Elections in the GDR and Their Consequences

Abstract

On February 3, Federal chancellor Helmut Kohl and Prime Minister Hans Modrow met in Davos. That same day Chief Officer Mertes had written a submission to the chancellor, in which he urged his boss to again place himself “at the front of movement,” as he had done with the “Ten Points.” The central issue now was the “economic renewal of the GDR.” It was necessary that the situation in the GDR “change for the better in a manageable time” if the people were to remain “in their homeland.”¹ Mertes included two papers: a “Statement” for a declaration by the chancellor on the next tasks in the achievement of German unity and a paper, Schritte zur deutschen Wirtschaftseinheit (Steps toward German Economic Unity).²