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 APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110019-3

1965
 * April
 * Soviet and East German military forces harass West German civilian and Allied military traffic to West Berlin in retaliation for West German Bundestag meeting in West Berlin.
 * September
 * Ulbricht leads high-level delegation to Moscow to receive support for GDR claims to international recognition of its sovereign status; marks beginning of more intensive Soviet-GDR bilateral relations.
 * October
 * Youth riots occur in Leipzig and other East German cities.
 * December
 * SED leaders criticize youth and cultural policies at 11th plenum of the SED Central Committee; subsequent return to hardline cultural policy produces many incidents between regime and intellectuals during 1966.
 * Erich Apel, head of the State Planning Commission, commits suicide in spectacular act of protest against Soviet economic demands on East Germany.

1966
 * March
 * In bid for international recognition, East Germany applies for U.N. membership through Polish offices.

1967
 * February
 * Nationality law enacted by People's Chamber establishes for first time concept of "citizens of GDR" as distinct from "German nationality."
 * Warsaw Pact Foreign Ministers discuss bilateral relations with West Germany; East Germans, Poles against; Czechs, Bulgarians, Hungarians favor.
 * March-September
 * GDR seeks to shore up opposition to Bonn; signs 20-year bilateral treaties with Poland and Czechoslovakia (March), Hungary (May), and Bulgaria (September).
 * June
 * East Germany publicly sides with Arabs in Arab-Israeli War.
 * September
 * West German efforts to broaden and improve contact founders on East German precondition of recognition for GDR.

1968
 * April
 * New constitution replacing outmoded 1949 document adopted in East Germany's first popular referendum.
 * March-June
 * East Germany bans travel to and from West Berlin by members of NPD, West Germany's ultrarightist party. In April, ban broadened to include senior officials of West German Government. In June, People's Chamber announces passport and visa requirements for all West Germans and West Berliners.
 * August
 * Occupation of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact forces, including East German troops, followed by crackdown at home on liberals sympathetic to Dubcek government.

1969
 * March
 * West German presidential election held in West Berlin; arouses ire of East German and Soviet Governments but no incidents result.
 * April
 * Recognition of East Germany by Iraq, first non-Communist country to do so, opens door to recognition by number of other Afro-Asian states.
 * September
 * Advent of West German Government led by Social Democratic Party's Willy Brandt renews effort to normalize relations with Soviet Union, GDR, and other Communist neighbors.
 * Soviets reply positively to notes from Allied partners seeking cooperation in reducing Berlin tensions.
 * October
 * Delegations from 84 countries attend 20th anniversary celebrations in East Germany; divergences between East Germany and its allies over policy toward West Germany dominate speeches by most Eastern European leaders.
 * December
 * U.S.S.R. begins talks with West Germany on renunciation of threat or use of force in any conflict.

1970
 * March and May
 * Prime Minister Stoph and West German Chancellor Brandt meet in Erfurt and Kassel but fail to agree on basis for improving relations.
 * March
 * First Four-Power talks in 11 years discuss Berlin problems.
 * August
 * Soviet Union and West Germany sign treaty renouncing use of force and accepting all postwar European boundaries. Four-Power rights in Berlin and Germany not affected. (West Germany signs same agreement with Poland in December.)

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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110019-3