During the mid-1980s, the World Jewish Congress also entered into diplomatic talks with several Central and Eastern European countries, notably Communist East Germany, whose leadership the WJC urged to recognize its obligations to Jewish victims of Nazi Germany. In February 1990, GDR Prime Minister Hans Modrow sent a letter to WJC President Edgar Bronfman in which he recognized on behalf of the East German government the GDR's responsibility for German crimes committed against the Jewish people under the Nazi regime. In a statement, Modrow said: