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"The Bundeshaus (Federal Building) in Bonn, West Germany, May 1961. "

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Soviet soldier taking a photograph of another soldier in Red Square, Moscow, 1959

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Berlin Wall 1986

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Portrait of Mao Zedong on Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, China, 1972.

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Berlin Wall between Mitte and Kreuzberg

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United States. Central Intelligence Agency

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George H.W. Bush and Lech Walesa

CIA Reports on the Collapse of Communism in Europe

German Reunification

Mikhail Gorbachev, 1986

Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeevich

1931- 2022

East German Uprising

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End of the Cold War

Photograph of Helmut Kohl, 1982.

Kohl, Helmut

1930- 2017

Nikita Khrushchev at the UNGA, 1962.

Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeevich

1894- 1971

Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe

Official portrait for President George H.W. Bush, 1989.

Bush, George H.W.

1924- 2018

Erich Honecker, 1976.

Honecker, Erich Ernst Paul

1912- 1994

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June 2007	On Human Rights. Folder 51. The Chekist Anthology. Outlines the KGB’s response to the USSR’s signing of the Helsinki Accords in 1975. The accords obligated signatories to respect their citizens’ human rights. This gave Soviet dissidents and westerners leverage in demanding that the USSR end persecution on the basis of religious or political beliefs. Some of the KGB’s active measures included the establishment of a charitable fund dedicated to helping victims of imperialism and capitalism, and the fabrication of a letter from a Ukrainian group to FRG President Walter Scheel describing human rights violations in West Germany. The document also mentions that the Soviet Ministry of Defense obtained an outline of the various European powers’ positions on human rights issues as presented at the March 1977 meeting of the European Economic Community in London from the Italian Foreign Ministry. The KGB also initiated Operation “Raskol” [“Schism”], which ran between 1977 and 1980. This operation included active measures to discredit Soviet dissidents Andrei Sakharov, Yelena Bonner, and Alexander Solzhenitsyn, measures designed to drive a wedge between the US and its democratic allies, and measures intended to convince the US government that continued support for the dissident movement did nothing to harm the position of the USSR.
July 1, 1953	Telephonogram from Miroshnichenko and Lunkov to Semenov, [early July 1953] On 17 June, the Soviet military had stopped all cross-sector travel, causing widespread resentment among many East Germans who worked in the Western sectors or crossed them on their way to work. Under pressure from the East German population in the days following the uprising, SED leaders and local Soviet High Commission officials urged Semenov, then in Moscow for the Extraordinary CPSU Plenum, to normalize the traffic situation in Berlin. Semenov, following Molotov’s orders, informed Ulbricht that the question of free movement across the sector border “must be decided by the [German] comrades themselves, taking the situation into account.” On 7 July, tram and metro traffic between the sectors in Berlin was restored.
July 4, 1953	Telephonogram from Miroshnichenko and Lun’kov to Soviet High Commissioner V. Semyonov Regarding Inter-zone Travel Telegram describing discontent of the German population living in East Berlin at the disruption caused by the restrictions imposed on intra-zones travel as a result of the events of 17 June 1953. The telegram recommends actions to be taken to improve the movement of people across the Berlin border.
December 31, 1954	Report on the Specialists returning from the Soviet Union Report on the return of German scientists from the Soviet Union. The report informs the SED leadership which of the German scientists desire to return to the West and which will stay in the East. The report also discusses the political atitudes of the scientists. It makes suggestions as to ways to secure their cooperation with the East German government.
June 13, 1953	Cable 5321, from Ambassador Reber in Bonn to US State, Washington Cable from Samuel Reber to U.S. Department of State Outlining U.S. Perspectives on Four-Power Talks
June 15, 1979	Memorandum of the meeting between Erich Honecker and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Israel, Meir Vilner The conversation starts with Honecker's report on the political and economic situation in the GDR. Meir Vilner informs Honecker about current events in Israel, especially about the position the Communist Party takes toward Zionism, and about his opinion on some foreign policy issues, namely relations with China and Romania and the Middle East peace process.
November 30, 1987	Information on the 20th Session of the Committee of the Ministers of Defense of Warsaw Pact Member States Report on the course and results of the 20th Session of the Committee of Ministers of Defense of Warsaw Pact Member States held in Bucharest on November 24-25, 1987.
June 23, 1961	Telegram from Gaqo Paze, the Albanian Ambassador in GDR to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Albania Gaqo Paze reports from Berlin that during the conversation between the Yugoslav Ambassador to Berlin Voshnjak, and the Soviet ambassador to Berlin Pervukhin, the latter had asked if Yugoslavia would subscribe to the peace treaty with the GDR if the Western states would not accept to sign the peace treaty with both German states. Voshnjak avoided giving a direct answer several times, but in the end he implicitly expressed, according to Gaqo Paze, that Yugoslavia would not sign the treaty.
March 9, 1982	Conversation between Erich Honecker and Yasser Arafat (Excerpt) This is an excerpt of a conversation which appears in full at BA-SAPMO J IV 2/201/1416. The conversation opens with the issue of French-Israeli relations. France plans to deliver a nuclear reactor to Israel to the opposition of the Arab world. Also mentioned are the deliveries of arms from the GDR to the PLO. Arafat reports on the use of chemical weapons by Israel in Lebanon. These weapons were reportedly delivered by the FRG. Israel also seems to use biological weapons. Final topics of discussion are the role of the Pope in Poland, the question of Jerusalem, and the Islamic movement in Afghanistan.
June 2007	KGB Practices. Folder 70. The Chekist Anthology. This entry contains brief descriptions of a variety of KGB operations carried out between the early 1960’s and late 1970’s, and provides a sampling of the kinds of operations that were common in that era. Operation “Grom” [“Thunder”] involved fabricating a US State Department memo on Soviet citizens’ inclination towards treason. The memo discussed ways in which the US could exploit this tendency to its advantage. It was published on the front page of the British newspaper “Daily Express.” A pamphlet created by the KGB and attributed to the terrorist organization ‘BAS’ (South Tyrolean Liberation Committee) was introduced as evidence in the trial of BAS leader Norbert Burger in Austria. In July 1976 the KGB residency in Singapore spied on Chess Grandmaster Boris Spassky during his visit to Singapore, and noted in its report that he spent much of his free time on the tennis court. The KGB created and disseminated a letter, ostensibly from nationalist Ukrainian emigrants, protesting the French government’s cooperation with Zionists, and threatening reprisals against French Zionists. The KGB residency in Austria organized operation “Bonga” [“Bigwig”] in which forged letters from Chairman Mao were produced. These letters indicated that Mao himself had essentially organized the opposition to Hua Guofeng’s reforms, and that Hua might lead China to a revisionist course. In March 1977, the newspaper of the Austrian Communist Party printed a translation of a secret Chilean document in which the Chilean secret police asked Gen. Augusto Pinochet for additional funds to carry out undercover operations abroad. Pinochet’s reply contained a harsh rebuke for the request, and a strong admonishment against engaging in clandestine operations abroad. Mitrokhin did not mention where the document came from, nor did he state whether it was authentic or a forgery.