They were behind a paywall.

I'm tempted to log into my other account just to upvote this again.

Is this like kidnapping your brother to sell back to your mother?

Well here's a gold for that account to be jealous of.

Wonder if North Korea does anything similar.

Interesting spike there during the first 5 years of Reagan's presidency. Of course that's US, but that definitely affected Cold War relations.

Wow, mind boggling sums, but I guess East Germany needed about 3,50 .. Billion!

Through the 80s, the amount of debt owed by the DDR to the West grew rapidly so it was probably quite convenient to find some extra 'criminals' to sell.

So that's what, a buck fiddy?

God dammit you made me laugh too hard lol

The exchange rate changed by quite a bit in the 70s and 80s but between $1B and $2B.

Very diffident dynamics between the two.

Also the most conservative mainstream politician got them a massive credit. The Stasi must have had some really good dirt on him.

Could I ask who you're referring to?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Josef_Strauss

Thanks. My impression is that Strauss viewed East Germans as fellow countrymen collectively imprisoned but that may well be incorrect.