VA - Solidarität geht weiter - X. Weltfestspiele der Jugend und Studenten · Berlin 1973 · Hauptstadt der DDR (Eterna)

The first World Festival of Youth and Students took place in Prague in 1947, with subsequent festivals occurring every other year through the mid-1960s, after which they became slightly less frequent. Transnational by nature, they were organized by two socialist-leaning, non-government organizations—the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) and the International Union of Students (IUS)—both of which supported international and national preparatory committees with the organization of events on the ground in locations as far-flung as Budapest, Helsinki, Havana, Moscow, and East Berlin. By the 1960s, the festival themes reflected the aspirations of the Soviet Union and, by extension, the Eastern bloc countries to forge connections with Third World state and non-state actors in the aftermath of the rapid wave of decolonization across the global South. In projecting international solidarity across time and space, the festivals came to embody a socialist ritual that travelled from one city to the next, collapsing the local versus global divide.

While a demonstration of socialism's internationalism was at least part of the impetus for the festival's mobile character, its ability to be rooted temporarily in local spaces also served a strategic purpose. East Berlin, for instance, represented a particularly important site for the festival, as it symbolized a key “border region” during the Cold War. This designation refers to the idea that the divided city of Berlin—located deep within the East German state—served as both a concrete and imagined point of interaction between the “East” and “West” during the Cold War. In fact, the World Youth Festival had been held once before in East Berlin—in 1951. At the time, the presence of international youths had undoubtedly served to reinforce the East German state's claim to legitimacy in the face of the West German state's refusal to recognize it. Countering West German isolation efforts, the 1951 festival program underscored the East German state's foundational myth, by aligning the GDR's proclaimed antifascist origins with a commitment to anti-imperialist struggles in the Third World.

By contrast, the 1973 festival in East Berlin took place during a period of relaxation between the East and West. Rather than seeking to legitimize the GDR, state planners recognized the 1973 festival as indicative of the very spirit of détente that had come to mark the shift in East-West German relations after the recent signing of the Basic Treaty. That agreement had not only established “neighborly relations” between the two German states, but also paved the way for widespread recognition of the GDR beyond the Eastern bloc, ending the decades-long struggle for legitimacy that East and West Germany had fought through diplomatic and trade agreements in the Third World. As the West German weekly Der Spiegel reported, the 1973 festival seemed to embody “the openness, even opulence with which, this week, the GDR presented itself before the rest of the world and its own people.” Yet, despite East Germany's improved international standing, the preparations for the 1973 festival reflected the East German authorities’ continued concern with perceived internal and external threats that were, in many respects, exacerbated—rather than diminished—by the relaxation in East-West tensions.

Tracklist:

A1 –Singegruppe Michael Höft und Rundfunk-Tanzorchester Berlin - So wird es sein
A2 –Oktoberklub Berlin - Wir treffen uns auf jeden Fall
A3 –Uwe Leo, Oktoberklub und Studiochor-Gruppe Berlin, Instrumentalgruppe Klaus Schneider -  Frieden, Freundschaft, Solidarität
A4 –Liedgruppe X. Weltfestspiele - Die Solidarität geht weiter
A5 –Klaus Renft-Combo - Ketten werden knapper
A6 –Vlady Slezák und der Gerd Michaelis-Chor, Rundfunk-Tanzorchester Berlin - Solidarität
A7 –Oktoberklub Berlin, Rundfunk-Tanzorchester Berlin - Ist das klar
B1 –Singegruppe Michael Höft, Rundfunk-Tanzorchester - Berlin Salut
B2 –Oktoberklub Berlin, Siegfried Mai und sein Orchester - Marsch für die X. (Noch immer gibt es Hunger auf der Erde)
B3 –Rundfunk-Jugendchor Wernigerode Rhythmusgruppe - Die junge Welt ist in Berlin zu Gast
B4 –Rundfunk-Jugendchor Wernigerode Rhythmusgruppe - Es geht um die Erde ein rotes Band
B5 –Rundfunk-Jugendchor Wernigerode Rhythmusgruppe - You and me
B6 –Oktoberklub Berlin - Wir sind überall
B7 –Aurora Lacasa, Reinhard Lakomy Chor und Orchester - Terra Humanitas

VA - Solidarität geht weiter - X. Weltfestspiele der Jugend und Studenten · Berlin 1973 · Hauptstadt der DDR (Eterna)

(192 kbps, cover art included)