With the collapse of the Berlin Wall, Germany became reunified after over forty years of physical and ideological division. Discuss the costs and benefits of German unification

Despite the fact that there are few remnants left of the Berlin Wall and nowadays, it is widely seen as a popular tourist attraction, it is still very much present in the mind-set of the Germans as a bitter reminder of when the families, friends and the entire nation were divided in 1961.

After the Second World War, Germany was split into four occupation zones with the Soviet Union taking control of East Germany and France, the United Kingdom and United States taking control of parts in West Germany. Similarly, Berlin was split into 4 sectors despite the fact that it was located deep in the Soviet zone. It soon became apparent that there were extreme political divisions between the Soviet Union and the other three occupying powers; whilst West Germany was developed into a capitalist democracy with financial help from the Marshall Plan, East Germany became a communist, socialist republic. In East Germany, also known as the German Democratic Republic, the indoctrination of Marxism-Leninism was introduced as a compulsory part of school curricula and the media became completely controlled by the state’s communist government in order "to direct the thinking of the people into correct political lines.” The East German population were becoming increasingly repressed under these economical and political conditions and as a result, people started emigrating to the West, known as the Federal Republic of Germany. Almost 3.5 million East Germans had left the GDR by 1961 and this totalled approximately 20% of the entire East German population. Perhaps most importantly, East Germany suffered a ‘brain drain’ with thousands of doctors, teachers, engineers and technicians emigrating to the West, seriously damaging the credibility and the workforce of the GDR.

It was evident that action needed to be taken and rumours began to spread about a wall being built. However, the First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of the GDR, Walter Ulbricht, quashed these rumours stating that “Niemand hat die Absicht, eine Mauer zu errichten!” on 15th June, 1961. However, the rumours turned into concrete less than 2 months later when the construction of the Berlin Wall began. On 12th August 1961, while the East German population were sleeping, the police and certain units of the East German army began a complex operation to close the border between East and West Berlin. The following day, people in Berlin awoke to find that roads had been dug up, intimidating military tanks dotted along the border and a barbed wire fence stretching 96 miles strictly dividing East and West Berlin. As of that same day, Eastern citizens were prohibited to travel to the West. It is hard to even begin to imagine the situation that the Germans found themselves in as the GDR government had been so deceitful and sly but in hindsight, the government took the necessary action in order to sustain their Communist rule.

Over the next few years, this barbed wire evolved into a concrete wall, 3 metres 60 centimetres tall, a death strip with a carpet of steel spikes, 302 watchtowers and 12000 guards. The security measures were unbelievably intricate and threatening and there was an immediate consequence of death for those who tried to beat them.

This indestructible system magnified the contrast between the FDR and the GDR.
Conditions of everyday life could not have been more different, it is hard to believe that they were founded on a common cultural heritage and both shared the historical experience of the Nazi period.

East Germany had a relatively weak economy and therefore, the people lived a very basic life. The waiting lists for telephone connections were extremely long but even longer for cars, the standard waiting list for Trabant was 10 years. Bananas were a fruit for the privileged only and infrastructure was antiquated. It was bad enough that the government censored all types of media and books but the Ministry of State Security (The Stasi) controlled the population on a whole new level.

The Stasi infiltrated almost every aspect of GDR life in order to ensure no one was attempting to escape or threaten the government in any way. It boasted approximately 90 000 employees and 180 000 ‘inoffizielle Mitarbeiter’ which made up the Ministry and together, they collected personal information on as many people as they could. This resulted in a very cautious atmosphere in East Germany with people not being able to express their true thoughts due to the fear that a friend, neighbour or even a family member would report back to the Stasi. Anna Funder accurately portrays how people could not talk freely in ‘Stasiland’; Miriam and Ursula, two sixteen year old girls made leaflets quoting ‘People of the People’s Republic speak up’. Recalling the event, Miriam explains that ‘it was the crime of sedition’ and eventually, the girls were placed in solitary confinement for one month. Nowadays, people may read this book assuming that it is exaggeration of the situation but in fact, the Stasi would go to any extremes to retrieve information or protect the state against fascism including torture, intimidation and cold-blooded executions.

It was clear how desperate the people of East Germany were to escape this hell as more than 136 people died attempting to get over the wall, despite the fact they most probably already knew their fate. Personally, I think that the fact that people were willing to put their lives at risk in order to escape the GDR shows just how bad it truly was and with the loss of freedom to travel, one could go as far as to say the people of East Germany were imprisoned in their state. They could only dream of what it was like the other side of the Wall.

The West German’s were living in consumer paradise with fast, well-engineered cars, accessible luxuries and very modern buildings. People were very much independent and there was always room for initiative and growth in businesses unlike in the GDR where the majority of the population had low paid, manual jobs. Nowadays, people seem to jump to the conclusion that living in East Germany was all-bad and West Germany was perfect. However, this is far from the truth because there was hardly any unemployment in the GDR as opposed to the much higher rate in the FDR. Furthermore, in the GDR, there was considerable gender equality whereas in the FDR, women were discouraged from working outside the home and as a consequence of this, East Germany benefitted from far more and higher standards of childcare facilities.

These two contrasting ways of lives continued for over a third of a century until the fateful day of 9th November 1989. Through series of events, 13,000 Ossis escaped through Hungary when Hungary dissolved its border with Austria. Due to this and also a lot of recent political uproar, an enormous number of protesters gathered at the gates of the Berlin wall demanding entry into West Berlin, chanting ‘Wir wollen raus!" The protest was so large that it would have been impossible, even by using lethal force, to diffuse the situation and then it was announced that the borders were now open to everyone.

The guards seemed perplexed whilst the Ossis were ecstatic. There was an initial euphoria with the Ossis bringing their sledgehammers and demolishing the wall, in disbelief that such a wonderful thing had happened. The atmosphere was one of true elation and celebration with people hugging, cheering and crying. It was such a significant moment for them as it meant that the Iron Curtain had fell and gone was the repressive communist system that they had to live under for so long. Their lives were about to drastically change and they were completely free.

The Ossis eagerly explored what was consumer paradise in West Germany, buying as many luxuries as they could get their hands on. There are many touching images of East Germans buying domestic appliances such as washing machines and fridges and carrying them home on their backs, just in case this dream was snatched away from them. They were so delighted and amazed at their newfound freedom, a far cry from the poor lives they were used to.

Goodbye Lenin! is a tragicomedy that shows how big the difference was for the East Germans. Alex’s mother has been in a coma for months and finally awakens after the Wall had been torn down. Alex wants to protect his mother, Christiane, from the shock of recent events, as she solely needs to rest. He has to go to extreme lengths in order to do this such as feeding Christiane new Western produce in old labelled jars, dressing himself and his mother in their old-fashioned clothes and even, creating fake news reports. In a poignant and almost surreal scene, Christiane manages to wander out of her house and she finds a whole new world; she sees old furniture being thrown out and new, colourful, elaborate furniture being brought into houses, a car dealer over the road selling BMW’s rather than Trabant’s and finally, a helicopter flies over Christiane with a statue of Lenin waving goodbye. It is clear that she feels bewildered and very disorientated and in a comical yet truly touching way, it gives viewers an insight to how big the changes were for the Ossis.

The emotions of the Ossis, when the wall originally fell, were pure joy and happiness but more than 20 years later, it is interesting to analyse whether the unification, in the long term, was a success and everything that the people of Germany expected.

On the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Gordon Brown praised the people of Berlin, saying ‘The whole world is proud of you. You tore down the wall and you changed the world. You tore down the wall that for a third of a century had imprisoned half a city, half a country, half a continent and half the world. And because of your courage two Berlins are one, two Germany’s are one and now two Europe’s are one.’ This quote paints a picture of a completely united and integrated Germany but in fact, this portrayal is far from accurate.

In Eastern Germany, the houses have been renovated and motorways from West to East have been built. The Western and Eastern German’s now fill their cars up with the same petrol, they watch the same television and shop in the same food stores. However, the two are still very much foreign. Although the anniversaries of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which led to reunification of Germany, are celebrated on a universal scale, the people of West Germany and the people of East Germany have not become much closer, despite efforts on both sides.

Overall, the unification of Germany created far more problems than anticipated. In all fairness, it was the first time in history that a capitalist and a socialist economy with conflicting ideologies had suddenly become one. Therefore, there were no guidelines on how it could be done or any similar history to learn from.

To me, reunification suggests that the two states became one taking aspects from both cultures, however, in this case, it seemed as if the West took over the East. Therefore, I think that the sweeping takeover of industry, education and the welfare system left many Eastern Germans with the sense that whatever was good about their society was simply tossed out with the bad. Elmar Brahler, a professor at Leipzig University proposed that ‘many East Germans simply found themselves feeling inferior in an unfamiliar system’ and I totally agree with this statement. Seventy-three per cent of East Germans still, today, have the feeling of being underprivileged vis-à-vis Western Germans and this fact corroborates Brahler’s point of view.

A completely different way of life was imposed on the Ossis and consequently, they found it difficult to orient themselves in a society based on risk and achievement rather than security and conformity. Job interviews are a good example of this. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, East German’s have found themselves competing for jobs. They were used to standard, low paid jobs with virtually no unemployment in the GDR and therefore, they simply did not know how to conduct themselves in an interview nor how to sell themselves. In addition to this, employers preferred to employ Western Germans due to their background and higher standard of education. Subsequently, the rate of unemployment among former East Germans has soared despite the fact that it was not their fault that they found themselves behind the Iron Curtain for over three decades.

There were many other aspects of life which were very different and the East German’s found it tough adjusting to these. For example, they were accustomed to paying bills in cash in the former GDR whereas now, they had credit cards. Also, general behaviourisms were different. For instance, simple things such as queuing and shaking hands became awkward situations between the two sides. East German’s tended to queue very close together and would offer a handshake to almost everyone they met but now, they had to adjust to Western tendencies to be far more distant and reserved. These may seem like little trivial adjustments but almost every aspect of their lives had to be modified and altogether, they were forced to recreate a whole new life.

I believe that many East Germans felt, perhaps a little resentful towards the West Germans for completely discarding all aspects of their former life and therefore, they began to romanticise the past, and this trend became known as ‘ostalgie’. Some East Germans, still today, pine for the former GDR. They yearn for the free day-care centres, the economic security of the GDR and even the more solid bicycles from the former East. As a result of this, former Eastern citizens have acquired a liking for the brands of the Communist era and objects from this period are now collector’s items. Personally, I believe that the East Germans, particularly the elderly, feel as if they have lost everything and cling onto material representations of their past. However, it seems that these people have selective memory as they repress the fact that they lived in probably ‘the most spied-on state in history with its 6 million state security files for 17 million inhabitants.’

An interesting point of view is that of Jana Hensel, in ‘After the Wall’. The young girl, who grew up with the first half of her childhood in the former GDR and the second half in united Germany, tells exactly how her confused generation struggled through massive changes and looked forward to uncertain futures. She fondly recalls her life in the GDR, certain television programmes she used to watch, books she used to read and food she used to eat. However, this book is not naively written as she also remembers how she was trained to be suspicious of children who ate Western bananas and single-parent families. In 1969, her whole life changed and the state-run activities that she used to attend, such as Young Pioneers, disappeared. New books, television and food was introduced to her and although she made the transition fairly well, she fondly recalls her childhood and deliberates whether the system she used to live under was actually not so bad after all.

Through studying the reunification of Germany, I have also got the impression that the West Germans feel like they have given so much and improved the lives of the East Germans and that they should be grateful whereas the East German’s feel as if the West Germans do not understand what they have been through. Referring back to Stasiland, there is a part in the book when an East German writes in to a West German newspaper, asking that an article be written from an Eastern point of view. The man wanted to write about ‘how it felt to wait for your file to be pieced together’. The Stasi’s archives, which were destroyed when the Berlin Wall fell, were being retrieved and put back together which meant that former citizens of the GDR were discovering that their friends and families had betrayed and reported them to the Stasi. It has and continues to cause much upset. Continuing with the story, the boss at the newspaper does not allow the article to be written saying that ‘they are just Germans who had Communism for forty years and went backwards, and all they want now is the money to have big TV sets and holidays in Majorca’. This suggests that there were some ignorant West Germans who did not sympathise with the Eastern German point of view. The East German writes again, angry that ‘issues were being swept under the carpet in East Germany, and people along with them’. Perhaps, many East Germans adopted this point of view and felt that the fact that they had suffered for so long had never been properly addressed.

To conclude, I think that it is evident that the past still has a vivid influence on daily lives and while the economies of the East and West have moved closer, a psychological gulf has remained between the two. Personally, I do not believe that full integration can even be within reach, at least until the generations who lived under the former GDR government have passed on. Today if an East German says “We are one!” a West German might be quick to respond “We, too!” This bitter joke reflects on the situation in which one nation exists with two peoples. East and West Germans have far less in common than what was expected when the Wall fell and to this day, it seems as though they live separate lives.

2748 WORDS

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