East Germany signed treaties of friendship with Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary, involving promises on the part of these powers not to open diplomatic relations with West Germany unless the latter were prepared to recognize the existence of two German states.
Chancellor Kurt Kiesinger of West Germany submitted suggestions for improving relations with East Germany. Ulbricht responded by proposing a meeting between Kiesinger and Stoph and the negotiation of a treaty “between the two German states.”
Stoph formally proposed talks, which the West German government agreed to (June 13), but only on condition that formal recognition of the German Democratic Republic would not be involved.
