Erfüllte Hoffnung

Initiated even before the Elysée Treaty, town and village twinning represents a traditional element of Franco-German post-war relations. The idea to bring the citizens of both countries closer together by getting to know each other developed in the course of the second half of the 20th century from an initial experiment to a common part of everyday life. Although the town-twinning movement sought, similar to the »high politics«, to achieve a long-lasting co-operation between France and Germany, Lucie Filipová shows that the municipal co-operation followed its own dynamics, influenced by local political events, socio-political situations and symbolic aspects. Using case studies and statistical data, the author also describes how the geographical distribution of municipalities involved in twinning projects transformed and how the motivation of citizens and organizations changed. Finally, she discusses the role of East-German municipalities in the Franco-German town-twinning movement before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall.