▲[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-L0619-026, Castro, Landkarte Kubas überreicht.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Berlin]], 19 June 1972: [[Fidel Castro]] (left) handed over, after the signing of the communiqué, a Cuban map to [[Erich Honecker]] (centre). The map shows an island that bears the name "Ernst Thälmann" and the southern area is named "[[East Germany|GDR]] Beach" (''Playa RDA'').]]

▲Until 1972, the island was known as Cayo Blanco del Sur. On the occasion of a state visit in June 1972 by [[Erich Honecker]], [[Fidel Castro]] renamed the island in honour of German [[communism|Communist]] politician and activist [[Ernst Thälmann]], the leader of the [[Communist Party of Germany]] (KPD) during much of the [[Weimar Republic]], who was imprisoned without trial after the rise of the [[Nazi Party]], and after eleven years of solitary confinement was shot by order of [[Adolf Hitler]] at [[Buchenwald concentration camp]]. According to a newspaper article in ''[[Neues Deutschland]]'' dated 20 June 1972,<ref>{{cite web |newspaper=[[Neues Deutschland]] |date=20 June 1972 |url=http://www.spiegel.de/media/0,4906,2978,00.pdf |format=PDF |title=Die Insel, die Ernst Thälmann's Namen trägt |accessdate=31 January 2014 |language=German}}</ref> the Cuban leader announced the renaming of the island, and one of its beaches to Playa "República Democrática Alemana" ({{lang-en|"[[German Democratic Republic]]" Beach}}, {{lang-de|"[[East Germany|DDR]]-Strand"}}). East Germany's state television newscast, ''[[Aktuelle Kamera]]'', reported on the ceremony and the unveiling of a bust of Ernst Thälmann on 18 August 1972 in the presence of the GDR ambassador, some East German delegates, and approximately 100 Cuban representatives.

▲In March 1975, the East German government sent singer [[Frank Schöbel]] to Cuba to make some music videos, and some footage of the island was shot, which was later included in a documentary emphasising the island as a symbol of GDR-Cuba friendship.<ref name=spiegel>{{cite web |website=Spiegel Online |url=http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,117432,00.html |title=Schenkte Castro den Deutschen eine Karibikinsel? |trans_title=Did Castro give a Caribbean island to the Germans? |language=German |date=14 February 2001 |accessdate=31 January 2014 |first=Matthias |last=Gebauer}}</ref>

▲In 1998, the island was hit severely by [[Hurricane Mitch]], knocking over the bust of Ernst Thälmann.<ref name="Star">[http://www.thedailystar.net/world/6-uninhabited-and-mysterious-islands-bizarre-pasts-161026 6 uninhabited and mysterious islands with bizarre pasts]</ref>

▲According to both the Cuban embassy in Germany and the [[Federal Foreign Office (Germany)|German Foreign Office]], the renaming was a "symbolic act" — the island was never transferred from Cuba and technically, neither Germany owned the island when all of East Germany's territory was ceded to West Germany on October 3, 1990.<ref name="Star"/>

▲*[[Canarreos Archipelago]], near the island