Relations between the German Democratic Republic and Portugal

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Relations between the GDR and Portugal
Location of Portugal and the German Democratic Republic
PortugalPortugal Germany Democratic Republic 1949GDR
Portugal German Democratic Republic

The relations between the German Democratic Republic and Portugal describe the intergovernmental relationship between the GDR and Portugal . The countries maintained diplomatic relations between 1973 and 1990.

The relations between the GDR and Portugal did not play a decisive role in the broader society of both states, but had political and diplomatic significance and also ensured lasting interest and mutual ties among a large number of involved and interested citizens in both countries. For scientists, especially for historians, the relationships are of interest to this day. On December 5 and 6, 2019, the complex bilateral relations will be discussed in a public two-day conference at the University of Chemnitz . Under the title “The GDR vs. Portugal between dictatorship, colonial war, revolution and democracy (1960–1990) ”, scholars from various universities from all over Germany and Portugal get to the bottom of the relationship in a multitude of questions and viewpoints.

history

Admission of the GDR to the UN, New York, September 18, 1973

When the GDR was admitted to the UN in 1973, the first official diplomatic relations between the GDR and Portugal began. It was only after the Carnation Revolution in 1974 and the end of the anti-communist authoritarian Estado Novo dictatorship in Portugal that the two countries established direct diplomatic relations.

In particular, the GDR journalist Klaus Steiniger reported continuously u. a. for the state organ New Germany on the progress of the Carnation Revolution on site.

On June 16, 1974, Erich Butzke , an ambassador of the GDR in Portugal, took up his work for the first time.

On September 4, 1974, the first Portuguese embassy in East Berlin began its work with the accreditation of João Carlos Bessa Pinto Versteeg .

After the end of the Portuguese colonial empire in 1975, the GDR also began relations with former Portuguese colonies, in particular with Mozambique , Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe . They became the target of GDR development aid as well as Portuguese development aid. While Mozambique was the main focus of GDR work, the Portuguese cooperation focused more on the politically more stable island states of Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe and the development of their institutions and administrations.

In 1976 the traditional university cities of Halle and Coimbra entered into a friendship , the first ever German-Portuguese city partnership .

In the further course of the Portuguese Revolution, the bourgeois forces in the MFA and other bodies continued to assert themselves . As a result, Portugal's relations with the GDR and most of the other Eastern Bloc countries did not grow any further, and instead the country moved closer and closer to the Western European Economic Community (EEC).

In 1986 Portugal finally joined the EEC. In 1990 the GDR ceased to exist.

diplomacy

The Alameda Afonso Henriques in Lisbon, in the background the high-rise Casa Azul (center-left), formerly the seat of the GDR embassy

The GDR embassy in Portugal started work on June 16, 1974. It was housed in the high-rise Casa Azul on Rua Barão de Sabrosa. With the end of the GDR, the term of office of the last GDR ambassador to Portugal, Julian Hollender, ended in 1990 .

Since September 3, 1974, Portugal had its own embassy in the GDR. She resided in the center of East Berlin , at Otto-Grotewohl-Strasse 3a (today's name Wilhelmstrasse 66). With the dissolution of the GDR in 1990, the Portuguese representation in East Berlin also ended and was now transferred to the existing Portuguese embassy in Bonn (since 1999 the Portuguese embassy in Berlin ).

Culture

On December 4, 1974, the Portugal-GDR Society was founded in Lisbon . João Freitas Branco (State Secretary for Culture) became the first President, while Alexandre Babo (writer and theater director) was Vice-President. The association, also known in the GDR as the Friendship Society Portugal-GDR, organized cultural events and exhibitions about the GDR as well as trips for Portuguese to socialist Germany. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the GDR on October 31, 1979, the friendship society Portugal-GDR was awarded the Great Star of Friendship of Nations .

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the German-Portuguese Society was re-established in the GDR on January 16, 1990 . The journalist Klaus Steiniger became president. On September 27, 1990, the company merged with the West German German-Portuguese Society, which had existed since 1964 .

The GDR selection on June 28, 1959 in the Estádio das Antas in Porto ; the second leg for European Championship qualification in 1960 went 3-2 for Portugal

Sports

The national soccer team of the GDR and the national team of Portugal met for the first time on June 21, 1959. In the qualifying first leg for the European Championship in 1960 in Berlin's Walter Ulbricht Stadium, the GDR lost to the Portuguese with 0: 2. In a total of three matches between 1959 and 1986, the Portuguese team won twice and the GDR team once.

Cyclists from the GDR and Portugal also met at the International Peace Tour. The 21st place of Alexandre Manuel Costa Ruas in 1981 is considered to be the best placement of a Portuguese in the peace drive, while a number of GDR drivers were able to win the drive.

See also

Web links

Commons : Relations between the GDR and Portugal  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Portugal in discussion: A conference in Chemnitz , event information on the website of the German-Portuguese Society , accessed on November 9, 2019
  2. ↑ Klaus Steiniger : Portugal in April - Chronicler of the Carnation Revolution. Verlag Wiljo Heinen, Berlin 2011 ISBN 978-3-939828-62-4 (reprint of his collected memories Portugal - Dream and Day , VEB FA Brockhaus Verlag, Leipzig 1982)
  3. ↑ Information in an article from the memories of a GDR citizen of her time in Lisbon , www.sehenvonlisboa.wordpress.com, accessed on February 4, 2016
  4. ^ Telephone book from East Berlin in 1989: Diplomatic representations , web archive of the Central and State Library Berlin , accessed on February 4, 2017
  5. ↑ Round trip of Portuguese working people completed , article from June 14, 1976 in the GDR state organ Neues Deutschland , accessed on February 4, 2017
  6. ↑ Award list for the order "Great Star of Friendship of Nations" , PDF access from the German Society for Religious Studies, accessed on February 4, 2017
  7. ↑ see list of the international matches of the GDR national soccer team