Ties That Bind, Ties That Divide: Second World Cultural Exchange at the Grassroots

Abstract

This chapter examines the patterns and practices of cultural exchange in the Second World from the perspective of two major cities: Cracow in Poland and Leipzig in East Germany. It focuses on both cities’ Culture Departments, which were responsible for sending local artists abroad as well as organizing foreign performances at home. As “sister cities,” Cracow and Leipzig regularly exchanged delegations of writers, painters, actors, and amateur performers. They also hosted visiting artists from across the Soviet Bloc, the Soviet Union, and other Allied states. This chapter investigates the mechanisms behind such exchanges, exploring how they were arranged, funded, and realized. It considers which artists were selected to travel abroad and what artworks were chosen for foreign consumption. It also assesses the impact of international performers on the cultural landscape of two East European cities—and on two national cultures. Intended to promote contact and cooperation among communist countries, artistic exchanges often did just the opposite. They showcased differences in style, revealed dissonances in state policy, and strengthened nationalist sentiment. Even as they crisscrossed the Second World, therefore, exchange networks also laid bare its divisions. This chapter uses government records, artist memoirs, and audience responses to reconstruct patterns of cultural exchange at the city level. By tracing these patterns from the 1940s to the 1980s, it seeks to map the topography—and the boundaries—of communism’s cultural space.