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GDR tourism: This is how West Germans experienced the mysterious East!
Find out how tourism flourished in the GDR in 1986, despite bureaucratic hurdles and Stasi surveillance.
GDR tourism: This is how West Germans experienced the mysterious East!
In 1986, around 5.6 million West Germans traveled to the German Democratic Republic (GDR) for stays of several days. Loud mdr.de Many of them sought proximity to relatives in the East and also visited cultural highlights. However, tourism in the GDR was anything but uncomplicated and was associated with bureaucratic hurdles. Authorization certificates and visas were necessary in order to be able to enter the GDR.
The GDR actively sought to market itself as an international tourist destination in order to generate much-needed income in hard currency. As early as 1973, the GDR appeared at the International Tourism Exchange (ITB) in West Berlin to improve the image of “grey socialism”. The efforts to gain recognition as a holiday destination were noticeable, even if the reality of tourism presented many challenges.
Tourism challenges
Literary, cultural and historical sites such as the Wartburg, Königstein Fortress, Weimar, Leipzig and Dresden attracted numerous western tourists. Organized bus trips were among the most popular offers. However, the Stasi portrayed these trips as a threat because many travelers were able to pick up ideas that were critical of the system. For this reason, the Stasi founded a department for “enemy political tourists”.
Despite the bureaucratic hurdles, many western tourists managed to pass the border crossings with the GDR. The existing Interhotels were quickly booked up and there were only 24 campsites for camping travelers in the summer. This overcrowding illustrates the increasing demand for travel to the GDR.
Documentation of travel experiences
A new film highlights the experiences of people who traveled to the GDR or looked after visitors to the West and addresses this historical era. Such filmic documentaries further illuminate the complex picture of GDR tourism.
The comprehensive information on the history of communism and thus also on GDR tourism is now easily accessible. The website of the Federal Foundation for Coming to terms with the SED dictatorship has been offering numerous content since 2017, sorted into many categories, including news, books, exhibitions and podcasts.
The website presents over 1,000 individual entries on the history of communism and enables targeted searches across various categories. In this way, users can not only find out more about tourism in the GDR, but also gain insights into the wide range of the communist past.