Tourism in East Germany

Tourism in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was tightly controlled by the communist government, though it was nonetheless possible to enjoy a holiday in East Germany.

Types of travel

Tours

A traveller would first have to book his or her trip at a travel agent that was accredited by the Reisebüro der DDR, the East German state tourist organisation. The travel agent would then offer the traveller one of the several package tours that the Reisebüro offered.

Individual Travel

It was indeed possible to travel relatively independently in the GDR. Motoring or taking a railway trip through the country was the most feasible possibility, although other types of visit were possible. Everything, including the itinerary, would have to be arranged through the Reisebüro. Simple and straightforward visits could be arranged at border posts and other Reisebüro offices in the GDR. More complicated excursions would have to be arranged before arrival, possibly involving a large and confounding amount of bureaucracy.

The formalities involved with a holiday in the GDR (such as the visa, any hotel bookings, advice on currency exchange, etc) would be taken care of by the Reisebüro. This made the usually tedious and complicated border crossing between East and West Germany much smoother.

Once inside the GDR, the traveller would be closely watched, and any GDR citizens having contact with the traveller would also be carefully monitored. This made staying with East German friends or family difficult, as both the reluctance of the authorities to permit it and the knowledge that the Stasi were almost certainly watching made it both dangerous and uncomfortable for the East German hosts.

Formalities

All foreigners from non-socialist countries, and also from certain socialist countries, were required to have visas to enter or exit the GDR. The one exception involved military and civilian government personnel of the United States, the United Kingdom and France based in West Germany and West Berlin, who when transiting to and from West Berlin via land routes (i.e., road and rail) and when in East Berlin were under the jurisdiction of the Soviet military and not the East German government.

There were four basic types of visas:

* Non-stop transit visa (for example, for travellers transiting between West Germany and West Berlin)
* Transit visa (with 72-hour stopover)
* Standard entry and exit visa "(Visum zur Ein- und Ausreise)"
* Day visa "(Tagesvisum)" for tourists from West Berlin wanting to visit East Berlin.

Additional rules applied to diplomats, journalists, business travellers, and other non-tourist visitors.

All of the four basic visa types could, in theory, be arranged at the Reisebüro offices at the main border crossings. In practice, to avoid the formidable bureaucracy in obtaining an entry visa either at the frontier or outside the country, it was simply easier to enter East Berlin on a day visa and then have an extension arranged at a Reisebüro office in the city. Visitors to East Germany could only enter the country by car, bus or train - not by bicycle or on foot. The exceptions to this were international airports, as well as Checkpoint Charlie. A special case involved the Friedrichstraße train station in East Berlin, which one could reach from West Berlin by U-Bahn, S-Bahn or long-distance train.

Visitors not on non-stop transit visas were required to change a minimum of DM25, or its equivalent in other hard currency, into GDR marks every day of their stay at the (unrealistic) official rate of 1:1. An exception was made for persons booking overnight hotel stays in the GDR, as the hotel charges were payable in hard currency and almost always exceeded the minimum daily exchange amount. The visa fee itself was an additional DM5 - DM15 (depending on the type of visa).

In addition to visas, travellers to the GDR staying overnight (or longer) were required to register with the "Volkspolizei". The police would place an "Aufenthaltsberechtigung" (residence entitlement) stamp in the traveller's passport; the names of each city or "Bezirk" (region) where the traveller was registered, as well as the expiration date of the registration, would be entered in the appropriate space. Many times, the hotel where the traveler stayed would take care of this for the traveler by taking the passport at check-in, giving the traveler a receipt, and returning the passport to the traveler the next morning.

Customs

Many foreigners who travelled to East Germany had difficult experiences with customs. The strict regulations enforced by the communist government meant that no spare parts for cars could be brought into East Germany without special permission, VHS tapes were expressly forbidden and compact discs and vinyl records could only be brought if they were of "cultural significance", a requirement that resulted in the confiscation of much pop music from Westerners. Any Western newspapers or magazines would also be confiscated.

Gifts up to the value of 200 East German Mark could be imported. This was not based on the price the traveller would have paid for them at home, but rather the price the item would sell for in East Germany.

Accommodation

Hotels

Visitors to the GDR were effectively obliged to stay in hotels belonging to the state-run "Interhotel" network. Contrary to the expectations of Westerners who envisioned the GDR as run down, "Interhotels" (especially the Metropol and Grand Hotels in East Berlin, the Bellevue in Dresden and the Merkur in Leipzig) met or exceeded international standards for hotel accommodations.

There were four classes of hotel room:

*Deluxe - a minimum of 100 GDR marks per night per person
*Expensive - 90 to 100 GDR marks
*Moderate - 70 to 90 GDR marks
*Inexpensive - 40 to 70 GDR marks

A room with a bath would cost an extra 5 or 10 GDR marks.

As previously noted, Western travelers were required to pay hotel charges in hard currency, even though the charges might be expressed in GDR marks. Further, GDR citizens or citizens from other socialist countries generally could not stay in Interhotels.

Camping

Thirty campsites run by Intercamp dotted the GDR in the following areas:

*East Berlin
*Baltic coast
*Mecklenburg lake district
*Dresden and surrounding area
*Erfurt
*Leipzig
*Harz Mountains

Equipped with electricity, sanitation, running water and other facilities, these camps were not cheap and had to be booked in advance.

Intercamp sites were open from May 1 to September 30.

Youth Hostels

East German youth hostels were not officially open to Westerners, but sometimes Westerners were allowed to use them if space was available.

Tipping

Tipping was officially abolished by the communist government, which viewed it as distinctly "bourgeois" (receiving extra money without actually doing anything extra). However, most people in the GDR service industry knew that Western tourists carried valuable West German marks, or US dollars, and were grateful when tipped in either of these.

Things to See

East Berlin

East Berlin was rebuilt as a modern socialist capital after World War II. The hub of the city was Alexanderplatz, a pedestrian square. Tourist attractions included the television tower "(Fernsehturm)", the Palast der Republik and the Brandenburg Gate.

The Baltic Coast

The East German government developed a series of beach resorts for Western tourists along the coast.

Erzgebirge Ore Mountains and Thuringia Forests

The Erzgebirge Ore Mountains contained the GDR's highest point, Fichtelberg (1,214 m). Oberhof, a resort town in the Thuringia Forests, contained the country's only artificial luge/bobsled run.

References

*"Fodor's Germany: West and East 1988", ISBN 0-340-41791-9, published by Hodder and Stoughton
*"Fodor's Eastern Europe '90", ISBN 0-679-01762-3. This book was written in mid-1989 and reads as if the Berlin Wall never fell.
*"Soviet Union & Eastern Europe Travellers Survival Kit", by Simon Calder, April 1989, ISBN 1-85458-010-8