The “other” Franco-German relations: The GDR and France from 1949 to 1990

Abstract

With the demise of the "other" Germany, memories of the "other" Franco-German relationship vanished too. If we are to believe the writer Lutz Rathenow, France was the "most congenial form" of Western societal organization in the eyes of the adherents of the Socialist Unity Party (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands-SED). As an advertisement might say, France was "the sweetest temptation since there have been class enemies."1 As Rathenow asks himself, how was it that France and Paris in particular became the most desired travel destination in the imaginations of the Germans behind the Wall? He believes that the clichés were confirmed by reality. Thanks to pop singer France Gall and actress Brigitte Bardot, France presented itself not only as the "erogenous zone of Western civilization," but with its literature and philosophy, it also won over the subcultural milieu of intellectuals in the German Democratic Republic (GDR).