German Unification 15 years after

It�s now almost 15 years that Germany was re-united and the time has come to make an interim assessment.

When I say� re-unification�, it might not be the right word, as it was more of a take-over of the former East-Germany, the DDR, by its big Western brother, the BRD.
Even in legal terms it wasn�t a �re-unification�, DDR and BRD weren�t united, but the former federal states of the DDR joined the existing BRD.
Somehow, this was symptomatic, during a unification, one would presume that both partners contribute to the common purpose, but that wasn�t the case in 89/90.
The DDR virtually ceased to exist, nothing of its identity was preserved, nothing of it�s positive elements, social welfare, full employment, excellent education, sense of community etc, managed to survive the �Anschluss�.
There is no doubt, that the post-Stalinist system of Honecker&Co was doomed and rightly deserved to disappear , but should it have been done differently?

So, my two questions are:

1.     Was there a historical inevitability about the �unification�? Would it have been possible, as many of the citiziens of the DDR wished, that there could have been a gradual process of assimilation, that might have smoothed the transfer into a �free-market� society, or indeed had saved some elements of a socialist society?
2.     What are the most important implications of Germany�s unification anyway, for the country itself, for Europe, and the World? Was the �unification� a positive development or has it rather worrying consequences?

The instant "unification" brought more bad consquenses than good ones which in my opinion were not so understandable in the early years.Unemployment,neo-Nazis and fascism.I am capable of knowing whether Germany cared to hold anything good from DDR,but if it did happened i do not believe in a big extent.Moreover,now,if i am  mistaken plz correct me,what is seen outside is the industrial West and the unemployed East.

Originally posted by Spartakus The instant "unification" brought more bad consquenses than good ones which in my opinion�were not so understandable in the early years.Unemployment,neo-Nazis and fascism.I am capable of knowing whether Germany cared to hold anything good from DDR,but if it did happened i do not believe in a big extent.Moreover,now,if i am��mistaken plz correct me,what is seen outside is the industrial West and the unemployed East.

You're right there. Although not every aspect of Germany's current economic crisis can be explained by the "unification", it certainly caused a lot of problems that Germany wasn't able to deal with until now. The Western part of Germany had to invest a large amount of finances to restructure the East's economy, to re-develop its antiquated production and infra-structure, etc, and they were far from successful.
The east still suffers from structural under-development, resulting in high unemployment and all the social problems connected with it. The demise of the social welfare system in the entire BRD over the last years, has hit the East hardest, and the success of Neo-Nazi and other rightwing parties in the East is built on the misguided disillusionment of many people with the "free-market"!

Edited by Komnenos

re. neo-nazism, the groundwork has been there before the unification, it is more a heritage from totalitarian days than the fault of the reunification. East Germany isn't the only part of Eastern europe with such problems either.

I had friend for quite a few years who was frokm East Germany and hated the takeover so much he left.

His main gripe was in the old days he enjoyed travelling a lot. And had been from the Black Sea to the Baltic states and he had made a lot friends. Especially in Checkoslovakia which was just down the road and he could drive to on weekends. However when the two countries unified he suddenly thanks to the mighty Deusche Mark became different to them. He was a fat walleted West German while all his friend in Checkoslovakia and other countries were getting poorer and gradually they grew apart.

Originally posted by Komnenos Originally posted by yan. re. neo-nazism, the groundwork has been there before the unification, it is more a heritage from totalitarian days than the fault of the reunification. East Germany isn't the only part of Eastern europe with such problems either. On the whole, you're right. However, the last successes of the Neo-Nazi NPD in Saxony and Brandenburg were not achieved on an anti-immigration ticket, as it was the case in the last decade in Germany and all over Europe, but on the exploitation of the economic and social problems that had hit the East, after the introduction of Hartz IV, Germany's program to abolish the the social welfare system.

No, I think they're exploiting the general feeling that the politicians don't ever listen to the people on the ground, rather than actual policies (that would make it necessary to give alternatives, too), enriched with good ol' traditions like  anti-(west german/jewish) capitalism, anti-americanism and the promose of law-and-order. And they're working on a local level in areas where the other parties are weak, and (to some extent) whose problems (like cross border crime along the border between Saxony and Czech republic) tended to be overlooked by the other parties for too long.

 

btw. what successes did the NPD have in Brandenburg?

Originally posted by yan. No, I think they're�exploiting the general�feeling that the politicians don't ever listen to the people on the ground, rather than actual policies (that would make it necessary to give alternatives, too), enriched with good ol' traditions like� anti-(west german/jewish)�capitalism, anti-americanism and the promose of�law-and-order. And they're working on a local level in areas where the other parties are weak, and (to some extent)�whose problems (like cross�border crime along the border between Saxony and Czech republic)�tended to be overlooked by the other parties for too long.� btw. what successes did the NPD have in Brandenburg?

I can't see any great differences between your and my evaluation of the Neo-Nazis' success in the East, apart from that yours is in more detail.
It was of course the DVU in Brandenburg, sorry, different name, same thing.

Edited by Komnenos

look what i found:

1. Reunification promised to quickly alleviate forty years of East German Socialism by means of tax money: Prior to and especially during the November 1990 reunification election, political parties and government leaders all agreed that East Germany could be raised to the West German standard of living within the time of one parliament (four years), largely by means of State funding, although much of the GDR remains in the same condition that Hitler left it in.

Reunification advocates ignored the post-War lesson that the western parts of Germany were not rebuilt by means of tax-money but by hard work in a relatively free economy. The people of the Federal Republic of Germany had to work hard for years and years to rebuild their economy. However, most of the people of the former GDR still cling to the old socialist dream that poverty can only be overcome by the State, and the German government is extremely weak in arguing against this mentality. For the most part, the German government instead sends billions of Deutschmarks to the former GDR and promises wealth without hard work, since hard work is so unpopular. This attitude is reflected in a common jest concerning a former GDR citizen who, after reunification, starts to work at the Mercedes assembly line but at 10:00 am complains to his co-worker: "I am tired. We are already over the time, and the material usually runs out."

2. Reunification promised to bring "social freedom" by ignoring the crimes of former Socialist party leaders: In the "Entnazifizierung" following World War II, thousands of Nazi criminals were brought to American and, later, German law courts. Not all Nazi criminals were found or sentenced, but justice became a part of the common mentality, and former Nazis remained silently powerless for fear that common citizens could take them before the courts.

In contrast, the German government has not attempted to restore this sort of criminal justice in the former GDR. Thousands of the leading members of the SED (the East German Socialist party) are criminals even by old GDR standards, but, as of yet, German citizens are not bringing lawsuits against such criminals like they did following World War II. Most former GDR citizens fear to talk about known crimes, because SED leaders still control most of the factories, city administrations, universities, and even courts of law so that SED leaders are still able to work against "capitalistic" citizens. Freedom cannot prosper without justice.

3. Reunification advocates condemn the statism of the former GDR but ignore the statism of the FRG: The German government holds numerous state monopolies, some of them official (post, telephone, railway, local transportation, public education), some of them by way of ownership (airlines, electricity), and some by strict regulation (long-distance transportation -- businesses need a government permit to transport goods further than fifty kilometers). Moreover, Germany has an extensive social welfare system in which citizens must contribute to state insurance for health, unemployment, and rent.

Thus, former West German politicians have a difficult time explaining the difference between statist socialism and statist "capitalism". Of course, they refer to it as a "social market economy," but this is simply a euphemism for the old promise that the State will subsidize citizens that are poor, ill, unemployed, old, or just not willing to work. The former GDR promised this to its citizens, and this is what they still expect.

The new government promised this to its citizens in order to win the election, but this promise and the others noted above will hinder a second "Wirtschaftswunder".

Originally posted by Mosquito I was in DDR when i was a scout ( 13 years old that time, it was year 1988). I think in the whole eatern block scouting was only in Poland.  We were on some kind of camp where were some strange youth from DDR, Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, they all were dressed in white shirts with the red wraps and had very strange salute.

Seid bereit-Immer bereit!  (may have been the same all over the Eastern bloc). Wikipedia has an article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Th%C3%A4lmann_Pioneer_Org anisation

I remember the group leader of our team telling us, young boys to be very careful when talking to them because most of them are commies and may denounce us if we say somthing against Russians. The Russians and eastern Germans were getting well along together and we were making laugh of them and their "uniforms" and "salutes". That provoked international incident, we have kicked some red arses and I with the other friend were expelled and sent back home. Anyway, it was fun. Especially when they were naming us - young kids - with some strange words. If i remember well there was somthing about counterrevolution, western agenture and separatism. We  had no damn idea what they were talking about but our group leader was pretty scared, especially after they called eastern german militia.

Sounds fun  .  We had a polish group in one of the holiday camps I went to (no pioneer camp though, just a regular holiday camp belonging to the enterprise my mother worked in) and didn't really get friends either.