Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic in the GDR (1982) In Article 8 of the Basic Treaty, the Federal Republic and the GDR agreed to establish permanent representative missions “in the seats of their respective governments,” not embassies; this agreement was supplemented on March 14, 1974, by a protocol on the establishment of permanent representative missions. On May 2, 1974, the permanent representatives in East Berlin and Bonn began their work. The first permanent representative of the Federal Republic in East Berlin was state secretary Günter Gaus; he was replaced by state secretary Klaus Bölling in February 1981. State secretary Hans-Otto Bräutigam (shown here) was named permanent representative in May 1982 and remained in office until 1989. GDR citizens repeatedly sought refuge in the permanent missions of the Federal Republic, which is why these offices had to temporarily limit their work to assisting GDR citizens via telephone or mail.