to swallow because it violated a key axiom of GDR policy - that the Communist nations would refrain from taking steps toward normalizing relations with West Germany as long as the Bonn government maintained its policy of not recognizing East Germany. Gomulka had also dropped this as an issue in the talks between Bonn and Warsaw.

The more flexible policies of the Honecker leadership toward West Germany have eased tensions with East Germany's allies, especially Poland and Czechoslovakia. Honecker visited his closest Communist neighbors in the fall of 1971, and at the fourth Central Committee plenum the following December he declared that a "new historical phase in the brotherly relations" was being introduced. One concrete result was the conclusion of special agreements in January 1971 allowing visa-free travel between these countries. The East German regime also remains a staunch supporter of economic and technological cooperation among the Communist nations through the Council on Economic Mutual Assistance which is headquartered in Moscow.

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