Germany and the town twinning movement

Contemporary Review, Jan, 2003 by Martina Weyreter

Nevertheless a total of 64 such twinnings were established in the GDR's short remaining lifespan. It may be argued that it is impossible for friendly relationships to blossom in only three years and that, therefore, no empirically valid comparison can be made between these 'inner-German' and, say, French-German twinnings. As was to be expected, the new twinnings were also firmly under communist control and supervision. Under a centralist government, East German cities had in fact no autonomy in their dealings and consequently no right to choose their own twin or organise their own exchanges. It was done for them by the Bezirksverwaltung (regional administrative authority representing the government) who would designate the members of any delegation visiting the FRO, making sure that no individual ever went twice. Staying at, or even visiting private homes was banned and activities limited to four a year. All written correspondence had to be sent via the Bezirksverwaltung. On return from any visit, delegation leaders had to report back to the Bezirksverwaltung in writing within 48 hours, detailing progress and results. The GDR government stressed at all times that twinning should serve the purpose of promoting socialist politics and the socialist way of life only, and not be misinterpreted by citizens as a new right to free travel. Consequently West German participants, hoping that these twinnings would pave the way to reunification, found themselves reduced to mere instruments in the GDR's ideological mission.

Yet the GDR's control mechanisms were already digging their own grave. Wishing to give an outside appearance of entertaining excellent relationships with the West, it would always expect reports from delegates to give the most positive account of how socialist ideas had been promoted and how contacts had been polite and to-the-point but certainly not in any way friendly. In other words, delegation leaders had no option other than to write what was required. Little did the complacent Bezirksverwaltung know that West German accounts of the very same meetings spoke of laughter, merrymaking and private house parties.

Having developed their own dynamics in the face of adversity, it was these twinnings which played an important role in the reunification process after 1989 and which may count as the earliest examples of pan-European cooperation. Economic support from the West was needed, as well as help in building up a structure of local government - which could now be adopted more quickly with the help of West German twin towns. Had there not been friendly personal contacts all along, these twinnings would probably have collapsed together with the political framework that made them. Yet they all continued to blossom, albeit with different priorities, and during the 1990s around 150 new, now genuine inner-German twinnings were added. The number of informal contacts between East and West German cities has been estimated at 600.

As the Iron Curtain was drawn back, there was also renewed interest in Central and Eastern Europe. Unlike the immediate post-war twinnings, which had cultural exchange as their aim, this new generation of twinnings was looking to pastures new. For Poland, for example, establishing twinnings with Germany was proof of its independence from the former Soviet Union and of autonomy in its foreign policy. About 400 German-Polish twinnings exist today. Meanwhile Hamburg and St. Petersburg were, for the first time, able to arrange personal visits and school exchanges. New twinnings were established between Germany and Russia (now over 100), Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia, their defined priorities being help to self-help via awareness transfer and to mutual benefit. Activities were often project-related, thus eliminating factors that would have been obstacles to traditional people exchanges: geographical distance, cultural differences and vast disparity in levels of income. For example, in the case of China (where 16 twinnings with Germany had existed even before 1989) interhuman aspects were not a priority, but helping to build up a local Chinese infrastructure, transferring technology and introducing Germany's unrivalled vocational training system in China were. In return, Germany was rewarded with a huge new market where to sell new technology.