BRD

BRD is an unofficial abbreviation for the Federal Republic of Germany ( _de. Bundesrepublik Deutschland). It is now uncommon, but was used consistently in the German Democratic Republic between 1968 and 1990 to refer to what was generally known in English as West Germany. Unlike the English counterpart FRG, which was in official use as an IOC country code and a FIFA trigramme, the use of BRD was discouraged by the authorities of the Federal Republic itself.

History

In the first years after 1949 the abbreviation was sometimes used in Federal Republic of Germany without any special connotations. The German Democratic Republic at first used the name "West Germany" (abbreviated "WD") for the Federal Republic of Germany. However, since the 1950s the communist authorities insisted on calling the Federal Republic of Germany "Deutsche Bundesrepublik" (abbreviated "DBR"), because they considered the German Democratic Republic part of Germany, and thus would not permit the democratic government in West Germany using the name "Germany".

However, this changed in 1968 with the new constitution of the German Democratic Republic. The communists no longer strove for German reunification, and the name "BRD" was introduced as a propagandistic counter-term to the term "DDR", trying to express the equality of the states. Though the state designated by "BRD" was depicted like "the evil German state" in official GDR propaganda, the abbreviation itself was neutral. The GDR used the twin abbreviation "DDR" for herself without any problems (the West would thus speak of the "so-called 'DDR'" when it had to be belittled).

However, Western Germany for whatever reason took offense to abbreviating "Bundesrepublik Deutschland". Western Germany had always claimed to be Germany, and she did not like the analogy to "DDR", or two separate German states. Plus, East German communists continually used "BRD". The term became "undesired" and only very naive people or Communist sympathizers would use it. Because of this, the term "BRD" has since been considered communist jargon in the Federal Republic of Germany, at least in the Western parts.

To distance themselves from the term "BRD", the government of the Federal Republic of Germany officially used the abbreviations "BR Deutschland," "BR Dt.", "BRDt.", "BR Dtld." or simply "Dtld." until German reunification. After the German Democratic Republic was abolished, "Germany" ("Deutschland") is always used as the official short name.

The use of the term "BRD" is officially unwanted. For example a decree by the educational authorities of the state of Schleswig-Holstein of October 4, 1976 declare the term to be "nicht wünschenswert", undesirable. [ [http://www.schooloffice-sh.de/texte/b/brd.htm Erlass der Schulbehörde Schleswig-Holstein] ] In many schools the term was sanctioned as an error.

The term has thus become a symbolic border. One's deliberate usage or avoidance of the term in effect declares one's stance on the communist system.

Some extreme right-wing groups, which do not recognize the current government of Germany, use the term "BRD" in the same way the communists used it, to express their view that the government of the Federal Republic of Germany is not the legitimate German government. Usually it is written "BRd" (to indicate the government only of a reduced Germany) in this context.

imilar naming difficulties

A similar ideological question was the question whether to use "Berlin (West)" (the officially preferred name) or "West Berlin". The naming of the German Democratic Republic was also a controversial issue, West Germans at first preferring the names "Middle Germany" and "SBZ" (Soviet Occupation Zone), which was only changed under Willy Brandt when the West Germans started using the official name, German Democratic Republic or "DDR". However, many German newspapers, for example those owned by the conservative Springer company, always wrote "DDR" in quotation marks until 1989.

Another example was the naming of the Soviet defence organization. The official name was the "Warschauer Vertrag" ("Treaty of Warsaw") but the West constantly called it the Warsaw Pact. The uniformity in usage was such that the mere wording could tell you where a person got his news from.

Notes

References

* Helmut Berschin: "Deutschland – ein Name im Wandel. Die deutsche Frage im Spiegel der Sprache", Olzog, München/Wien 1979, ISBN 3-7892-7180-2.

External links

* [http://www.schooloffice-sh.de/texte/b/brd.htm Erlass der Schulbehörde Schleswig-Holstein] (in German)