Strom über die Grenzen: how power passed through Wall

One of the borders of the Cold War par-excellence was that between the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). This border, which even found a physical form in the Berlin Wall, could been however crossed by trade flows. As Dietmar Petzina claims, it “provides a poignant example of the political instrumentalization of trade policy” for both parts. On the one hand, this trade actually represented a feature of the Ostpolitik; on the other it was an easy way to access to western high technological goods, necessary for the development of East German economy itself, for the fulfil of the years plans and for increasing its importance on Comecon stage as a “bridge towards West”. The peculiar characteristics, both political and economic, sustained the cooperation between the two parts even during periods of high geopolitical tensions especially during the Sixties, when the GDR was not yet officially recognized by the counterpart and Ulbricht was political reticent about rapprochement and détente. In those years it is interesting the analysis of the reports concerning the supply of electricity, with its impact on both economy and politics. In my intervention, attention is given both to the development of this trade in general and, more specifically, to its energy component.