Preface 

An international press conference was held in Berlin, capital of the German Democratic Republic, on January 15, 1969, during which world public opinion was informed of the motives, the background, and the present stage of the West German government's un¬ dercover preparations for producing their own nuclear weapons. The press conference sponsored by the GDR Foreign Ministry and the National Council of the National Front of Democratic Germany, proved through comprehensive factual material that the nuclear weapon strategy has become the fundamental element of the Bonn government's military conception and of the West German military leaders. 
Those sitting in the Presidium of the press conference included: 
Professor Max Steenbeck, Chairman of the GDR's Research Council, Professor at Jena’s Friedrich Schiller University, member of the GDR’s Academy of Sciences, and corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union. 
Professor Rudolf Arzinger, President of the Society for International Law and Director of the International Law Institute at Karl-Marx-University, Leipzig. 
Dr. Bock, departmental head in the Ministry of For¬ eign Affairs of the GDR. 
Sitting in the Presidium were also scientists and engi¬ neers who until very recently worked in West Germany's nuclear research and development and have asked the GDR for asylum for reasons of conscience. They are: 
The diplomaed physicist Herbert Patzelt-he studied physics from 1952 to 1958. After receiving his diploma in 1958 he worked from 1959 to 1964 as a scientific officer with the Geesthacht Society for the Application of Nuclear Energy in Shipping and Shipbuilding. After¬ wards, until 1966, he worked with the Society for Nuclear Research in Karlsruhe, at the literature depart¬ ment of its nuclear research centre in the town. From 

1966 until his coming to the GDR last November he was a scientific expert with the Executive Board for Disseminating Knowledge of the Commission of the European Communities (formerly EURATOM) in Brus¬ sels and Luxemburg. 
The diplomaed physicist Klaus Breuer who studied physics from 1956 to 1961 and took his Doctor's Degree in 1965 at the Institute for Nuclear Physics at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University (Frankfurt on Main) in the field of nuclear physics. Afterwards, until his coming to the GDR last August he was a scientific officer at the same institute. During this period he became acquainted with the research problems of the Nuclear Research Centre in Karlsruhe, the Nuclear Research Plant in Julich, and other scientific establish¬ ments of the West German Federal Republic.