Moscow and East Berlin: Politics and Practices of Cultural Diplomacy Between Twin Towns (1956-late 1970s)

The twinning relations between Moscow and East Berlin, the capitals of the USSR and the German Democratic Republic, are a particular case of town twinning within the countries of the «Socialist Bloc». On the one hand, the establishment of this partnership was dictated by the foreign policy agenda of the Soviet Union towards the GDR as its main political project in Europe. On the other hand, the two cities started their cooperation only because of their official status as capitals. Therefore, the leaders of Moscow and East Berlin had to build their partnership in specific conditions under which it was necessary to carry out exchanges, even when common fields for cooperation were lacking. The present study reveals the features of twin-towns relations between the capitals of the USSR and the GDR, Moscow and East Berlin as an exceptional manifestation of Soviet cultural diplomacy during the Cold War. Based on previously unstudied archival documents and periodicals from Moscow and Berlin, the emergence of ties between the two cities is , as well as the policy and practice of cooperation in the first twenty years of their development is reconstructed. The study argues that the prescribed nature of the relationship not only failed to intensify communication between the cities, but rather slowed down the existing contacts. Thus, the trans-local ties between Moscow and East Berlin in the first twenty years of their existence developed unstably and sometimes were on the verge of complete cessation. Cooperation in the field of construction and production was productive, which is atypical in comparison with other twinning towns. Cultural exchanges in the case of Moscow and East Berlin consisted of cooperation between art representatives, sending materials for exhibitions, exchanging experience in the preparation of educational programs, as well as in holding joint events. But Muscovites and Berliners were ultimately unable to establish informal relations during these cultural events. Instead of actual cooperation in the fields of culture and science, discursive and symbolic practices were used to form a community, such as construction of common places of memory and the mobilization of ordinary residents of the capitals to participate in the «Struggle for Peace».