[2] Contact was only made possible after the Four Power Agreement on Berlin which was agreed upon by France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union which allowed both East and West Germany to maintain relations and reestablished ties between the two parts of Berlin, improved travel and communications between the two parts of the city and brought numerous improvements for the residents of the Western Sectors.

On September 4, 1974, East Germany and the United States signed and released a joint communiqué announcing the formal establishment of relations.

Congressman Benjamin Gilman told the press that the delegation had shared their concerns about "travel, freedom of religion, the border of West Berlin, current world-political problems and questions concerning bilateral relations between the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and the U.S.A." The meeting lasted for three-and-a-half hours and was the first Congressional delegation to visit East Germany since 1983.

The eighteen citizens snuck their way inside through a side door and were later persuaded to leave on the assurance the GDR government would favorably view their emigrant visa applications.

Baker said of his visit, "I felt it was important that we have the opportunity to have the premier and the people of the German Democratic Republic East Germany know of our support for the reforms that are taking place in this country."

[11] On June 11, 1990, Prime Minister Lothar de Maizière became the first and only leader of East Germany to visit the White House meeting with H.W.

The treaty was signed by the four powers with both East and West Germany in Moscow on September 12 with its full effect taking place on March 15, 1991.

In August 1977, Alan Van Norman, a 20-year-old college student, had been arrested by East German authorities as he was trying to help a family escape to West Germany.

Marcus had been held in Mozambique for nineteen months after his private plane was forced down on a flight from Rhodesia to his home in South Africa.

The men were released in two stages, with Sharansky freed first then whisked away, accompanied by the United States Ambassador to West Germany, Richard Burt.

Hall was eventually arrested on December 21, 1988, in Savannah, Georgia, after telling an undercover FBI agent that over a period of six years, he had sold Top Secret intelligence data to East Germany and the Soviet Union.

Hall was convicted of espionage on July 20, 1989; he was sentenced to 40 years imprisonment, fined $50,000, ordered to forfeit all proceeds from his activities, and given a dishonorable discharge.

He served his sentence at the United States Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, from which he was released in September 2011 after 22 years.

[27] Carney initially intended to defect to East Germany, but his Stasi counterparts wanted him to stay to continue to gather intelligence.

Around the same time after his transfer to Goodfellow, Carney applied for permanent asylum in East Germany and until 1990 his whereabouts had remained unknown and was carried on the rolls as a deserter.

After interrogation and being charged with espionage, conspiracy, and desertion, Carney pleaded guilty and was sentenced to thirty-eight years in prison in December 1991.

Carney served the mandatory terms of his sentence at Quantico, Virginia, and later at the United States Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Carney was released in 2002, after serving 11 years, seven months, and twenty days on a twenty-year sentence in accordance with his pretrial agreement.

[28] This article incorporates public domain material from "A Guide to the United States' History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations, by Country, since 1776: East Germany (German Democratic Republic)".