East Germany and Latin America during the Cold War

geopolitical outlines and cultural resilience

Abstract

The German Democratic Republic, in its 41-years long-life existence, forged and projected a national identity exceeding by far its geopolitical capabilities. It was an unique and unprecedented process, basically led by the Party and State´s chief, Erich Honecker and by Werner Lamberz, an polyglot top apparatschick. Both were the most prominent driving politicians in the effort to spread the international influence of East Berlin helping to get an own geopolitical position. The paper assumes as an explanatory concept the convergence between a strong societal dynamic, relatively autonomous (eigenständige) and highestresolutive self-perception of the GDR elite. Through that was generated there an own identity with strong geopolitical projection, despite the absence of a common narrative among rulers and governed. This identity unthinkable in 1989 has had aftermaths in the decades after reunification by the so-known Ostalgie. In obtaining their own geopolitical role, Latin America and especially Chile, were key factors. The paper adapt the Wagnerian term Nibelungentreue (approximately emotional fidelity) as an explanatory concept for the latter.