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Deutsche Einheit: Ten Years of German Unity

© Colleen Thomas Ryor

A year after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, Germany began the process of official unification. Many Americans were very excited at the prospect for the obvious reasons of finally seeing freedom the victor over tyranny. Some in Europe remained cautious at the thought, to put it mildly. François Mitterand, then Socialist President of France, called it a "legal and political impossibility." Margaret Thatcher thought the Germans were acting hastily. These reactions were not exactly surprising, when you consider that only fifty years before each had been the victims of fierce aggression by a unified German state.

Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who has recently been involved in political finance scandals, played a major role in convincing his left-wing allies in the SPD (the Social Democrats), his own country, and the world that a unified Germany did not have to be synonymous with fascism or even a disruption of the relative peace that most of Europe had enjoyed since World War II.

Germany celebrates Unity Day October 3 each year. This year marked the tenth anniversary of Reunification, and a celebration took place in Dresden, with French President Jacques Chirac and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in attendance. Kohl was not allowed to speak at the ceremonies, which in turn caused political feuding among his party members in the CDU (Christian Democratic Union), and those in current Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's SPD camp.

What is it like for the people of Germany today, a decade after reunification? That, of course, depends on whom you ask. Those in the former East were under the impression that it would be six years before they caught up economically with their Western brethren, when in actuality it may take twenty-two years or more. Some from the former communist Germany view their Western compatriots as somewhat arrogant; many westerners resent having to pay so much in subsidies for their neighbors in the east. Some Germans who lived under communism also long for the old days in which they were guaranteed a job at all times, albeit at the expense of basic freedom and human rights. One supposes that it is easy to overlook the bad parts of a tyrannical system that at least offered permanent employment when the person in question is jobless in what was promised to be the golden land of the wealthy West. Unemployment is still much higher in the east than it is in the West, but it is now becoming quite popular to go to the east, especially among young people, and jobs in the computer industry are springing up there as well, easing economic woes to some extent.

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