German Diasporic Experiences: Identity, Migration, and Loss

13 The German Democratic Republic and the Citizens of German Origin in Canada: The Role of the Gesellschaft Neue Heimat, 1980–1990

THIRTEEN The German Democratic Republic and the Citizens of German Origin inCanada: The Role of the Gesellschaft Neue Heimat,1980–1990
Manuel Meune 145 145 Since 1964 in the German Democratic Republic (gdr), the Gesellschaft Neue Heimat (gnh) endeavoured to maintain cultural contacts with citizens of German origin abroad by offering these individuals informational material and “information tours.” This society was subordinate to the Liga für Völkerfreundschaft, which aimed to strengthen relationships with all gdr-interested persons abroad. Some of the gnh correspondents were sympathetic toward the gdr, and would provide the country with information about the ideological disposition of German Canadians. It is documented in the letters between the gnh in Berlin and German Canadian club directors , German teachers, and pastors, however, that many who harboured little sympathy for communism would actively engage the gnh leadership in political debate. This correspondence demonstrates how Germans living abroad took part in the German German dialogue, and how they managed to save the “human substance” during even the most heated arguments . The role of the gnh should not be exaggerated, but given that their discussion partners were often important individuals in influential positions, it is evident that this organization did in fact achieve considerable success. The Verein für das Deutschtum im Ausland (VDA), which was formed during the Weimar Republic and later fully developed during the Nazi period, was banned in 1945. Founded anew in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1955, it was once again able to represent the cultural interests of German speakers abroad, although it was often reputed to be 146 MANUEL MEUNE associated with ultra-conservative goals,due to its relationship with the problematic conception of Deutschtum. Less well known is the fact that in 1964, as a type of socialist counterpart to the vda, the gnh was founded in the gdr. The goal of this organization was to maintain contact with Bürgern deutscher Herkunft im Ausland (BdHA)—as they were called in the gdr— and to acquaint them with the other German reality. The gnh was subordinate to the Liga für Völkerfreundschaft.1 In order to promote the international recognition of the gdr, this para-diplomatic entity strived to cultivate relations with gdr-interested individuals abroad, and this was especially done through “national friendship societies.” Such friendship committees were also created in Canada, for example the Canada-gdr Committee in Toronto.2 Although the directors of the groups were often German-speaking communists, these organizations were intended to remain open to all “progressive” people from the general public. But the gnh exclusively supported Germans living abroad—and actually only those living overseas, since the presence of German-speaking minorities in eastern Europe was a taboo subject. Due to the sensitive nature of the theme of emigration, the “BdHA issue” remained the preoccupation of a few select party and cultural functionaries. It is difficult to determine when the first contacts were made between the gnh and Canadian institutions. The first letters to which the author had access go back to 1975, shortly after the recognition of the gdr by Pierre Trudeau’s Canada.3 This chapter will deal predominantly with the 1980s, examining the correspondence between the gnh’s main contact in Berlin, Erich Wischnewski, and three categories of correspondents who were seen as important in exercising influence over German Canadians and even over the entire Canadian population: club representatives, German teachers, and pastors. The gnh was considered much less political than the Liga für Völkerfreundschaft .4 Accordingly, the tone of the correspondence with the gnh was different than that of the correspondence between the “League” and the directors of the Canada-gdr Committee. The gnh was by no means ideologically neutral, but the discourse would change, depending on the level of sympathy shown by the correspondents toward the gdr regime. It may be the case that particularly negative reactions do not exist in the archive, but when one considers how critically the gdr theme was handled in letters by many readers in the German-Canadian press of the period, it is remarkable that so many correspondents actually used rather pleasant words when writing to the gnh. Contacts with German Canadian Clubs People often turned to the gnh as representatives of an organization because they had discovered Neue Heimat, the gnh periodical published for Germans living abroad, and saw it as the only contact to...