ABSTRACT
The ties between both German states have always played a specific role in East-West relations. When the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was founded in Fall 1949 the government of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) had to strike a difficult balance, between disapproval on the one hand and a desire to maintain intra-German relations on the other. Inter-German trade was therefore given a particular status which meant that it never reached the level of "high politics" in East-West controversies. The GDR views inter-German trade, and all the other specific advantages the FRG is granting, as a lever against itself. In view of the GDR's and enduring economic difficulties the FRG could explicitly and officially link its granting of economic benefits to political and humanitarian concessions. The GDR leadership seems to be well aware that an improvement in economic relations with the FRG depends, to a large extent, on its own efforts to improve the political atmosphere.
