Baltic Memories of East Germans: Between 1952 and 1989, during the Cold War

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국해양대학교 국제해양문제연구소
· 수록지 정보 : 해항도시문화교섭학 / 20호 / 41 ~ 82페이지
· 저자명 : 정태흥, 정진성

초록

This article deals with the paradox function of the Baltic Sea in East Germany (DDR in the German acronym) between 1949 and 1989.
The Baltic Sea, divided by the Iron Curtain with military forces stationed on either side has been a sea of conflicts and dividing lines. At the same time, it has been required to play the ‘Sea of Peace’ and ‘Sea of the public’ roles.
In 1953, when the regime promoted tourism on the Baltic Sea for recovering its social - and economic situation, many of the hotels were seized by the government, taken from their private owners under the codename ‘Aktion Rose’. For being the ‘Sea of the public’, all the confiscated hotels were converted into either FDGB (Free German Trade Union Federation) or DDR regime's vacation premises.
The ‘Ostseewoche Baltic Week’ between 1958 and 1975, demonstrates how the DDR regime invested considerable resources for gaining external political allowance while the population was suffering from economic and resource shortages.
More than 4.6 million people moved from East Germany to West Germany (BRD in the West German acronym) after WWII in 1945 to German reunification in 1990. The DDR regime tried to halt the mass flight of its people with the barriers in Berlin, the 1400 km inner-German border and 640km sea border with barbed wire, land-mines and standing orders to shoot. Villages near the inner-German border, and sea border system, were heavily-guarded and separated from the outside world. From year to year, the border became more impassable. With tremendous effort, the DDR tried to prevent ‘Republikflucht (fleeing the republic)’.
Although much attention has focused on dramatic and ingenious methods of escaping the Berlin Wall and inner-German borders, only a smallish number of attempted escapes were reported through the Baltic Sea.
The Baltic Border coastline was guarded by the ‘Grenzkommando ‘Küste’’ headquartered in Rostock, as well as through civil surveillance, with the help of Stasi, local authorities and border volunteers. For nearly 40 years residents and visitors had to endure a special control system that intended to prevent escape attempts. Strict laws regulated everyday life and tourism activities at the Baltic Border.
The last part of this article deals with the Baltic Sea as an invisible sea border and with people's emotional feelings about their daily lives in the Baltic Sea border villages.
It remains necessary to remind ourselves of the contradictory role of the Baltic Sea on the one hand as a part of the DDR external propaganda, while on the other hand, as a place which specifically commemorates the division of Germany and its victims.

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