Germany marks a quarter-century as a reunited nation on Saturday, with two leaders from the formerly communist east heading a country that increasingly asserts itself as Europe’s political heavyweight – and now faces a new challenge in a refugee influx that will demand deep reserves of resourcefulness and patience.
West and East Germany united on October 3, 1990, capping a process that started less than 11 months earlier when the east’s communist leadership opened the Berlin Wall under pressure from massive demonstrations.
Evening out the differences between east and west has been a far slower process, and some inequalities persist even now.
On the whole, however, “things worked out well – so many people pitched in, showed verve, began to learn new jobs,” Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in the east and entered politics as communism fell, said in a video message ahead of the anniversary.Joachim Gauck, Germany’s president since 2012, is another easterner, former pastor and pro-democracy activist.
Since reunification, some $1.7 trillion to $2.2 trillion dollars have been funnelled into the east to help bring the region up to speed after its outmoded industry collapsed.
A steady post-1990 drain of people from east to west appears finally to have been stemmed, with more people moving east than the other way for the first time in 2013.
Even though unemployment remains higher in the east than the west – at 8.7 percent (an enviable figure for many European countries) compared with 5.6 percent – the gap has narrowed.
Former Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s promise to easterners that they would live in “blooming landscapes” no longer looks far-fetched.
