Germany: Fast Drive to Bonn

A black, Czech-built Tatra limousine pulled up outside Bonn's White House, the Villa Hammerschmidt. Out stepped two East German diplomats, chilled from their unannounced eleven-hour journey over the icy autobahn from East Berlin. They carried a letter from East German Communist Boss Walter Ulbricht to West German President Gustav Heinemann.

The letter arrived at a time when the general diplomatic climate in Central Europe seemed to be improving. Until last week, Walter Ulbricht, the East bloc's most durable Stalinist, had appeared to be Europe's odd man out. Even as the Soviet Union...

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