Interference clearance
Interference clearance is an economic policy term in the GDR from the early 1960s. The aim of clearing the disruption was to drastically restrict imports from the west.
background
The conviction that the GDR should free itself from its economic dependency on the Federal Republic can be traced back to the beginning of German-German history. This only became a binding order in early 1961.
When the Soviet Union wanted to enforce a new political status for Berlin in 1958 , the Berlin crisis broke out . As a result, the government of the Federal Republic of Germany temporarily terminated the intra-German trade agreement in 1960 . This resulted in considerable supply difficulties, because the GDR's economy was dependent on various imports from West Germany.
The GDR leadership was also alarmed by a revocation clause that came into force in January 1961, with which individual supply contracts could be temporarily suspended in the event of political insubordination by the GDR (this clause was abolished by the Federal Republic in 1966). The party leadership interpreted this revocation clause as an indication of the Federal Government's intention to hinder economic and technological progress in the GDR. In January 1961, the State Planning Commission decided to take steps to "secure the GDR's economy against arbitrary disruptive measures by militarist circles in West Germany":
“The focus of the work in the most important branches of industry is on making West Germany independent. We should put it something like this: 'In order to consolidate peace and eliminate the remnants of the war, the economy of the GDR must be secured or protected against the arbitrariness of militaristic circles in West Germany.' This clearly means that we are protecting ourselves against the arbitrariness of the West German militarists. We must of course also protect ourselves against the West German monopolists . But we don't say that, because for the time being we are dealing with them. [...]
As for the main economic task. In my opinion, the main economic task remains. That is, in 1961 the main economic task must be solved in accordance with the basic economic law of socialism and under the special conditions of a divided Germany. That means, the GDR must be secured against disruptive actions. In this sense, the content of the main economic task is changed. I say quite frankly that the standard of living of our population can only be secured and increased if the economy is made independent of the disruptive measures in West Germany. "
The end of German-German trade relations was not up for discussion; the aim was to develop trade processes that no longer allowed West German actors to seriously impair economic development. Savings should be the top priority. If they could not be realized, the aim was to manufacture the products (or corresponding substitutes) themselves. Other sources of supply should only be the last solution. Particularly in turning away from the capitalist West and increasingly turning to the socialist East, it was intended to remove any basis for future economic sanctions and political blackmail attempts. Potential contractual partners in neutral or even in NATO countries were only allowed to be approached if suppliers from allied countries could not be found. It soon became apparent that neither the Soviet Union nor the other Eastern Bloc countries were able to replace the supplies from West German industry as expected.
Web links
- bpb.de: "Between disruption clearance and return to daily business" Detailed description of German-German economic relations 1961–1969
- zeit.de: The zones economy should "reorient" to Moscow (July 12, 1963)
- spiegel.de: Economic crisis, thinks and directs (from October 25, 1961)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ralf Ahrens: Foreign Trade Policy Between Eastern Integration and Western Debt, p. 532 ( Memento of the original from September 1, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ ddr-wissen.de: Chronicle 1961
- ↑ rchiv.uni-leipzig.de: "Störfreimachung" - Science without Western imports
- ^ Minutes No. 1/61 of the meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee on Wednesday, January 4, 1961, p. 13.
- ↑ Michael Lemke, Only a way out of the crisis ?, in: Heiner Timmermann (ed.), The GDR between the building of the wall and the fall of the wall, Münster 2003, pp. 248–265, here 252 f.
