{"id":6395,"date":"2022-06-22T19:59:10","date_gmt":"2022-06-22T17:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/?p=6395"},"modified":"2022-06-22T20:24:10","modified_gmt":"2022-06-22T18:24:10","slug":"the-forgotten-place-of-german-reunification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/6395\/the-forgotten-place-of-german-reunification\/","title":{"rendered":"The forgotten place of German reunification"},"content":{"rendered":"
Standing on the shore of Europe’s largest inland lake, one cannot imagine that an important part of German history took place here just a few decades ago. While in former times, politicians, writers, artists, later GDR citizens and West Germans used to meet here, nowadays it is the active vacationers. Lake Balaton in Hungary has always been a meeting point and a place of change. But how did the German-German history affect the place and what consequences did it have for tourism and the locals?<\/strong><\/p>\n When meetings between West and East Germans became increasingly difficult due to the separation into the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) during the Cold War, there was one place where it was still possible. Hungary, then part of the Eastern Bloc countries, was one of the few countries where GDR citizens were allowed to travel on vacation. “For three decades, families, friends and strangers from East and West Germany met there to break the division, at least for a while”, according to the Collegium Hungaricum in Berlin, which is part of the worldwide network of Hungarian cultural institutes.<\/p>\n Even though it was not easy to get travel permission and the exchange rate in forints was very low for GDR citizens, the vacations there were very popular. This was because they offered the opportunity to meet with friends and family from the West. In addition, the way of life in Hungary was somewhat more Western than in the GDR.<\/p>\n At that time, the iron curtain was still very impermeable and yet Hungary was considered the most liberal country in the East,” recalls a Facebook user in the group “Tips and Tricks around Lake Balaton”. The campsites were extremely full at that time. “Family reunions between East and West were common,” adds another Facebook user. But it was also common that the Stasi was always on-site to observe exactly what was going on.<\/p>\n