Word: chancellor
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When foreign dignitaries visit Bonn, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl usually greets them like a jolly innkeeper, slapping backs and exchanging jokes. But last week, as Erich Honecker's 18-car motorcade pulled up outside the Chancellery, Kohl could barely contain his distaste for the historic occasion, the first time a top East German leader had set foot in West Germany. After glumly shaking hands with the East German Communist Party chief, he bluntly waved away photographers asking for a replay. Said Kohl: "We've already done...
...Kohl's chilly welcome proved downright warm compared with his performance during twelve hours of meetings with his guest. Indeed, only once during the trip could the Chancellor force himself to refer to East Germany by its official name, the German Democratic Republic. Usually he called it "your place." Far from dwelling on the progress achieved over the years in relations between the two countries, Kohl launched into a blistering attack on Honecker's regime, denouncing it for everything from holding political prisoners to enforcing a shoot-to-kill order against East German citizens who try to flee...
...softened U.S. stance on inspections. "Taking into account that the U.S. has changed its position on verification," Gerasimov said, "we think that all these problems can be solved by our diplomats in Geneva." He also acknowledged that "the situation has changed for the better after this statement by Chancellor Kohl...
...mirror next week. Fifty-two years after he left Neunkirchen, now part of West Germany, and twelve years after he became the bland but politically nimble leader of Communist East Germany, Honecker is scheduled to make a five-day visit to his homeland. His host will be West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and a lot more than nostalgia will be in the air. Postponed earlier as a result of tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, the trip will mark the first time an East German party leader has set foot in West Germany, and only the second time...
Honecker's visit repays a trip made to East Germany by then Chancellor Helmut Schmidt in 1981. The East German leader's plans for a reciprocal visit fell victim to a freeze in superpower relations in 1984, after West Germany had decided to deploy U.S. cruise and Pershing II missiles and the Soviets, in response, had walked out of arms negotiations in Geneva. Criticized in the Soviet press for planning to carry out his trip despite Bonn's move, Honecker dutifully canceled at the last minute. His arrival in West Germany now is one more sign of how U.S.-Soviet...