In October 1990 the conference of the German Studies Association was held in Buffalo. On October 3, the last day of the GDR’s existence, two emissaries from the GDR mission in Washington arrived in Buffalo and handed me a letter from Lothar de Maiziere, of the Christian Democratic Union, the first and only democratically elected premier of the GDR. It was sent a congratulatory letter informing me that I had been elected as a foreign member of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR. At the GSA there was a good representation of younger scholars from the GDR, as well as both Gutsches and both Zwahrs.
Our cleaning lady of many years who had become a good friend, Virginia King, was very active in her church in a very poor area of Buffalo. She invited the East German visitors to her church and arranged for them to come to the Sunday morning service, which was followed by a meal. Zwahr spoke about the Leipzig demonstrations, which reminded the black audience of Martin Luther King and of the nonviolent confrontation of the civil rights movement. During the meal one of the East Germans always sat between two members of the congregation. It was the first opportunity for the East Germans and the American blacks to meet.
Source: Wilma and Georg Iggers, Two Lives in Uncertain Times, New York: Berghahn Books, 2006, p. 166f