LL-L "History" 2009.01.22 (02) [E/LS]

[Lowlands-L List]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 25 January 2009 - Volume 01
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From: Luc Hellinckx <luc.hellinckx at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Personalia"

Beste Ron,



You wrote:

It was obvious that Hanne was fully supportive of what we do at Lowlands-L.
But she lacked the level of English proficiency to follow all that we do,
since for most of her adult life she lived in Eastern Germany where English
was not taught to everyone in the early days and people lived in isolation
from the rest of the world.



Is that really so? I'd like to know if Eastern Germany had no contact
whatsoever with other Warsaw Pact states. Anybody know?



Kind greetings,



Luc Hellinckx



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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: History

Luc,

As far as I know from others and from my own experiences, *any* foreign
contacts had to be specially permitted.

East Germans could host their visiting Western relatives, both sides needing
special permission, monitoring and regulations. East Germans could not go to
Western countries unless they were parts of special government-sponsored
groups, or unless they were pensioners (in which case "good riddance").
Trips to Warsaw Pact countries, too, were either controlled visiting group
trips or special permission vacation trips (only for politically obedient
boys and girls) to controlled camp-like areas similar to those Western
tourists were housed in, but as much apart from Western tourists, especially
West German tourists, as possible. The odd East German vacationer you might
have run into in, say, Yugoslavia was a trusted party member for sure,
someone that was likely to return home to his or her secure nest. Aside from
this, there were the occasional foreign aid working groups staying in
certain developing countries, also visiting scholars to select countries
outside the Warsaw Pact region, again living with severe restrictions, as
was any collaboration between East German scholars and their Western
colleagues, while collaboration with Eastern colleagues was less controlled,
though of course limited to fitting research into common political
frameworks. None of the above was without restrictions, lengthy application
processes and background checks, and "clean" records were required in all
cases. Lots of West Germans and foreigners went for brief visits to East
Berlin, in which case it was easier for foreigners to cross the border.
Contacts with East Germans were limited there, on a tourism basis. I did
once walk around off the beaten track in purely residential areas. I could
tell that people recognized me as being from the West and were avoiding me,
and there was the distinct possibility that I was being followed.

I don't know what would have happened had the Internet been up and running
as it is now. At the time, simply communicating with outsiders was most
definitely not advisable, certainly not under a regime that arrested people
for merely waving across the border. Even just sending a letter from private
home to private home without family relationship could be dangerous,
especially a letter to West Germany. It was only in the waning few years
that one of my East German nieces started sending me letters to Australia.
She would have been more careful had I still lived in West Germany, because
young people were not exactly encouraged seek contacts with their Western
relatives. I believe it was during those years that Hanne, meanwhile having
reached pension age, began communicating with and visiting the West.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

•

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