Dear Mongolia,
First, allow me a small correction: East Germany - or, more correctly,
the German Democratic Republic (GDR) or Deutsche Demokratische
Republik (DDR) - ceased to exist on 3 October 1990. But that is, of
course, only a detail.
Now to the question itself. What happened to the East German embassies
in other countries? And what became of other countries' embassies in
East Germany?
As for the East German embassies, the answer is easy: Most of them
were closed. The former embassy buildings, of course, became property
of the West German Foreign Office and saw various fates. In some
cases, the buildings became branch facilities of the respective German
embassy. In Moscow, for example, the embassy's legal department has
its seat in the former GDR embassy at Leninskij Prospekt 95a, together
with the Goethe Institute.
In several other cases, the buildings were converted for use by other
institutions. Some examples are:
- Prague: Goethe Institute
- Paris: Information Center of the German Embassy
- Peking: German School for diplomats' children
- Kabul: Goethe Institute
- New Delhi: German House and German-Indian Chamber of Commerce
- Bruxelles: Representation Bureau of four east German Federal States
(Bundesländer)
In a few exceptions from the rule, the former East German embassy
became the embassy of reunified Germany. This happened, for example,
in Vietnam. The German embassy in Hanoi took residence in the building
of the former East German embassy in 1991. Another example is North
Korea. There, the German embassy took the facilities of the former
East German embassy in Pyongyang in 2001. However, this is a special
case: West Germany did not maintain diplomatic relations with North
Korea and thus no embassy building in the North Korean capital; only
East Germany had diplomats there. From 1991, the former embassy was
the residence of a German Representation of Interests under Swedish
protection. It could be upgraded to a real diplomatic mission only
when the two countries agreed on establishing diplomatic relations ten
years later.
Now to other countries' embassies in former East Germany. The various
nations have taken different approaches to this issue. Before 1990,
most countries had their embassy to the Federal Republic of Germany in
or somewhere near the West German capital Bonn, and many also
maintained permanent diplomatic missions in West Berlin. Also, most
countries had an embassy to the German Democratic Republic in East
Berlin, usually located in the city district of Pankow. Only a few
nations had representative embassies in the city center, such as the
Soviet Union or Poland.
With the end of East Germany, these facilities were not embassies
anymore since a nation can have only one ambassador to another
country. The diplomatic tasks in Germany were now fulfilled by the
embassies in and around Bonn only, while the facilities in East Berlin
were downgraded to consulates or annexes of the diplomatic missions,
or even completely abandoned, like in the case of the former Austrian
embassy to East Germany.
In 1991, the German parliament decided that Berlin be the capital of
reunified Germany, and the government and its institutions began
moving there over the next years. Simultanously, embassies came to
Berlin. However, most countries prefered to acquire prestigious
buildings in the exclusive residential area near the Tiergarten park,
which used to be the diplomats quarter of Berlin before 1945. Other
nations build new facilities, sometimes on the sites of their pre-war
embassies, as Great Britain did. Of the 142 foreign embassies and
consulates that used to be in East Berlin's Pankow district, only 15
embassies, 6 consulates and 3 diplomatic representations had remained
there by the year 2000.
However, some foreign embassies are still located in Bonn and its
surroundings, such as the embassies of Benin, Liberia or Qatar.
Sources:
German Foreign Office: North Korea (in German)
http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/www/de/laenderinfos/laender/laender_ausgabe_html?land_id=86
Koreainfo: Nordkorea - Politisch (in German)
http://www.schneider-th.de/koreainfo/Koinfo_nk_politik.htm
German Embassy in Hanoi: The Ambassador and the Departments -
Administration (in German)
http://www.hanoi.diplo.de/de/02/Botschafter__und__Abteilungen/Verwaltung.html
German Embassy in Moscow: Chancellory and Residence (in German)
http://www.deutschebotschaft-moskau.ru/de/botschaft/kanzlei.html
German Embassy in Prague: Goethe Institute (in German)
http://www.deutsche-botschaft.cz/DE/KULTUR/GOETHE-INSTITUT/
AfghanChat: Article from the Leipziger Volkszeitung, 11 Aug 2004 (in German)
http://www.afghanchat.com/article1674.html
Computerwoche: High Tech im Kontrast mit heiligen Kühen (in German, Google Cache)
://www.google.de/search?q=cache:ZqAljs0v3jEJ:www1.computerwoche.de/heftarchiv/1997/19970307/a31561.html+%22ehemaligen+ddr+botschaft%22&hl=de
Wiener Zeitung: Der Letzte macht das Licht aus (in German)
http://www.wienerzeitung.at/frameless/buch.htm?ID=7576
German Foreign Office: Addresses of Foreign Representations (in German, PDF file)
http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/www/de/infoservice/download/pdf/liste-diplokon.pdf
Wiener Zeitung: Zurück in die Zukunft (in German)
http://www.wienerzeitung.at/frameless/lexikon.htm?ID=8182
Search terms used:
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ddr botschaften botschafter 1990
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botschaften
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ddr botschaften pankow 1990
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"ddr botschaften"
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"ehemaligen ddr botschaft"
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"ehemalige ddr botschaft"
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Hope this is what you were looking for!
Regards,
Scriptor |
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