According to a Washington Post report in 1989, only 25% of East Germans were passport holders.

[1] According to an East German passport law in 1957, East German citizens needed an exit visa from the GDR to travel abroad, including West Germany and West Berlin.

[2] The penalty for making an unauthorized journey outside East Germany was imprisonment.

[5] East German passports contained a note to the effect that: Versions issued in late 1989 forward to the country's demise in October 1990 omit the note.

[5] Following reunification in October 1990, the Unification Treaty provided that East German passports would remain in force until, at the latest, 31 December 1995.