The 1980s were to prove once again what the history of the Republic as a whole had revealed: the further the totalitarian straitjacket was loosened, the more difficult it became to tighten it again. So although periodic attempts would indeed be made to reassert party control in the course of this decade, they were to prove largely ineffectual in anything other than the short term. Ironically, though, party intervention was in one respect less necessary. Quite simply, there were fewer writers and artists to whom pressure needed to be applied. The heavy exodus following the Biermann affair had begun an irreversible trend which the authorities appeared to welcome. Their view was clearly that an exile could well make unwelcome statements ‘abroad’, but that the damage done by these would be restricted. The real danger lay in those who chose to remain in the Republic: in particular those outspoken figures who commanded wide support and who could rely on their international standing for some form of protection. The principals here were obviously Christa Wolf and Stefan Heym.

Heym's activities in the eighties are marked by fewer journalistic functions on the one hand, and more public lectures and TV appearances on the other.