Copyright 2000 www.cosmopolis.ch Louis Gerber All rights
reserved.
Ten years of reunification
Germany's celebration problems
Article added on October 5, 2000
Ten years ago, Germany was formally reunited.
Today, not everybody is in the mood to celebrate. Former chancellor Helmut Kohl
was not invited to the official celebration. It was not the ruling coalition
of Social-Democrats and the Green Party who kept him out, but Kurt Biedenkopf,
a former rival of Kohl within the Christian Democrats. As minister-president
of Saxony and President of the Bundesrat, the Upper House of the German
Parliament, the master of ceremonies formally based his decision on the
protocol. This was of course only a pretext since he invited Lothar de
Maizière, the last and only freely elected prime minister of the GDR, to the
festivities.
Helmut Kohl is above all in the line of fire
for his involvement in the party financing scandal and for his refusal to give the
names of the anonymous donators. He does not want to break the "word of
honor" he gave to the people who financially supported the party,
therefore putting his word of honor above the law. This is an unacceptable
attitude and a scandal within the scandal. If the donators really wanted to
help the CDU, they would have come forward themselves (if they are still alive)
or had unbound Kohl from his word of honor. But who knows, maybe there are no
donators and it was bribing money for state orders. As long as Kohl keeps his
secrets, there will be speculation.
But is not just the CDU that has problems: the
Social-Democrats and the Green Party came under fire from Christian Democrats
for their unconstructive role during the decisive period of 1989-1990 in which
the steps which led to reunification were taken. The current Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Joschka Fischer of the Green Party, then said, that one should not
speak of reunification for the next 25 years. Chancellor Schröder and Oskar
Lafontaine made also statements in the crucial years of change which showed
that they were no fervent advocates of reunification. The leaders of the
left-wing parties not only (justly) warned of possible economic problems
related to reunification, some of them still dreamt a dangerous dream of two
neutral Germanys in the middle of Europe. Others had illusions about a second,
"better" Germany on the territory of the GDR, a
"socialist-democratic state", not realizing that socialism and
democracy are incompatible.
Of course, there were also reasonable people
within the SPD and the Green Party who understood the unique historic
constellation and favored reunification, but they were a minority within the
leadership. Helmut Kohl and others are right
when they say that with Lafontaine, Schröder and Fischer as leaders in
1989-1990, Germany would probably not have been reunited. When the Social-Democrats
and the Green Party say today that one should look forward and not back,
they are hypocritical. Whenever one has to commemorate the past, mainly the
Nazi-past, the left-wing parties are the first ones to remind the Right to
remember it. They are less keen on remembering their own errors, which of
course are not on the same level as the "mistakes" made during
Hitler's reign, for which, naturally, CDU, CSU and FDP are not responsible.
Comments about the attitude in 1989 and 1990
are necessary, but they should be made by historians, by journalists in
newspapers and other media, also by politicians in parliamentary debates, but
not at official ceremonies commemorating unification, since their aim is to
unite and not to divide. At least, allusions to false perceptions and ideas
should be made in a moderate way and not become partisan statements, even if
they are correct.
Not all former East Germans are in a mood to
celebrate, either. They have won their freedom of expression and the liberty
to travel wherever they want to. Although most of them are in favor of
democracy, an important minority could not adapt to the market economy. The
unemployment rate is still around 20% in the Eastern part, twice as high as in
the Western part of Germany. A lot of East Germans had illusions about
democracy and market economy. They are no ideal systems. Furthermore, most of
them thought they could reach the Western standard of living within two or
three years. Even in the Western part, some had unrealistic ideas, partly
based on a romantic vision of their own past. The German economic miracle
after the Second World War did not come overnight. It was the fruit of hard labor
and began in 1948. Thousands had to die before the Western Allies realized
they had to begin reforms. In the 1950s, prosperity was still modest and only
in the 1960s can one speak of a consumer society.
In 1982 and 1983, at the age of 18 and 19, I
first traveled to Hungary and East Germany. My conclusion was immediate: these
regimes would not see the year 2000. In Hungary, people could already travel
to Austria and, therefore, not only liberty but also Western goods were
well-known and appreciated. East Germany, considered the economically most
vital country of the Eastern block, made the impression of a war zone on me.
Though I have to admit, if you had asked me in mid-1989 whether the end of
communism was imminent, I would have been very sceptical.
Germans living on the territory of the former
GDR had illusions which were disappointed. Especially the generation of the
now 40 to 65 year-olds are frustrated, because many lost their posts of
responsibility - it is not only a matter of money. They younger generation -
except and despite the skinheads - has more are less adapted to the new
system, and the pensioners enjoy a life with few problems. It only seems to be
a matter of time before all differences will be overcome, but it will take at
least a generation, another ten years from now. The infrastructure in the East
has been completely renewed, the towns have been renovated, the social system
is intact and more than $100 billion a year were and are transferred to the
East. Still, Eastern productivity is only 60% of the Western one. Democracy
and capitalism not only need enthusiasm, but also knowledge of the functioning
of market economy and capital. There was no money in the East, the state
and its citizens were equally bankrupt. Therefore, the economic elite came
mostly from the West. A lot of people in the East feel as if they are second
class citizens.
Is the glass half full or half empty? A look at
Germany's neighbors shows that the people of the former GDR live in a very
comfortable situation. There standard of living is "light years"
ahead of the one in Poland or Hungary. Of course, they have the natural
tendency to compare themselves to West Germans and not the people living in
their former "brother countries". But that is where the real task
lies: Europe cannot prosper and live in peace with the Eastern part of the
continent living in poverty.
One final word on the Eastern part of Germany:
With the tenth anniversary of unification, Gregor Gysi stepped down as the
leader of the parliamentary party of the PDS, the successor organization of
the GDR's Communist Party. He was the democratic and reform voice of the PDS.
He tried to reconcile an important minority of the East Germans with their new
state. He left his office partly because of Communist resistance within the PDS
against his reform program, partly because he thinks his historic mission is
over. Although, as a liberal in the European sense, I do not agree with Gysi's
political ideas, I have to admit that he was not only one of the few
rhetorically brilliant members of parliament, but also one who fully accepted
the Democratic state and, at the same time, gave a voice to East Germans who
felt and feel uncomfortable in the reunited Germany. With his departure, the
decline of the PDS could begin, making it a transitory party like the
organizations which, in the era of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, united the
German's who were forced to leave the German territories which today are part
of Poland.
