The German Democratic Republic was officially abolished with the German reunification in 1990. A tiny piece of the GDR was never reunited.
In 1972 Fidel Castro paid a state visit to East Berlin. He knew his Cuban revolution needed investments. He rolled out a map and pointed out a thin, quite long and uninhabitated island just south of Cuba – known as Cayo Blanco del Sur. Castro had renamed Ernst Thälmann Island in honour of the pioneer Communist Hitler had shot in 1944, and prsented his gift to Erich Honecker and a hand full of East German ministers. A long stretch of beach on the island was named ‘Beach of the GDR’.
This gesture impressed the smiling East German hosts and smoothed further negotiations. The GDR regime saw tourism and sugar opportunities in Cuba, while Castro on the other hand needed all the food products and loan he could get his hands on. At the time GDR had economic muscles and were willing to invest in a Socialist brother country. Castro’s visit took place a year before the global oil crisis hit hard on East German economy and made investments in Cuba impossible.
GDR In The Sun
The treaty that unified both Germany’s didn’t mention Ernst Thälmann Island. In the period after Castro’s visit, it was rather unclear if the island now in fact where East German territory or just a symbolic act. The GDR did use the island for propaganda purposes and state television’s flagship program, Aktuelle Kamera, covered an event from the island in August 1972, when a bust of Ernst Thälmann was unveiled. Officially East German authorities only sat foot on the island that one time in 1972. Post 1990 – Germany never made claims for the island. Later on both Havana and Berlin stated that Castro’s gift in 1972 was purely symbolic. Much more just a renaming than an actual give-away of Cuban soil.
Today the island is still uninhabitated and reportedly is home to several endangered species of fish and coral. The Thälmann bust got knocked down by hurricane Mitch, when it raged the Caribbean in 1998.
Notes: www.revolvy.com, www.youtube.com, www.bigthink.com,
Der Spiegel, www.thedailystar.com, www.mentalfloss.com The Washington Post.
Cold War Records 