German Reunification

The German Reunification
With the end of the Second World War, caused by the Nazi madness, the Allies decided to divide Germany into four occupation zones. Although the original intent was to govern with the newborn German Republic, the stressing relations between Communist and Western powers produced a clear cut between the occupied areas.
This gave rise to the German Democratic Republic, under the aegis of the Soviet Union, and the Federal Republic of Germany, which grouped the French occupation zones, U.S. and British.
The first, which was founded on the five eastern Lnder, saw the establishment of a Soviet government, controlled by a single party (the SED) which managed all areas of social life: from industry to trade, from artistic expression to the musical productions. The economy was thus strongly planned by the State.
The Federal Republic, however, developed according to a classical capitalist model, based on a market economy and free trade, leaving citizens with full civil and political rights exercised under a parliamentary democracy.
Both the DDR (Democratic Republic) and BRD (Federal Republic), represented highly developed centers in their respective areas: the first showed the most economically advanced country of the Warsaw Pact, while the second represented a model for the whole Western Block.
The push of the masses from the DDR towards the West was so strong that in 1961 the State Council decided to raise rigid barriers at borders, arresting the free movement of the citizens around the European continent.
The clearest expression of this act of restrictions was the construction of a wall that isolated the districts controlled by the Western powers in Berlin from the rest of East Germany.
After a season of mutual hostility, the new Chancellor of the Federal Republic Willy Brandt, began a dtente policy between East and West Germany. The diplomacy was very active in the early seventies: a new period named Ostpolitik (new eastern policy) began. Recognizing their sovereignty, the two countries started a new era in their relations, which should have led East Germany to a change through rapprochement.
The virtuous circle created by the Ostpolitik ended with the Brandt government. In 1989 people hoped for innovations in the management of the Eastern Block, with the advent of the Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev, who began a momentous period of reform. The process started in the mid-eighties, probably escaped the control of the Soviet authorities and became unstoppable: in August, the Hungarian authorities were the first to bring down the "iron curtain", which is the ultimate limit that separated the two axes.
An enormous exodus to the West began, and the government of the GDR was forced, after most of its ministers resigned, to allow the emigration of its citizens. In this way a symbol of a whole period fell: the Berlin Wall.
The reunification process was so fast that it left the whole international community astonished. The British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher formally asked the Russians to avoid a German reunification; great were the shock and worry of the other Western countries, including European partners.
But on the 3rd October 1990, sunset of the old millennium, history was written: the five eastern Lnder formally joined the Federal Republic of Germany, after holding free elections. The event shattered the world balance, dragging the collapse of the whole Communist Block with it.
However the terms of reunification were questioned: from a legal point of view East Germany was factually annexed, because there wasnt a new Constitution and no international treaties were signed: the laws in force in the West were just extended to the new regions.
This is still one of the most controversial aspects of the process of German reunification, to which the heavy economic consequences are added: unemployment in the eastern provinces jumped to 20%, not considering the depopulation of these territories and the wild privatization of industries that had belonged to the previous state machine.
To remove the incredible gap, the Federal Republic decided to tax itself and to invest huge capitals in helping the Eastern brothers: the five eastern Lnder have been receiving 100 billion a year to cover the gap between the two economies up to the present day.
Although East Germany is still the more backward and less competitive part of the country, the gap with the West region now starts to disappear!
To have a more direct approach, lets ask a German citizen a few questions
Today, 22 years after the fall of the German Democratic Republic, do people still perceive any differences between the two blocks?
During the last years the German government invested a large amount of capital in the regions Lnder that belonged to the Democratic Republic (GDR). After the fall of the GDR in 1990 and the introduction of free market, these territories in great economical need, couldnt face competition with west Germany and the other western European countries.
The fall of the wall was also the fall of the socialist economic system and the failure of the whole industrial production. This serious economical situation obliged young people and workers to emigrate abroad leaving mainly an older unemployed population nostalgic for the hammer-and-sickle times.
Are there prejudices from the western people towards the eastern citizens?
There were prejudices, but they have been significantly reduced during the years. Unlike Italy, clearly marked by a strong divergence connected to a long history of differences between North and South, in Germany differences werent felt much because the Soviet government lasted only 41 years, from 1949 to 1990. Moreover, the ideology concerning the belonging to a common fatherland dating back to the former National Socialism, was kept alive in east Germany because of the soviet dictatorship. A proof that today prejudices are nearly disappeared is for example the election as German chancellor of Angela Merkel, who lived and studied in the GDR.
And what about the working conditions, are there still differences concerning wages ?
Even if salaries are today on the same level all over Germany, in east Germany there are more differences regarding gender as far as wages and unemployment are concerned. With the fall of the GDR also the social gap between rich and poor increased, and with the spread of capitalism society has been becoming more and more consumerist.
In what way did West Germany support the Eastern part?

West Germany invested a lot in the eastern regions. Some people in the East felt that they were considered as vassals by the West that wanted to impose a copy of their model on them. Others supported this new model and saw investments from a positive point of view because they brought about wellness in a very short period. Actually, there has not been an equal synthesis between the two cultures; there was rather a conquest of West Germany that imposed its system and ideology.
While traveling in Germany is it still possible to notice which part belonged to the western and which to the eastern block?
From an aesthetic point of view, twenty years ago differences were enormous: infrastructures, roads or trains were completely downgraded. Today differences are no more so many and East Germany is even very advanced in many ways .
The process of unification started symbolically with the fall of the Berlin Wall and has been going on for 22 years, presenting also unpredictable difficulties and contradictions; nevertheless it has brought about a gradual understanding of each other that hopefully will lead to a definite common national consciousness in the near future.
We hope you enjoyed this little research
Greetings from Pescara! Francesco Gallo Ettore Kiefer 4 D Liceo Scientifico Leonardo Da Vinci

German Reunification

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How was Germany divided after World War 2?

What led to the construction of the Berlin Wall?

The German Reunification

In what way did West Germany support the Eastern part?

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