MUN Prague was the host of its first guest speaker lecture on November 12, 2012 at the University of Economics, Prague. The topic of the debate involved the history of the German Democratic Republic and its international relations with the world, especially its capitalist competitor – West Germany. The speaker was an expert in the field, Dr. Pavel from the Department of Economic History at the Faculty of Economics. Our goal is for this lecture to be the beginning of a series of debates with academics, diplomats and other experts with our members, students and friends.
Dr. Szobi explained the differences between the establishment of the two German states and some of the greater issues such as the currency reform While in the West, the US have introduced the Deutche Mark that steadily gained a renowned position in the global markets, the currency of the GDR was purely artificial and its trading was very limited. As a consequence of this, GDR has never reached the export potential of ts neighbor.
Starting with the period of Détente in the 1970s, GDR has offered some of its laborforce to work for factories built-up by western firms (i.e. Salamander, Henkel, Bosch). Many of the former German aristocracy have been allowed to subsidize the conservation of historical monuments in the east. Additionaly, GDR was a recipient of development aid from the Federative Republic of Germany.
At the United Nations the full membership of both countries was blocked by the Cold War superpowers respectively. Only in 1973 did both states become full members after mutual negotiations between Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev. For many participants the finale of Dr. Szobi’s lecture was the most powerful, he pointed out that after the reunification of Germany it has been the policy to try to eliminate many landmarks and buildings resembling the former socialist regime. This approach was criticised by many of its former citizens. Most famous example was the writing that appeared over night at the demolition site of the Palast der Republik: ‘There never was a GDR.’
