[1] In November 1949 he was released to the newly founded German Democratic Republic, which till the previous month had still been designated the Soviet occupation zone in what remained of Germany.
Herbert Krolikowski joined his country's diplomatic service in 1955: till 1958 he served as an attaché and third secretary in the East German embassy in Moscow.
From 1958 till 1960 he was an acting director and then in 1960/61 in charge for Europe Division 4 (i.e. Scandinavia) at the East German Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
He undertook a course of correspondence study at the country's "Walter Ulbricht" Academy for Law and Political Sciences at Potsdam during 1956-58, giving rise to the award of a degree in 1959.
Krolikowski and Fischer both remained in post until 1990 and the final chapter in the forty-year existence of the German Democratic Republic.