Die politische Auslandsarbeit der DDR in Schweden

The second German state, the German Democratic Republic (GDR), had to fight hard to achieve international diplomatic recognition. Indeed, for a long time it did so in vain. Even with its neighbouring Scandinavian countries, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, considered as the weak links in the Western front of non-recognition, the East German state failed in its efforts. It was, however, more successful in its actions on non-political lines, as neutral Sweden and friendly Finland were more open to its forms of ‘public diplomacy’. Public diplomacy is generally understood as the communication which a state and its government engage in to influence the public and, more especially, public opinion of a given state. In the case of the GDR, the role of channels and relations such as trade missions, culture, tourism and the Ostseewochen was to try to influence the public and public opinion in favour of diplomatic recognition. Its role in East German-Swedish relations has been successfully researched for the period up until West Germany's new Ostpolitik, which led to widespread international recognition of the GDR from the end of 1972, by Andreas Linderoth (2003) and Alexander Muschick (2006). Indeed, Sweden was one of the first West European states to recognise the GDR in December 1972

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