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Gorbachev played double game with East Germany - ex-GDR leader

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Mikhail Gorbachev went behind East Germany's back to pave the way for German reunification, one of the last leaders of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) said Wednesday.

MOSCOW, September 16 (RIA Novosti) - Mikhail Gorbachev went behind East Germany's back to pave the way for German reunification, one of the last leaders of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) said Wednesday.

"In a conversation with me, Gorbachev categorically said: 'Unification of Germany is not on the agenda.' It was on November 1, 1989. But almost at the same time, behind the backs of the GDR leadership, contacts with FRG [West Germany] figures were established to feel out the terms for German reunification," Egon Krenz said.

Krenz made the statement while presenting the Russian version of his book "Herbst 1989" ("Autumn 1989") on the final months of East Germany's existence.

He said he trusted Gorbachev "up to the last minute of GDR existence."

"Gorbachev's double play became a bitter disappointment for me," Krenz said.

Germany, split in 1949 into the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the GDR (East Germany), was reunited in 1990. The event was preceded by large-scale geopolitical changes in Europe.

The GDR, which was part of the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc, ceased to exist.

During Krenz's brief time as chairman of the State Council of the German Democratic Republic, which lasted from October 18, 1989 until December 3, 1989, sections of the Berlin Wall were opened to allow passage between east and west.

 

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