Germany, 20 Years On: Goals Reached?

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When the Berlin Wall fell twenty years ago, it began a process, which culminated in the reunification of Germany. The merger between East and West Germany ended a four-decade division imposed by the Soviet Union and its East German communist allies, a split literally cemented into history during the 28-year life of the notorious Berlin Wall. The Wall’s destruction led to an eruption of euphoria and optimism. With discredited communists unable to put up resistance, West Germany’s Chancellor Helmut Kohl and his democratic allies in the east promised a swift convergence between the two regions. Expectations skyrocketed, yet the task was not a minor one. Differences between the two Germanys were fundamental at the time, extending beyond psychology or politics to basic economic realities. The post-war West German state pursued social market democracy – the “Soziale Marktwirtschaft” -- engendering the famous “Wirtschaftswunder” which catapulted Germany’s capitalist half into the league of the richest countries in world. East Germany, however, suffered heavily under Soviet occupation as entire factories were dismantled and transported to the USSR, and even after the occupation period Soviet inspired central planning quickly led to problems. By the early 1980s, the DDR’s economy had become an economic laggard, depending heavily on subsidies from Moscow and the largesse of its rival in the West, which during the 1970s had opened economic ties as part of Chancellor Willy Brandt’s conciliatory Ostpolitik initiative.