Basic HTML Version
INTERNATIONAL DESK
The
OtherGerrnany:
APower
in ltsOwnRight
T.
FIRST
impression most
people get of the German Democratic
Republic (to give East Germany its proper
name) isn't usually a good one. At the
border, barbed wire fences, machine gun
towers, searchlights, tank traps-or
if crossing from West Berlín, the
wall-all get a visitor's imagination
working overtime.
Armed police- making little attempt
to make friends or influence
people- check your passport, your
vehicle-and you. They ask: Where are
you going? Why are you going there?
H ave you got any
newspapers? ... books? ... gifts? Not
until they are fully satisfied that you
are not a smuggler, a subversive or a
spy will they wave you through the
formidable barriers that guard the
entrances to their country.
police state- and definitely second-rate compared to
its glittering neighbor , the German Federal Republic
(commonly known as West Germany).
There is, of course, sorne truth in this. East
Germany is a tightly regimented society. It
certainly does not have the dazzlíng prosperity of
West Germany. And everyone knows that its
borders are patrolled by guards under orders to
shoot when its citizens try to leave without
permission. What is less well-known is that East
Germany is one of the most powerful nations in
Europe, and potentially among the most
inAuential countries in the world. We should take
a realistic look at the "other Germany."
Why There Are Two Germanies
When the Nazis surrendered in May 1945,
ending the war in Europe, the German s tate
ceased to exist.
It
was divided into four zones of
occupation, each under the direct control of one
of the victorious Allied powers- the United
States, Great Britain, France and the Soviet
Union. (Berlín, although deep in the Soviet zone,
was also divided four ways.) The future of
Germany was in the hands of its conquerors. The
More uniformed officials are waiting to
check your money and insist that you
change sorne of it into theirs- at an
official rate of exchange. Like
r
said,
your first impression isn 't likely to be a
good one.
East Germany's a rmy-modern, well equipped, disciplined
But most people don't need to visit East Germany
to get an unfavorable impression. The "other
Germany" is seldom described in Western media as
being anything but a repressive, lackluster, 1984ish
26
intentions of the wartime allies toward their
former enemy were soon seen to differ.
By September 1949 the Federal Republic of
Germany, comprised of the American, British and
French zones of occupation, was granted
The
PLAIN TRUTH