German Reunification

For nearly forty-five years Germany was divided into two separate countries, each with its own currency, political system, and social structure. For twenty-eight of those years the Berlin Wall, enforced the separation of Berlin and stood as a symbol of the separation of Germany into East and West. More than just separating Germany, however, the wall also divided the world into East and West sectors, serving as a symbol for the Cold War itself. The Autumn Revolution of 1989 culminated in a permanent opening of the wall on 9 November 1989. In the following year, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) reunited. Everyone demanding free access from East Berlin to the West, the leaders responsible for this change in policy, the masses of East Berliners crossing into West Germany, and the millions of people around the world who watched this all on television, recognized the historical significance of these events. With the fall of the wall the reunification materialized not only as a possibility but as a certainty.

The euphoria and anxiety that surrounded the ninth of November quickly turned to frustration and outright fear for many people in both the former Germanys and around the world. The new financial issues, unemployment problems, and social concerns of reunification found their roots in the two widely different political and economic structures that had prevailed in the two countries: democracy, with a free-market system in the West, and communism, with a state-run economy in the East. In the years immediately following the fall of the Berlin Wall many Germans and non-Germans alike believed the reunification was a positive event in history however, others viewed the events with uncertainty.

Now that the effects of reunification can be seen in Germany, the economic inequalities fostered by years of separation into the East and West areas have resulted in economic problems for the entire country. Because the social and economic structure of East and West Germany differed so greatly at the time Germans expressed anxieties about social and economic dislocation. One of the greatest problems of reunification was the economic disruption of East Germany. By mid-summer of 1990, East Germany had a 20 percent unemployment rate. In order to build East Germany to the technological level of West Germany, the West Germans will have to pay an estimated $775 billion over 10 years. Germany soon will approach a situation in which a little more than one-third of the population must finance the education, subsistence, and health-care benefits of the other two-thirds. Unfortunately, this burden greatly diminished much of the initial enthusiasm the Westerners felt for the prospect of reunification.

Perhaps the greatest fears raised about reunification regarded what kind of role a unified Germany would hold in Europe