Unrecognized by Freundesland

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Peak communism , seen from the nutrient area of ​​the Abramow Glacier ( Alai ): 7495 m high dream destination of many UdF travelers in the Pamir / Soviet Central Asia

The illegal travel activities of GDR adventurers within the Soviet Union were described as unrecognized by Freundesland or not permitted by Freundesland ( UdF ) . These trips were made possible with a so-called travel system for visa-free travel (colloquially known as a “transit visa”), which allowed people to pass through the Soviet Union on the way from the GDR to Romania for a few days.

The UdF travelers tried to deviate from the direct route and to advance east and north. They reached Königsberg , the Curonian Spit , Murmansk on the Kola Peninsula , the Soviet polar regions, Vladivostok and Nakhodka on the Sea of ​​Japan , the volcanic region of Kamchatka , the Jewish Soviet Republic on the Amur and the mountains of the Caucasus , the Fan , the Tienschan , the Altai and the Pamir .

GDR mountaineers climbed four seven-thousanders in the Soviet Union as travelers to the UdF . Some UdF travelers tried to seek out abandoned camps in the Gulag archipelago and nomads beyond the Arctic Circle and attempted escape to Alaska by paddle boat or to China with falsified documents and by crossing Central Asian mountain passes. German parishes in Siberia and Central Asia (Germans from Russia resettled under Stalin ) were provided with German-language children's books and Bibles by travelers from the UdF. The UdF trip often lasted several weeks. On the return journey, a fine of a few rubles had to be paid at the Soviet border crossings to Romania.

In principle, GDR citizens could also travel to various Soviet cities by invitation to SU citizens. However, they should not leave the city. Otherwise there were problems for the hosts. UdF trips offered the opportunity to get to many regions that were actually not accessible by invitation.

A two-day UdF meeting took place in the vaults of the rectory in Kunitz near Jena in 1988 , to which more than 100 participants came. GDR travelers presented their experiences in the Soviet Union in more than 50 slide shows.

literature

  • Ruth Leiserowitz : Unrecognized by Freundesland. In: Michael Rauhut , Thomas Kochan (Ed.): Bye bye, Lübben City. Blues freaks, tramps and hippies in the GDR. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-89602-602-X , pp. 134-142.
  • Jörg Kuhbandner, Jan Oelker (Ed.): Transit. Illegally through the vastness of the Soviet Union. Stories, experiences, diary entries and pictures. Notschriften-Verlag, Radebeul 2010, ISBN 978-3-940200-48-8 .
  • Cornelia Klauß, Frank Böttcher (Ed.): Unrecognized by Freundesland. Illegal travel through the Soviet empire. Lukas Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-86732-076-4 .

Web links