Background
Built in what was then the German Democratic Republic, the Freiberg Germany Temple was the first LDS temple in a then communist state. After the Bern Switzerland Temple was dedicated in 1955, Latter-day Saints throughout Europe visited it for the Endowment and other temple rites. After 1957, East German governmental restrictions on foreign travel prevented the country's Latter-day Saints—about 5,000 in 1970—from easily obtaining visas to travel to the temple. Church members repeatedly applied for visas, were rejected, then applied again. An attempt in the early 1970s by Henry Burkhardt, the de jure head of the church in East Germany, to present the government with a list of 300 church members interested in visiting the temple almost led to his arrest.
The LDS Church appointed Burkhardt as President of the Germany Dresden Mission in 1969 to comply with a new law requiring churches to be led by East Germans. In the 1970s his role gave Burkhardt access to visas to travel to General Conference meetings in Salt Lake City, Utah. Obtaining the visas required him to meet often with East German government officials, whom church leaders encouraged Burkhardt to build relationships with despite his reluctance. In 1973 and/or 1978, H. Burke Peterson of the Presiding Bishopric suggested to Burkhardt that the church build an endowment house in East Germany as an alternative to a temple.
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