Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XL, Germany and Berlin, 1969–1972

130. Telegram From the Embassy in Germany to the Department of State¹

Bonn, October 28, 1970, 1830Z.

12604. Subj: East German Message to Brandt.

1. Minister Ehmke informed the DCM on an urgent basis that a special emissary from the GDR, Bertsch, was traveling to Bonn tonight via Autobahn with a special message to the Chancellor. Bertsch was expected to arrive around 9:00 p.m. and would be received immediately. Bertsch had called in the late morning saying that he had a message to deliver personally to the Chancellor. The Chancellor’s office had decided that Ehmke would receive him, which he will do tonight. Ehmke said that Bertsch is the number 2 press and information man in the GDR Government and it was considered inappropriate, given his relatively low rank, for the Chancellor to receive him. (Ehmke said Bertsch is a Stoph man, the first press man is a Honecker man.)

2. Ehmke said he had had a hint from the BND that an initiative of some sort from the GDR might be expected. Ehmke thought the initiative might be a result of the FRG’s effort to persuade the Soviets to put pressure on the GDR. Ehmke also was much intrigued by the fact that the GDR emissary was coming so close to Gromyko.² The FRG had no inkling of what Bertsch’s message might contain, but promised to keep us informed.³

3. Ehmke asked that we inform the British and French here of this development, which we are doing here.

Rush

1. Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, POL GER E–GER W. Secret; Immediate; Limdis. Repeated to London, Paris, Moscow, Berlin, and USNATO.
2. Gromyko was in East Berlin on October 29.
3. On October 29 Bertsch delivered an oral message to Brandt on behalf of Stoph, which included the following: “The German Democratic Republic favors détente and an improvement of the situation concerning West Berlin. It is therefore interested in seeing the negotiations which are currently taking place between the Four Powers on West Berlin lead to a positive result.” (Telegram 12664 from Bonn, October 29; National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, POL GER E–GER W) A memorandum of conversation is in telegram 12669 from Bonn, October 29. (Ibid.) See also Heinrich Potthoff, ed., Bonn und Ost-Berlin, 1969–1982: Dialog auf höchster Ebene und vertrauliche Kanäle. Darstellung und Dokumente, pp. 26–27, 189–193; and Akten zur Auswärtigen Politik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, 1970, Vol. 3, pp. 1863–1865.