Germany and the town twinning movement

Martina Weyreter

Half a century after World War II, there is hardly any European city Without one or several twin towns. Yet the role of town twinning in improving international relations on a worldwide scale has been little researched or documented. What is more, town twinning seems to have secretly undergone a near-metamorphosis in the recent past, reflecting its position in an ever more rapidly changing world. Yet it has also retained all its original values.

Once again it is Germany which is in the forefront of these changes, not surprisingly due to its unique political history and geographical position in Europe. By tracing the development of Germany's town twinnings from a basic idea into a worldwide network, one may hope to arrive at a clearer understanding of the current situation as well as of future prospects.

The very first post-war effort by two European cities to join hands in friendship dates back to 1947 when Bristol Council sent five 'leading citizens' on a goodwill mission to Hanover. The visit, which was to result in the very first town twinning ever, was, unfortunately, marred by difficulties. First of all, the delegation needed special permission to travel to Germany at all. With the city of Hanover in ruins and no public transport available, the mayor only just made his way to the meeting and, with food rationed, a considerable amount of ingenuity and planning was needed to serve the visitors at least a cup of tea and some dry biscuits. Worse than that, everybody felt ill at ease and unsure how to behave in front of the former enemy. On their return home, the Bristolians duly resolved to start sending food to Germany while Hanover, eager to reciprocate in some way, decided to send back music. A choir of students went to perform in Bristol the following year.

The idea spread quickly in the years that followed. It was thought that if people of different nations got to know and understand each other on a personal level by meeting in their normal environments, even their private homes, then the horrors of war would never be repeated. Also, if one city ever needed help or advice it could be more easily and unbureaucratically given by another city than, for example, by national aid programmes.

Oxford and Bonn were next in tying the knot, Reading and Dusseldorf followed suit, and the first German-French twinning, between Montbeliard and Ludwigsburg, came about in 1950. Surprisingly, yet in line with the original idea of informal contacts, the phenomenon was allowed to mushroom in a more or less random fashion until 1951, by which time Germany had well over 100 twinnings in place. That year saw the establishment of the Council of European Municipalities (CCRE) with offices in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland. For the first time, an assembly of 50 European mayors had got together to establish standards and guidelines by joint decisions, draw up standard twinning contracts and finally put the aims of twinning down on paper. The CCRE was hoping to promote a European spirit at grass roots level, encouraging the idea that Europe needed to unite in order to rebuild. Above all, it recognized the autonomy of--and democratic s tructures within--local government as the base of any democratic state and as a means actively to rule out the possibility of another dictatorship. Local government was to act as a mediator between people and national government, with a view to influencing national foreign policy over time.

In practice, local communities were more likely to take power into their own hands with the CCRE in the role of a mere advisor or would-be matchmaker. For how, after all, do you find your perfect twin? It is a task akin to choosing the right partner in marriage: do you have something in common? Can you see yourself spending the rest of your lives together? And are you aware that that solemn ceremony in the town hail is only the beginning of something yet to be built?

Once it has been established that the local infrastructures of two cities support joint activities and projects, the hard work starts. Whilst large cities tend to have a town twinning department where paid staff look after everything from school exchanges, sports matches, wine tastings and concerts to marketing, fundraising and PR, smaller towns and villages still have to rely on a few committed individuals willing to give their time and energy for free. So, ironically, larger cities are more likely to have the financial means to make one or more twinnings a success. At the same time, in a village where everyone knows each other it seems easier to gain support and involve a relatively large percentage of the population. To this day, people exchanges stand Out as the most universal and important feature of twinning within Western Europe. Be it professional people, school children, the elderly or the disabled, thousands of people have made new friends, gained experience and confidence and, to a greater or less er extent, broadened their horizons.

Not surprisingly, many a formal twinning arrangement started out as a friendship between individuals, sometimes dating back to contacts with former prisoners of war. One example is the twinning of Lunen and Swinton where the British host, a Mr. Suggit, eventually became Mayor of Swinton and instigated a formal twinning. Another city drawing inspiration from the past is Coventry, with no less than 26 twins. Badly destroyed during the war, it chose as obvious partners those European cities that were similarly affected: Kiel, Dresden, Caen, Warsaw, Arnhem and the Czech town of Lidice. In addition, Cork and Kingston, Jamaica were chosen as those were the home cities of many new members of the community who had helped rebuild Coventry. A number of twins in the USA, all called Coventry too, completed the picture.

Yet rebuilding and cleaning up can still be important issues today: Duisburg replanted elms in Portsmouth after their English twin had been left treeless in the 1987 storms. It was also the Year of the Environment, so environmental health officers from Dagenham and Barking arranged an exhibition on air pollution in European cities. Meanwhile, the 'triplet' cities of Leeds, Dortmund and Lille went one step further in that they chose to resolve a shared problem together: high unemployment due to the decline of their one major industry. Leeds hosted the European Employment Conference in 1986. Mutual economic suport was also the driving force when in the 1970s, Norwich and Koblenz arranged an exchange of their local unemployed which left participants not only with memories of a holiday they could not otherwise have afforded, but also with renewed confidence. For some of them this was their return ticket into employment.

The first German-Russian twinning (1957), between Hamburg and St. Petersburg (then Leningrad), has established a work placement scheme whereby Russian management trainees spend a few months in one of 150 participating Hamburg companies, hoping to increase their personal and business competence and to build a network of contacts. The city of Hamburg's statistics show that since the programme commenced in 1992, 40 per cent of former participants have found work in German companies in Russia while another 40 per cent have entered management positions in Russian firms--something they would hardly have achieved without their twin town. These exchanges have become a small but meaningful way of supporting Russia's fledgling market economy.

Yet, in many cases, all that glitters is not gold. In 1978, the German-French Youth Office (DFJW) published the hair-raising results of a survey in which more than 11,000 school students aged eight and above, from different regions of both France and Germany, had been asked to describe briefly what they knew about the 'other' country. Quotations from French youths include anything from 'the Germans drink too much beer and it makes them fat' to 'a German would kill his own mother if his duty required it', while their German counterparts retaliated by saying that 'the French are lazy and live only for pleasure' and 'they don't wash'. Even a full-time agony aunt would be hard put to deal with the sheer volume of common complaints: the food, standards of hygiene, the cost of travel, personal misunderstandings, unwanted gifts, running out of ideas for gifts, and just about any other embarrassing situation known to mankind.

And that is not to mention the language barrier. While it undoubtedly exists, most participants in exchanges are not put off by it. They tend to rely on those few who do speak the foreign language, use English as a lingua franca whenever possible, or even make do with gestures and sign language. After all, joint activities should be of a nature that does not require language skills (such as music and sports) and, according to a personal quote from a French lady, be based on 'fewer words, more smiles'. On the other hand, twinnings and exchanges can inspire participants of all ages to start learning the relevant language--for, after all, any attempt to understand a people and its culture without understanding the language can only ever be partial and incomplete. (It has to be noted in this context that until the mid-1960s, language learning in Germany was mostly the privilege of the small percentage of students attending grammar schools or similar institutions.)

The DFJW study also found that people's motivation for participating in exchanges varied considerably according to age: for the older generation, reconciliation with the former enemy and educating the young in the spirit of peace are the most important factors to this day; younger participants tend to be looking for a more enlightened form of tourism which allows them to meet the locals, absorb the culture, improve their existing knowledge of the language and come back as more universally educated human beings.

Not surprisingly, this 'generation gap' reflects the phases that have marked the development of town twinning over the years. In the early days of the 1940s, it was indeed the wish to make peace that motivated twinning, and partners were chosen exclusively from the former enemy countries (i.e. Western Europe and, to a lesser extent, the USA). In the 1950s, town twinning became more widespread and much groundwork was done for 'building up the EU from below'. Following on from that, the 1960s and early 1970s saw an unprecedented growth in the number of twinnings. Between 1963 and 1975, 50 new twinnings were established each year between Germany and France alone. Most recent statistics (1999) give an estimated total of 2000 while the number of German-British twinnings has peaked at 500.

However, by the late 1970s a natural saturation set in. Twinnings were by then part of a town's normal network of contacts, relations were running smoothly and post-war reconciliation was no longer top of the agenda. This period of re-orientation resulted in a heightened interest in twinnings with Southern (Spain, Greece, Italy) as well as Eastern and Central European countries and even in a few contacts with China. Between 1982 and 1987, Germany's twinnings increased by a total of 40 per cent, but while this meant 33 per cent more Western European partners, the number of partners in Warsaw Pact states rose by a staggering 106 per cent.

For the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), this meant reaching out to what it had considered its other half all along, the GDR. This is one of the most interesting and unusual chapters in the history of town twinning and therefore deserves a closer look. Initially the GDR did not encourage contacts with the West as it had been struggling to install a sense of national identity in its citizens and to achieve international recognition as an independent country. Despite the FRG's many tentative approaches over more than 20 years, the GDR government did not relent until 1986 when East Germany approved the first twinning between Saarlouis (FRG) and Eisenhuttenstadt (GDR). Immediate controversy broke out as to whether this new relationship should be called 'German-German' as East Germany would have it, or 'inner-German' as preferred by the West (the West German constitution containing a paragraph saying that the country must strive for reunification). Thus, a language barrier was created where there would not other wise have been one!

Nevertheless a total of 64 such twinnings were established in the GDR's short remaining lifespan. It may be argued that it is impossible for friendly relationships to blossom in only three years and that, therefore, no empirically valid comparison can be made between these 'inner-German' and, say, French-German twinnings. As was to be expected, the new twinnings were also firmly under communist control and supervision. Under a centralist government, East German cities had in fact no autonomy in their dealings and consequently no right to choose their own twin or organise their own exchanges. It was done for them by the Bezirksverwaltung (regional administrative authority representing the government) who would designate the members of any delegation visiting the FRO, making sure that no individual ever went twice. Staying at, or even visiting private homes was banned and activities limited to four a year. All written correspondence had to be sent via the Bezirksverwaltung. On return from any visit, delegation leaders had to report back to the Bezirksverwaltung in writing within 48 hours, detailing progress and results. The GDR government stressed at all times that twinning should serve the purpose of promoting socialist politics and the socialist way of life only, and not be misinterpreted by citizens as a new right to free travel. Consequently West German participants, hoping that these twinnings would pave the way to reunification, found themselves reduced to mere instruments in the GDR's ideological mission.

Yet the GDR's control mechanisms were already digging their own grave. Wishing to give an outside appearance of entertaining excellent relationships with the West, it would always expect reports from delegates to give the most positive account of how socialist ideas had been promoted and how contacts had been polite and to-the-point but certainly not in any way friendly. In other words, delegation leaders had no option other than to write what was required. Little did the complacent Bezirksverwaltung know that West German accounts of the very same meetings spoke of laughter, merrymaking and private house parties.

Having developed their own dynamics in the face of adversity, it was these twinnings which played an important role in the reunification process after 1989 and which may count as the earliest examples of pan-European cooperation. Economic support from the West was needed, as well as help in building up a structure of local government - which could now be adopted more quickly with the help of West German twin towns. Had there not been friendly personal contacts all along, these twinnings would probably have collapsed together with the political framework that made them. Yet they all continued to blossom, albeit with different priorities, and during the 1990s around 150 new, now genuine inner-German twinnings were added. The number of informal contacts between East and West German cities has been estimated at 600.

As the Iron Curtain was drawn back, there was also renewed interest in Central and Eastern Europe. Unlike the immediate post-war twinnings, which had cultural exchange as their aim, this new generation of twinnings was looking to pastures new. For Poland, for example, establishing twinnings with Germany was proof of its independence from the former Soviet Union and of autonomy in its foreign policy. About 400 German-Polish twinnings exist today. Meanwhile Hamburg and St. Petersburg were, for the first time, able to arrange personal visits and school exchanges. New twinnings were established between Germany and Russia (now over 100), Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia, their defined priorities being help to self-help via awareness transfer and to mutual benefit. Activities were often project-related, thus eliminating factors that would have been obstacles to traditional people exchanges: geographical distance, cultural differences and vast disparity in levels of income. For example, in the case of China (where 16 twinnings with Germany had existed even before 1989) interhuman aspects were not a priority, but helping to build up a local Chinese infrastructure, transferring technology and introducing Germany's unrivalled vocational training system in China were. In return, Germany was rewarded with a huge new market where to sell new technology.

Germany's relations with the South (i.e. developing countries) were also a nascent phenomenon of the 1990s. Though exchanges in the normal sense were not possible, new twin towns expanded the concept of economic help to global awareness building. They started working together to find sustainable solutions to global problems such as desertification, poverty and migration. While France concentrated on its former colonies, Germany got involved with Rwanda, Burkina Faso and Nicaragua (28 twinnings, the largest number Germany has had with any one developing country, probably because of that country's symbolic struggle to develop against the odds). In some cases, several cities formed project partnership networks, hoping also to attract support from national governments, international organisations, the EU or UNO. One example is the Climate Alliance of European Cities with Indigenous Rainforest Peoples, a name that illustrates quite vividly how there can be mutuality.

It is safe to say that the fall of the Iron Curtain not only improved relations with the East but also with the South as the latter ceased to be a battlefield of the East-West conflict. Before that, West Germany would only twin with developing countries if they were pro-Western and did not recognize East Germany as an independent state. Meanwhile, East Germany was aiming to spread the socialist idea by the same means until there was open competition for twins. In 1967, at a time when West Germany as a nation had completely broken off relations with Yugoslavia for that reason, the West German city of Mainz decided boldly to twin with Zagreb. It was a tale of two cities stepping in the right direction until national relations could eventually be resumed.

Finally, one German city that has clearly benefited from relations with the South is Bonn. Its original twinning with Oxford in the late 1940s was the second one ever and is still flourishing, yet since the 1990s Bonn's major interest has shifted towards places such as Minsk, Ulann Bator, Ashgabad, Buchara, Petropolis and La Paz (Oxford has followed a similar route). Although no longer the capital of a united Germany, Bonn has retained its importance by assuming a new identity, in 1996, as a Centre of International Cooperation. It continues to be the seat of many international organisations and in 1999 published a Concept of International Contacts of the City of Bonn, detailing the city's plans to build a worldwide network of contacts. Now at the annual summer festival entitled Bonner Sommer, cities from all over the world have the opportunity to present themselves and their culture to a wide audience. Festivals have been hosted in honour of Africa, Latin America and South East Asia among others. Bonn also ho sts an annual German-Belarus Entrepreneurs Day and a German-Central Asian Business Contact Exchange.

It will be interesting to follow the future development of the phenomenon of town twinning. Do twinnings really represent global peace in microcosm? Have they done the groundwork for the EU, and is personal friendship a true cornerstone of successful international relations? It cannot even be proven whether town twinning has made any permanent difference to the thinking and actions of individuals, though most of them would confirm it had. According to M. Casagrande, former director of the twinning section at the CCRE in Paris, 'twinnings have not only improved relations, they have made them possible'. Without doubt, town twinnings are transnational political relations in their own right rather than just reinforcements of national foreign policy. They exist, of course, within a wider context of national governments and foreign policy strategies. Yet they are not, and cannot be, fully controlled by national governments or by any other large international bodies. They may not even reflect national relations and, in some cases, they have openly counteracted national policy and thus preceded changes on a national level.

Germany is now a nation facing many internal changes and problems. Above all, it is turning into a multicultural society where immigrants - mainly from Turkey, the Balkan states and the Middle East, a high percentage of them Muslims - have made their new home. Perhaps new twinning arrangements will reflect these changes. With Turkey and the Balkans already popular holiday destinations for Germans and with immigrants maintaining links to their countries of origin, nothing should really stand in the way. In the light of today's political climate and the events of 11 September 2001, threatening to split the world in two yet again, there could not be a more urgent and important task than that of establishing or re-establishing some form of dialogue. As in 1947, it could be the work of individuals.

Martina Weyreter is a teacher of both English and Gennan as a foreign language, working with multicultural classes in Germany. She first conducted a case study of French-German town twinning in 1988, as part of her language degree.

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