After organizing the Esperanto movement in the former East Germany, under the aegis of the quasi-governmental Cultural Association (Kulturbund), the new Centra Laborrondo de Esperanto-Amikoj ("Central Workers' Circle of Friends of Esperanto") began publishing the bilingual Der Esperantist in the A5 format.

Over the years the Esperanto-language content increased, and the number of German articles declined.

Including a German-language special edition for the 1987 centennial of Esperanto, 165 issues were published (many of which appeared as double numbers spanning two months) with a total of 3,728 pages over the entire print run.

[1] The print run was generally 4,000 to 5,000 copies, half of which were mailed to subscribers in East Germany.

The remainder of the copies were shipped in bulk to other countries which had no local Esperanto publications, as well as to the Soviet Union, where there was interest in the newsletter.