Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall fell more than twenty years ago. This time was enough for an entire generation to grow up not knowing what life was like in a divided Germany. But was this time enough for the visible difference between East and West Germany to disappear? Was it enough to make East and West Germans no longer differentiate?
To give answers to these questions, in essence, it is not necessary to travel from, say, for example, to (although such a trip would absolutely give answers to these questions), it is enough to move from the west of Berlin to its eastern part.
With such a movement, you can notice that the bourgeois-sleepy, pacified, consumerist, boring atmosphere of the Western was suddenly replaced by the freakish creativity, decadence and ebullient cheerfulness of the Eastern. The streets have changed. They became dirtier, but more interesting; seedy corners and a large number of entertainment establishments such as bars and clubs appeared. The people in East Berlin look different. It's full of bohemians, punks and just city freaks. Such changes may well cause negativity among some particularly sanctimonious people, but the fact remains that almost all tourist life (except, perhaps, shopping, for which people go to the vicinity of Kurfürstendamm) is concentrated in East Berlin. Moreover, it is from the former capital of the GDR that all the main symbols of modern Berlin associated with this city originate. Namely, the TV tower, Alexanderplatz, Weltzeituhr and Unter den Linden, with its very socialist appearance in places. In essence, we can say that West Berlin during the time of divided Germany contributed practically nothing to the modern appearance of the capital.
However, one should not conclude from Berlin alone that the difference between the two parts of a united Germany still remains very noticeable. There are other cities. And no matter how many years pass, the difference between the West and the East is felt as before. In the east there is still a lot of sometimes pleasing, but more often depressing socialist architecture, houses and streets are often unkempt, and the cars on the streets are simpler. Here you often get a kind of dusty gray reinforced concrete feeling that you can experience on the outskirts of large Russian cities. But one thing is certain: eastern cities are more diverse, more contrasting, and more individual, if you like. I don’t want to say that Western cities are devoid of individuality, but in terms of atmosphere and spirit, the cities of the former GDR give them a big head start.
Not only the cities, but also the people differ in the two parts of a united Germany. East and West Germans, of course, belong to the same ethnic group and have been living in the same country for more than twenty years, but the sociocultural differences between them are still great.
For the most part, former citizens of the GDR produce perhaps a more depressing impression. They often have a tense, dissatisfied expression on their face and a wary look, as if they are constantly expecting a dirty trick from those around them. They do not have the polish and unobtrusive self-satisfaction that can be seen in their Western counterparts. They are often less educated and more prone to bad habits. But when communicating in person, it suddenly turns out that East Germans are more intricate, they have more interests and unusual hobbies.
This, of course, is the author’s personal observation, possibly made on a non-representative sample. Then it will be interesting to find out what the Germans themselves think about all this. Almost all the Ossies (East Germans) with whom I had the opportunity to talk on this topic said that they were always more comfortable communicating with other Ossies than with Wessies (respectively, West Germans). According to them, the inhabitants of the former GDR are simpler and more soulful than the mainly consumption-oriented residents of West Germany. The Vessi, in turn, also admit that there is a misunderstanding and accuse their Eastern brethren of prejudice and labeling. Like, Western means a soulless consumerist.
Sometimes misunderstanding reaches the everyday level. So, one of my friend Vessi, who came to study at the University of Dresden, was asked by other students (from local Ossis) why she was studying, because in West Germany women still do not work.
This strange prejudice, which still exists today, comes from the times of the GDR, where maternity leave was six months, after which the child could be placed in a nursery. In Germany, places in kindergarten were given to children only from the age of three, so a woman, as a rule, did not work for a long time after the birth of a child.
By the way, the idea that all East Germans curse their GDR past and are delighted with a united Germany is not true. Many representatives of the older generation believe that there was more order and justice in the GDR. Some young people, for whom employment issues are pressing, are convinced that the GDR provided much more guarantees in this regard. The fall of the wall became for the Germans not only the moment of the long-awaited unification of the nation and the restoration of the integrity of the territory, but also a certain watershed. Thus, when describing their life before and after the fall of the wall, Germans of the middle and older generations say vor der Wende and nach der Wende (i.e. before and after the turn). As for the East Germans, in their speech you can find the expression zu den Ostzeiten (in Eastern times). In addition, among the Ossies there is such a common feeling, understandable only to them, as Ostalgie (Ost+Nostalgie) - longing for the GDR times and everything connected with them: from interior design and T-shirts with an Olympic bear to films about the Indians of the DEFA studio.
The Wessies, in turn, have economic claims against the former GDR. Rich Western lands are forced to financially support poor Eastern ones, including, by the way, arm-aber-sexy Berlin, which is considered a bankrupt city.
Interestingly, in the less free and liberated GDR, people developed a certain creativity and ingenuity, which was passed on to the next generation and even increased in it. Perhaps the lack of satiety with material goods, combined with protest against the GDR regime, played a role here. Perhaps the shock that occurred in 1989, which the inhabitants of any country experience when there is a regime change, became a stimulus for the latent creativity of the Ossies. Well, most likely both. The West Germans did not know all this, and their creativity remained largely intact.
In general, differences between West and East in Germany still remain, as do mutual grievances. In all likelihood, in the next twenty years the differences will disappear, and with them all differences. This will probably be good for the prosperity of the country. But it’s still a pity, because at the same time Germany will lose part of its originality.
MOSCOW, December 4 – RIA Novosti, Anna Mikhailova. With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the unification of East and West Germany, it seemed that the history of the GDR was over. However, even after almost 30 years, residents of the former German Democratic Republic are nostalgic for a country that no longer exists. They buy goods from those years on the Internet, watch themed programs on television and even throw parties in the style of the GDR. This phenomenon has an official term - “ostalgia” (from the German Ost - east).
The phenomenon of East Germans' longing for the past has become the subject of research. A RIA Novosti correspondent talked with the authors of such books, as well as with East Germans, and found out what residents of the former GDR lack in modern Germany.
We lived - we didn’t grieve
The reunification of Germany after the end of the Cold War is usually presented as a success story. Primarily because it was bloodless. Although the change of power in 1989-1990 was peaceful, for East Germans it meant deep upheaval and loss. With hopes for a better life, they were hit by unemployment, uncertainty about the future, lack of clear representation in the political and public life of the country and a general state of loss, says Thomas Grossbölting, compiler-editor of the book “GDR: a peace-loving state, a reading country, a sports nation? ".
“Eastern residents had to adapt to the new life in a united Germany, retrain. They had to insure their lives differently, behave differently in the workplace, the education system became different. People lacked social closeness, there was no familiar path along which the citizens of the GDR followed since childhood,” says the expert.
As a West German who grew up in Westphalia, Grossbölting had long perceived the GDR as a completely alien entity. For his generation, the life of East Germans was a source of speculation and myths, which he tried to refute while working on the book.
“I was interested in questions such as: did the GDR have more social guarantees, was the emancipation of women more progressive than in the Federal Republic of Germany, why were the sportsmen and women of the GDR so successful? All these things were the subject of discussion and debate in the 90s, touching on the issue of identity. The West German view was that the citizens of the GDR were “liberated”, so they should be grateful for this. But in parallel there was this wave of ostalgia, when the inhabitants of that part of Germany found certain qualities and moments in the history of the GDR that they wanted. defend and preserve,” explains Grossbölting.
"I'm not German, I'm East German"
Author of the book "The East German Experience after the Unification of Germany" Thomas Abe at the Non/fiction book fair
"The period of transformation was quite tough and painful. Every second worker (that is, 50% of the working-age population) lost his job. At the same time, East Germans were not represented in any way in society; they were controlled by the West German elite. In business, economics, political associations, trade unions, universities, science, government bodies, these were mainly West Germans. The Ossi did not have their own voice,” says Abe.
© Photo courtesy of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation
© Photo courtesy of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation
The decline in euphoria from the abundance of “Western” goods and products among East Germans began quite quickly, already two years after the unification of the country. And to one degree or another it continues to this day, Abe believes.
“In March 1990, a public opinion poll was conducted. People were asked: “Do you feel like Germans, East Germans or citizens of the GDR?” Two thirds of those surveyed then said: “I am German.” We asked the same question to East Germans in December 1992 years, that is, two years after unification. The results turned out to be the opposite. Two-thirds of respondents answered: “I am an East German” and only one-third: “I am a German,” explains Thomas Abe.
"My GDR is a magnificent country!"
Another native of the “east,” Michael Mayen, a specialist in communication theory and professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, adds that the Ossies feel nostalgic for the times “when no one questioned their personal achievements in life.” According to him, one of the key elements of Ostalgia was the disdainful attitude of West Germans towards those who lived in the GDR, which made the latter feel a loss of identity.
“People have been deprived of the opportunity to remember their own past and to positively or at least selectively evaluate the part of their life spent in the GDR. Because the “united” German public, the media, schools, museums - everyone evaluates the GDR only as the rule of a dictatorship. And therefore Almost every former GDR member has to explain to others what he was doing in those days - and why, but West Germans don’t need to do this,” Mayen is sure.
This feeling plays an important role for many East Germans. Among other things, parents cannot help their adult children develop careers, which was possible in the former East Germany, Mayen said. Among other lost values, the scientist notes "social guarantees, relationships at work, social justice and the feeling that the focus of attention of politicians is primarily people."
“The loss of status and the need to justify their past brings East Germans closer together,” confirms Thomas Abe.
“The style that prevails in modern Germany in relation to East Germans and the GDR is unfair and one-sided. Scientists say: there was a dictatorship in the GDR. But ordinary East Germans think in other categories. They say: “I can’t imagine that it was so bad while. My GDR was a magnificent country!" The same thing with the Stasi. When in Germany they began to write a lot about the repressions of this law enforcement system, ordinary Ossies did not want to believe it," the expert emphasizes.
It is noteworthy that the issue of identification remains relevant for the younger generation of East Germans who did not live in the GDR. According to recent surveys, about 40% of Ossie children believe that their parents’ homeland was a more democratic and fair state than today’s Germany.
Before Gorbachev's perestroika, the GDR was perhaps the most loyal vassal of the Soviet Union. “A chicken is not a bird, the GDR is not a foreign country,” they joked then. Friendship with “big brother” was elevated to the rank of official state ideology in East Germany. Schools compulsorily taught the Russian language, the history of the CPSU and the USSR, almost every German city had a Soviet sister city, and Soviet holidays were celebrated in the GDR.
Friendship is not forced
Economic ties between the two countries were close. About a third of the GDR's foreign trade turnover was with the Soviet Union. According to the Chairman of the Board of the Russian-German Chamber of Foreign Trade, Michael Harms, almost every plant had production or scientific connections with Soviet organizations and enterprises, which also implied personal contacts.
In addition, a powerful group of first Soviet and later Russian troops was stationed on the territory of East Germany, and residents of the GDR sometimes had very close contacts with military personnel, primarily with officers.
Mixed marriages took place quite often. As Michael Harms emphasizes, most often it is between East Germans and Russians. He himself, by the way, is also one of those East Germans who “fell victim” to Russian female charm, and the knowledge of the Russian language and experience of intercultural communication accumulated by him back in GDR times served as a good platform for a career start already in united Germany. And in Moscow now he feels like a fish in water.
“East Germans, especially those who received secondary education in the GDR, as a rule, know Russian,” explains Deutsche Welle’s interlocutor. “They know the history of the Soviet Union and Russia better and are generally more sympathetic to Russia.”
This point of view is shared by former GDR diplomat Wolfgang Grabowski. “People in eastern Germany have retained a good attitude towards the Russians and still call them friends,” says Grabowski. “This is what was customary to call the inhabitants of the USSR in the German-Soviet Friendship Society.”
It should be noted that for citizens of the GDR, membership in this organization was “voluntary-compulsory.” But is it possible to be friends according to instructions from above? “Of course, not all 6.5 million members of society were sincere friends of the Soviet Union,” Grabowski admits. “It was customary to join this organization; they joined collectively, as a whole brigade. But not only.”
The former diplomat spoke about the results of a survey that he conducted many years ago among 13 thousand young members of this society, and the survey was anonymous. 81 percent of respondents said that their friendly feelings towards the Soviet Union are completely sincere, that this is their deep inner conviction.
On the other side of politics
However, in West Germany there have always been many people who sincerely sympathize with Russia, primarily due to their familiarity with Russian culture. “First of all, people were and are attracted by the richest Russian culture - Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, great Russian artists, in particular Kandinsky, who is considered unsurpassed here,” said Martin Hoffmann, manager of the German-Russian Forum, a native of Western Germany, in an interview with Deutsche Welle ( Martin Hoffmann).
In eastern Germany, the Alexandrov Song and Dance Ensemble was very popular. In addition, some customs and traditions passed on by the “big brothers” to the “younger” ones have been preserved there to this day. For example, going for mushrooms, recalls Wolfgang Grabowski. And also hospitality.
“In the east of Germany,” says Grabowski, “a form of hospitality that East Germans became familiar with during trips to the USSR or in communication with Soviet military personnel took root and was liked.” It is noteworthy, he added, that such a tradition is preserved not only by those who personally experienced Russian hospitality, but also by their children.
In conflict with the system
Angela Merkel is cooler towards Russia than her predecessor
Another thing is that those East Germans who were critical of socialism were in opposition to the system that existed in the GDR. “They, of course, understood that this system was brought to Germany by the Soviet Union,” explains the head of the Russian-German Chamber of Foreign Trade, Michael Harms. “Therefore, they did not like the Soviet Union, and this dislike affects the attitude towards today’s Russia.”
Perhaps this explains the cooler attitude towards Russia of today's German Chancellor Angela Merkel than her predecessor Gerhard Schröder had. She is an East German, but one of those who was critical of the regime in the GDR.
Lost contacts
After the reunification of Germany, the ties that had been established over many decades between the now former GDR and the dying USSR began to quickly disintegrate, except for a short surge during that transition period when transferable Soviet rubles were still in effect. Then wholesale privatization began in the East German states, and most enterprises that had cooperative ties with Soviet plants and factories simply ceased to exist due to lack of competitiveness.
Many East Germans who were previously involved in bilateral relations were also left out of work. “Even highly qualified specialists with excellent knowledge of the Russian language were not hired by large West German companies,” recalls Wolfgang Grabowski. “The concerns preferred to hire their people who knew only English to work in Russia.”
Deutsche Welle's interlocutor does not undertake to explain this phenomenon. “Perhaps it was due to a disdainful attitude towards East Germans in general,” he suggests. “There are, of course, people who have made a career, but they are rather the exception.”
Change of generations
However, gradually the destroyed ties were restored, and people who know the Russian language and Russian realities were again in demand. First of all, this affected East German specialists involved in research and development, recalls Vitaly Shmelkov, manager of the German-Russian Economic Alliance.
According to Shmelkov’s observations, people from the former GDR are more mobile, more persistent, actively use personal contacts and established connections, and knowledge of the language, mentality and generally accepted norms of behavior in Russia allows them to navigate the country more easily. Today these people work in the Moscow representative offices of many German companies.
If, however, we look at the younger generation, Deutsche Welle’s interlocutors do not see any particular differences between West and East Germans. “In the Western federal states there are also a lot of young managers, students who are interested in Russia, spend a lot of time here, work as interns in German companies,” says Harms.
“In my opinion, now both East and West Germans are equally happy to go to the bathhouse with Russians and drink vodka with them,” adds Shmelkov.
The euphoria has passed
But this is at the everyday level. But the socio-political moods in the east and west of Germany are still different, notes the head of the German-Russian Forum Martin Hoffmann. According to him, in the east of the country people are more ready to accept Russia as it is. But West Germans are very skeptical about the current form of government in Russia, especially the style of Vladimir Putin. Hoffman attributes this sentiment to the critical coverage of events in Russia by local media.
“The euphoria caused by Gorbachev and his perestroika has passed,” states Hoffman. “Now in western Germany a restrained attitude towards Russia prevails.”
It turns out that not everything is so smooth
Original taken from matveychev_oleg abandoned us in the USSR, and the West Germans robbed us and turned us into a colony
Rally in Dresden
Daria Aslamova visited Germany and was surprised to discover that 27 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the country remains divided.
Tell us later what life is like there in East Germany...
I'm sitting in a Berlin beer hall with my German colleagues, Peter and Kat, and I can't believe my ears:
Are you joking?! Dresden is two hours away by car. Have you really never been to the former GDR?
My friends look at each other confusedly:
Never. You know, for some reason I don’t want to. We are typical “Wessi” (West Germans), and there is always an invisible line between “Wessi” and “Ossi” (East Germans). We're just different.
But the Berlin Wall was destroyed more than a quarter of a century ago! - I exclaim in confusion.
She hasn't gone anywhere. It stands as it stood. People just have bad eyesight.
RISING FROM THE ASHES
All my life I have avoided meeting Dresden. Well, I didn't want to. “There, in the ground, there are tons of human bones crushed into dust.” (Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five.) My half-German mother-in-law was nine years old in 1945 and survived the night of February 13-14 when the full might of British and American air power fell on Dresden. She survived only because her grandmother managed to drag her out into the corn fields. She lay with the other children, who were frozen in the grass like rabbits, and looked at the bombs falling on the city: “They seemed terribly beautiful to us and looked like Christmas trees. That's what we called them. And then the whole city burst into flames. And all my life I was forbidden to talk about what I saw. Just forget."
Overnight, 650 thousand incendiary bombs and 1,500 tons of high-explosive bombs fell on the city. The result of such a massive bombing was a fire tornado that covered an area four times larger than the destruction of Nagasaki. The temperature in Dresden reached 1500 degrees. People flared up like living torches and melted along with the asphalt. It is absolutely impossible to count the number of deaths. The USSR insisted on 135 thousand people, the British stuck to the figure of 30 thousand. Only corpses pulled out from under destroyed buildings and basements were counted. But who can weigh human ashes?
One of the most luxurious and ancient cities Europe, "Florence on the Elbe " was almost completely wiped off the face of the earth. The goal of the British (namely, they insisted on destroying the historical center of Dresden) was not only the moral destruction of the Germans, but also the desire to show the Russians what the aviation of the so-called “allies” was capable of, who were already preparing an attack on the war-exhausted USSR (Operation “Unthinkable” ").
Afterwards, I heard many times how stubborn, die-hard Germans stubbornly collected ancient, charred stones, how they carried out unprecedented construction work for more than forty years and restored Dresden, but I just shrugged my shoulders. I don't need props. I don’t like, for example, the toy center of the restored Warsaw, which looks like a Lego construction.
But Dresden put my disbelief to shame. These German pedants achieved the impossible. Dresden has once again become the most beautiful of European cities. Two contradictory feelings possess me: admiration for the Saxon industriousness, their passionate love for their land and... fury at the thought of our stupid Russian generosity. The USSR, a country that lost 27 million people during the German invasion, was bleeding, starving (my veteran father said that the worst famine was after the war), suddenly makes the only and unique gesture of nobility in the history of mankind - ten years after the great war returns 1240 restored paintings to the defeated enemies, including Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt, Raphael, Dürer, Vermeer and 3000 priceless jewelry! Rubies, emeralds, diamonds, pearls, sapphires, kilograms of gold and silver. This is not counting the artistic value of the treasures! Green diamond 41 carats, white diamond 48 carats. There are not enough rooms to display all the exhibits!
An unbearable feeling of nausea comes over me. My father ate his first meal then Sahara , he wore in the Far East frosts canvas shoes and a quilt under his belt, he worked two shifts at a factory, his brother returned from the war without legs, the country was in ruins, and we, Russian fools, then believed that history would not forget us our nobility!
But it's true, we haven't forgotten! - my new German comrade timidly tells me. - Nobility remains for centuries!
And before my eyes stands the lean face of Merkel, arguing that Russians have not matured to European values, and they must be punished with sanctions. What right does she have to remind Russians of morality?!
Where then are the signs that should remind everyone that the treasures of Dresden are Russian trophies for the unheard-of crimes of the Germans against Russia, which my country generously returned, forgiving everything? Where is the gratitude? Why do German guides in Munich say that Dresden was bombed by Russian aircraft?
- I say, choking with anger. - And the Sistine Madonna, a masterpiece of Italian painting, could easily hang in the Hermitage. And they spit on us in Germany, not remembering our kindness, your press compares us to barbarians.
So these are “Wessi” (West Germans), they tell me with contempt. - They are constantly brainwashed. We are different, the GDR members. You will understand this yourself soon.
WHAT ARE THEY, EAST GERMANS?
Not well-cut, but tightly sewn, with firm features and sedate manners. People of coarse grinding and harsh yarn. It is not easy for their lips to stretch into a smile. They are somewhat reminiscent of Russians - they absolutely do not understand why they need to lavish smiles on strangers. But in communication, if they open up, they are sincere, open people who say exactly what they think. The women are dense, “black earth” - not at all like the fragile shepherdesses and ballerinas of the famous Dresden and Mason porcelain displayed in the windows of expensive stores.
There aren't many people here. Even in Dresden, where you've never heard of traffic jams. And beyond Dresden, closer to the Polish border, you can drive tens of kilometers and not see not only people, but even cars. But cleanliness everywhere is like in an operating room! There is nowhere to throw the bull. Everything seems to have been licked by the tongue. This is not Cologne, spit on by migrants, or the same Frankfurt. The green geometry of the fields, vigorous, tall hops, from which such excellent beer is then made, earing wheat, rich peasant lands with strong outbuildings, sleek, trimmed, washed land. A real holiday of labor and order! Trees grow like soldiers, flowers are brought up under strict discipline. But where are these stubborn farmers themselves? Where are their tracks on the neat gravel paths? Nobody! I even developed a theory that at night little green men descend from the sky onto beautiful Saxony, cultivate the fields, cut the grass, clean the roads, and at dawn disappear like ghosts. There are simply no other explanations.
But later I realized where people from eastern Germany disappeared to.
GDR: THE COUNTRY THAT HAS DISAPPEARED FROM THE MAP
We know very well what happened BEFORE the fall of the Berlin Wall, but we know almost nothing about what happened AFTER. We know nothing about the tragedy experienced by the “socialist” Germans, who so enthusiastically broke down the wall and opened their arms to their “capitalist brothers.” They could not even imagine that their country would disappear within a year, that there would be no equal unification agreement, that they would lose most of their civil rights. An ordinary Anschluss will occur: the seizure of East Germany by West Germany and the complete absorption of the latter.
The events of 1989 were very reminiscent of the Ukrainian Maidan, he recalls historian Brigitte Quek. - The world media broadcast live how thousands of young Germans broke the wall and applauded them. But no one asked, what does a country of 18 million people want? Residents of the GDR dreamed of freedom of movement and “better socialism.” They had a hard time imagining what capitalism looked like. But there was no referendum, like you had, for example, in Crimea, which means that the “Anschluss” was absolutely not legitimate!
After the start of perestroika and Gorbachev’s rise to power, it became clear what the end awaited the GDR without the support of the Soviet Union, but the funeral could be worthy, says Dr. Wolfgang Schelicke, Chairman of the German-Russian Institute of Culture. - United Germany was born as a result of a hasty and unsuccessful birth. Helmut Kohl, Federal Chancellor of Germany, did not want to delay, fearing that Gorbachev would be removed. His slogans were: no experiments, Germany is stronger and has proven with its history that it is BETTER than the GDR. Although the intelligentsia understood that if all West German laws were poured into another country overnight, it would cause a long-term conflict.
On October 3, 1990, the GDR ceased to exist. The Federal Republic of Germany created a special humiliating Office for the care of the former GDR, as if the East Germans were backward and unreasonable children. In essence, East Germany simply capitulated. In just a year, almost two and a half million people lost their jobs, out of a total workforce of 8.3 million.
All government officials were kicked out first,” says Peter Steglich, former GDR ambassador to Sweden. - We, at the Foreign Ministry, received a letter: you are free, the GDR no longer exists. I, unemployed, was saved by my Spanish wife, who was left to work as a translator. I had a few years left before retirement, but for young diplomats who had received an excellent education, this was a tragedy. They wrote applications to the German Foreign Ministry, but not a single one of them was hired. Then they destroyed the fleet and army, the second most powerful in the Warsaw Pact countries. All the officers were fired, many with pitiful pensions, or even no pensions at all. Only technical specialists who knew how to handle Soviet weapons were left.
Important gentlemen-administrators arrived from the West, whose goal was to dismantle the old system, introduce a new one, compile “black” lists of unwanted and suspicious people, and carry out thorough purges. Special “qualification commissions” were created to identify all “ideologically” unstable workers. “Democratic” Germany decided to brutally deal with the “totalitarian GDR”. In politics, only the vanquished are wrong.
On January 1, 1991, all employees of the Berlin legal services were dismissed as unfit to ensure democratic order. On the same day at the University. Humboldt (the main university of the GDR) liquidated the history, law, philosophy and pedagogical faculties and expelled all professors and teachers without retaining their seniority. In addition, all teachers, professors, scientific, technical and administrative staff in educational institutions of the former GDR were ordered to fill out questionnaires and provide details of their political views and party affiliation. If they refused or withheld information, they were subject to immediate dismissal.
“Purges” began in schools. Old textbooks were thrown into a landfill as “ideologically harmful.” But the Gedar education system was considered one of the best in the world. Finland, for example, borrowed its experience.
First of all, they fired the directors, members of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany that ruled in the GDR, recalls Dr. Wolfgang Schelick. - Many humanities teachers lost their jobs. The rest had to survive, and fear came to them. The teachers did not go underground, but they stopped discussing and expressing their point of view. But this affects the upbringing of children! Russian language teachers were also fired. English became a compulsory foreign language.
Russian, like Czech or Polish, can now be learned at will, as a third language. As a result, East Germans forgot Russian and did not learn English. The atmosphere everywhere has completely changed. I had to work with my elbows. The concepts of solidarity and mutual assistance have disappeared. At work, you are no longer a colleague, but a competitor. Those who have a job work their butts off. They have no time to go to the cinema or the theater, as was the case in the GDR. And the unemployed fell into degradation.
Many people lost their homes. And for what an ugly reason. Many East Germans lived in private houses that were badly damaged during the war (West Germany suffered much less damage than East Germany). Construction materials were in great short supply. Over the course of forty years, the owners of the houses restored them, collected them literally stone by stone and could now be proud of their beautiful villas. But after the fall of the wall, beloved relatives who used to send Christmas cards came from the West and claimed a share in these houses. Come on, pay it off! Where did the former GDR member get his savings? He received a good salary, had social guarantees, but he was not a capitalist. Oh, no money? We don't care. Sell your house and pay our share. These were real tragedies.
But the most important thing is that there has been a complete change of elites. The Germans, who were not very successful there, poured in from the West and immediately seized all the high-paying positions in the former GDR. They were considered trustworthy. To this day, 70 percent of the administration in Leipzig is “Wessy.” Yes, there is no mercy for the powerless. Virtually all control over the former republic fell into the hands of the new colonial administration.
The USSR abandoned the GDR just like that, without even leaving any agreement between the owners of the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR, says former diplomat Peter Steglich with bitterness. - Smart, statesmanlike people foresaw conflicts over property and the Anschluss of the GDR instead of the unification of the two Germanys on equal rights. But there is a statement from Gorbachev: let the Germans figure it out themselves. This meant: the strong take what they want. And the West Germans were strong. The real colonization of the GDR began. Having removed local patriots from power, denigrated and humiliated them, the Western colonialists began the most “delicious” part of the program: the complete privatization of state assets of the GDR. One system intended to completely devour the other.
ABILITY TO “CLEAN” OTHERS’ POCKETS
At the state level, one must rob skillfully, gracefully, with white gloves and very quickly, before the victim comes to his senses. The GDR was the most successful country of the Warsaw Pact. Such a fatty piece had to be swallowed immediately, without hesitation.
First, it was necessary to show future victims a gesture of generosity by establishing a one-to-one exchange rate between East and West marks for GDR citizens. All West German newspapers shouted loudly about this! In fact, it turned out that only 4,000 marks could be exchanged. Above this, the exchange rate was two eastern marks to one western. All GDR state enterprises and small businesses could only exchange their accounts on a two-to-one basis.
Consequently, they lost half of their capital at once! At the same time, their debts were recalculated at the rate of 1:1. You don’t have to be a businessman to understand that such measures led to the complete ruin of the industry of the GDR! In the fall of 1990, production in the GDR dropped by more than half! Now the Western “brothers” could talk condescendingly about the unviability of socialist industry and its immediate privatization “on fair and open terms.” But what the hell are fair conditions if the citizens of the GDR had no capital?! Oh, no money? It's a pity. And 85% of the country's entire industry fell into the hands of the West Germans, who actively led it to bankruptcy. Why give a chance to competitors? 10% went to foreigners. And only 5% could be bought by the true owners of the land, the East Germans.
- Were you robbed?- I ask my ex General Director of the metallurgical plant in the city of Eisenhüttenstadt, Professor Karl Döring.
Certainly. The residents of the GDR had no money, and all property fell into Western hands. And we don't forget who sold us. Gorbachev. Yes, there were demonstrations for freedom of movement and nothing more, but no one demanded that the GDR disappear from the world map. I emphasize this. For this, a corresponding position was needed from Gorbachev, a man who failed the test of history. Nobody can take this “glory” away from him. What is the result? East Germans are much poorer than West Germans. A lot of research shows that we are “second class” Germans.
What was important to Western industrialists? A new market is nearby where you can dump your goods. This was the fundamental idea. They got so carried away destroying our industry that they finally discovered that the unemployed could not buy their goods! If you do not preserve at least the remnants of industry in the East, people will simply flee to the West in search of work, and the lands will become empty. That’s when I managed to save at least part of our plant thanks to the Russians. We increased our exports to Russia, selling 300-350 thousand tons of cold-rolled steel sheets in 1992-93 for your automotive industry, for agricultural machinery. Then the Cherepovets Metallurgical Plant, one of the largest in Russia, wanted to buy our shares, but Western politicians did not like this idea. And she was rejected.
- Yes, it looks like “fair privatization”, - I note with irony.
Professor Karl Doering very proud of his little steel town Eisenhüttenstadt(formerly Stalinstadt), which is only 60 years old. The first socialist city on ancient German soil, built from scratch with the help of Soviet specialists. The dream of justice and equal rights for all. An exemplary showcase of socialism. The creation of a new man: a worker with the face of an intellectual, reading Karl Marx, Lenin and Tolstoy after his work shift.
“It was a new organization of public life,” the professor tells me with slight excitement as I walk along the completely deserted streets of the city. - After the factory, the theater was the first to be built! Can you imagine? After all, what was the main thing? Kindergartens, cultural centers, sculptures and fountains, cinemas, good clinics. The main thing was the man.
We walk along a wide avenue with restored houses of Stalinist architecture. The neatly trimmed lawns are wonderfully green. But in the spacious courtyards where the flowers are fragrant, you can’t hear children’s laughter. It’s so quiet that we can hear the sounds of our own steps. The emptiness has a depressing effect on me. It was as if all the inhabitants were suddenly blown away by the wind of the past. Suddenly a married couple with a dog comes out of the entrance and in surprise I shout: “Look! People, people!
Yes, there are not enough people here,” says Professor Döring dryly. - Previously, 53 thousand people lived here. Almost half left. There are no children here. Girls are more determined than guys. As soon as they grow up, they immediately pack their things and head west. Unemployment. The birth rate is low. Four schools and three kindergartens were closed because there were no children. And without children, this city has no future.
WOMEN HAD THE HARDEST TIME
Marianne, a waitress from a cafe in Dresden, and I first had a fight and then became friends. A tired woman of about fifty threw a plate of wonderful pork knee onto my table with such force that the fat splashed onto the tablecloth. I was indignant first in English, and then in Russian. Her face suddenly brightened.
You are Russian?! Sorry,” she said in heavily accented Russian. - I used to teach Russian at school, but now you can see for yourself what I’m doing.
I invited her for an evening cup of coffee. She came in an elegant dress, with lipstick on her lips, suddenly looking younger.
It’s terribly nice to speak Russian after so many years,” Marianna told me. She smoked cigarette after cigarette, telling her story, the same as that of thousands of women from the former GDR.
When the "Wessies" arrived, I was immediately thrown out of work as a party member and a Russian teacher. We were all suspected of having connections with the Stasi. And about the Stasi, the Wessies have now created a whole legend - they say that animals worked there. As if the CIA were better! If we had good intelligence, the GDR would still exist. My husband was also laid off - he was then working at a mine in the town of Hoyerswerda (we lived there before). He couldn't stand it. I drank myself, like many others. For Germans, work is everything. Prestige, status, self-esteem. We divorced and he moved west. I was left alone with my little daughter. I didn’t yet know that this was only the beginning of all the troubles. In the West, women hardly worked at that time. Not because of laziness. They did not have a system of kindergartens and nurseries. To get a job, I had to pay an expensive nanny, which practically ate up all my earnings. But if you sit at home with a child for five or six years, you lose your qualifications. Who needs you after this?
In the GDR, everything was arranged perfectly: you could go to work six months after pregnancy. And we liked it. We're not homebodies. The children were looked after reliably and responsibly, and their early education was provided. The "Wessies" came and abolished the entire system, closed most of the kindergartens, and in the remaining ones they introduced such a fee that the majority could not afford it. I was saved by my parents, who were forced into retirement. They could sit with my daughter, and I rushed around looking for work. But I was labeled as an “unreliable communist.” With my university education, I even worked as a cleaner.
- But weren’t you paid unemployment benefits?
Ha! "Vassie" then introduced a new rule that benefits should be paid only to those women who lost their jobs with children who can prove that they are able to provide day care for the children. And at that time my parents and husband still worked part-time. There was no one to look after the child. And I never received the benefits. In general, I became a waitress. Sorry for throwing the plate. Life just seems so hopeless sometimes. My daughter grew up and moved to the west, working there as a nurse. I hardly see her. A lonely old age lies ahead. I hate those who broke the Berlin Wall! They were just fools.
Why don't I go west? Don't want. They invited all this terrorist trash to join them. One and a half million idle refugees, when Germany itself is full of unemployed! I will stay here because we are the real Germany. The people here are patriots. Have you seen? All the houses here have German flags on them. But in the west you won't see them. This, they say, may offend the feelings of foreigners. Every Monday I go to a rally of Pegida, a party that opposes the Islamization of Europe.
Come and you will see real Germans.
“PUTIN IS IN MY HEART!”
Monday. The center of Dresden, surrounded by many police cars. Musicians in folk costumes play folk songs, middle-aged women and men sing along with them, happily stamping their feet. There are also quite a few young men with a defiant expression on their faces. What I see makes me tetanus. Russian flags fly proudly everywhere. One flag is simply amazing: half German, half Russian. The standard bearer tries to explain to me in bad Russian that his flag symbolizes the unity of Russians and Germans. Lots of guys wearing T-shirts with a portrait of Putin. Posters with Putin and Merkel next to them with pig ears. Or Merkel in a Nazi uniform with a euro sign resembling a swastika. Posters of Muslim women in burqas with crisscrosses. Calls for “friendship with Russia” and “war with NATO.” People, where am I? Is this Germany?
Many protesters are carrying stuffed pigs. A good, fat pig is a symbol of a well-fed, Christian Germany. No halal food! "Long live Russia!" - they shout around me. Some enthusiastic elderly woman repeats to me: “Putin is in my heart.” My head is spinning.
A young man named Michael clarifies the situation.
- Why do you believe Putin so much?- I’m surprised.
He is the only strong leader who fights terrorism. And who to believe? This pro-American puppet Merkel, who opened the borders to strangers? They rape our women, kill our men, eat our bread, hate our religion and want to build a caliphate in Germany.
“But here in East Germany I hardly see any foreigners.”
And we will do everything so that you don’t see them. We are not racists. But everyone who comes to this country must work and respect its laws.
I tell Michael about what I saw in January in Munich. Young hysterical fools shouting “Munich should be colored!”, “We love you, refugees!” I remember how five thousand liberals were eager to beat up a hundred sane people who came out with the only slogan “No to the Islamization of Germany!” Only the police saved them from the massacre, clearing the way for the “fascists” with their batons.
So this is “Wessie,” says Michael with indescribable contempt. “They believe everything their stupid newspapers write.” And we were born in the GDR. We are different and not easily deceived.
IMMUNITY TO PROPAGANDA
This is how we are alike! We both agreed on this expression! Me and Alternative for Germany MP Jörg Urban:
Yes, we are distrustful, East Germans and Russians, and we hate anything that even remotely resembles propaganda. And this saves us from illusions. West Germany, as a showcase of ideal capitalism, lived without problems for 50 years. They grew up in the spirit that nothing could happen to them. "Vassies" are not realistic and are unable to look at what is happening rationally.
People in the GDR clearly knew that lying was a necessary part of life, for various reasons. They were often lied to, and they knew that they were being lied to. This, oddly enough, did not interfere with life. I was a happy young man, an excellent student, received a scholarship and was planning to supplement my education at the expense of the state abroad. I had confidence that everything would be fine tomorrow. And then everything collapsed. It’s easier for young people, they are flexible. Now imagine adults who worked all their lives, and then they were told that no one needs you, your socialism was nonsense. They lost their jobs and, in a moral sense, got punched in the face. It was a difficult time, the collapse of illusions. But these people got up and started their business from scratch. They know that life is not heaven, success is not a gift, and any enterprise can go down the drain right now. The fact that we happily became a united Germany, hang out flags and are ready to fight for our country - this is not nationalism. This is the secret of survival. The easiest people to understand us are the Russians, who suddenly lost their identity during perestroika and are regaining it now.
The "Wessies", the West Germans, have lived in a guaranteed paradise for so many years that they are unable to fight. Their culture is Conchita Wurst. Such a person is not capable of fighting for his country. But we can.
I sigh heavily:
But you understand that Germany is not only part of NATO, but also territory occupied by the United States. Secret agreements...
“I don’t want to know about them,” says Mr. Jörg Urban with a distinctly ironic smile. - There are rumors about a secret pact to subjugate Germany to the United States. Do I really care? The entire history of the world has proven hundreds of times that treaties are just pieces of paper. When a wave of popular anger rises, it sweeps away everything. Before our eyes, the collapse of the USSR, Yugoslavia, the GDR, and the Warsaw Pact took place. The same could happen with NATO or the EU. When an idea matures and takes hold of minds, any legal act becomes insignificant. If Germany again becomes a strong independent power defending its interests, the secret pacts will become just archival dust.
7.1. The German Democratic Republic - in jokes, and not only. The Rich Heritage of the Ministry of Love
Life in the western states of Germany looks more attractive. People here are more prosperous and cheerful than in the lands of the former GDR. The President of Russia in one of his speeches mentioned that “in Germany there was a division into Westerners and Easterners, people of the first and second categories appeared.” Are there really second-class Germans who are worse than first-class ones?
So far we have been talking about the morals of Germans in general, although there are differences between the inhabitants of different parts of the country. They say that if a fly gets into a mug of beer, a Prussian will pour out the beer and demand a new portion. The Bavarian and the Swabian will pull out the fly. But the Bavarian will throw it away and continue drinking, and the Swabian will make her spit out the beer back. It is believed that the natives of Northern Germany are laconic and businesslike, the Bavarians are cheerful and warm-hearted, and the inhabitants of the Rhine Valley are the most open and friendly. All these differences, however, are insignificant compared to those that are characteristic of West and East Germans, that is, residents of pre-unification Germany and the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). The former in Germany are called "Wessi" (from the word Westen - west), and the latter - "Ossi" (from Osten - east).
To understand the differences between them, we will have to remember something from German history. After World War II, the German people found themselves the subject of a grand experiment. It was divided and tested by two different economic systems: the market (capitalist) economy in the west of the country and the socialist economy in the east. And even Berlin was divided by a wall. Among the countries of the socialist camp, the GDR had the highest output per capita and the highest standard of living. Therefore, to Soviet tourists it seemed like a land of abundance. Yet the people of the GDR were envious of the quality of life in the West. In addition, the country lived on debt and was doomed.
Typical are the anecdotes about the shortage of goods in the GDR, where many things had to be “obtained” rather than bought. For example, cousins, one from the east, the other from the west, met in Berlin. In parting, Vessey says: “Write to me how you are doing.” “It’s not easy,” answers “Ossie,” “everything goes through censorship here.” “It’s nothing,” says “Wessy,” “if everything is okay, write to me in black ink, and if there are problems, write in green.” A month later, “Wessy” receives a letter in black ink: “Everything is wonderful with us. Things are getting better in the country. People are happy. You can buy anything: butter, eggs, oranges, fresh fish. Unfortunately, only green ink is not available.”
Here's another joke: Honecker lies on the beach and sees the sun rise. “Good afternoon, dear sun,” Honecker greets him. “Good afternoon, Comrade Chairman of the State Council,” the sun answers. “I wish you a successful, pleasant day, Comrade Chairman!” In the evening, when the sun sets, Honecker thanks him: “Thank you, dear sun, it was a really pleasant day!” - “Fuck you...” answers the sun. “I’m already in the West!” Humor, like ours, helped people survive all difficulties, and in life problems did not always look funny.
Why did the inhabitants of the GDR seek to leave their homeland? Of course, people wanted to earn more, live better, freely buy any goods, and not stand in lines. But the main thing was different. Freedom deficit. East Germans were not free to travel and go abroad to the West, unlike West Germans who traveled all over the world. The GDR authorities were afraid of their citizens and did not trust them.
Flight from the GDR - both legal and illegal - gradually became widespread. Indignation of the population with the existing order in the country, mass demonstrations demanding reforms and a growing flow of immigrants to the West led to a peaceful revolution in the fall of 1989. On October 3, 1990, Germany was reunified. The GDR ceased to exist, and 5 new eastern states became part of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Berlin Wall was torn down. To this day, souvenir shops sell tiny, coin-sized pieces of it, starting from five euros apiece.
An investigation into the activities of the Ministry of State Security of the GDR - an analogue of our KGB - showed that it tried to suppress any opposition in the bud and entangled the entire country in a network of informants. Residents called it “Stasi” - a word derived from Staatssicherheitsdienst (state security service). Here is a typical anecdote about the Stasi. A musician on a tram reads the score. A Stasi man notices the encryption and detains the musician on suspicion of espionage. The detainee tries to explain that this is a Bach fugue. The next day, the musician is called to the boss, and he yells: “Stop being so dark, your Bach has already confessed!”
An amazing coincidence - in 1949, the year of the birth of the GDR, George Orwell’s prophetic novel “1984” was published, in which the author wrote: “... The Ministry of Truth contained three thousand offices above the surface of the earth and a corresponding root system in the depths... The Ministry of Love, which was in charge law enforcement, instilled fear. There were no windows in the building... It was possible to get there only by going through a whole labyrinth of barbed wire, steel doors and camouflaged machine gun nests. Even the streets leading to the outer ring of fences were patrolled by black-uniformed, gorilla-faced guards armed with jointed batons.” Life has even surpassed Orwell's fantasy. The Stasi was truly omnipotent.
During the revolution in the GDR, rebels seized Stasi buildings throughout the country. They achieved the dissolution of the Stasi and the investigation of its crimes. The legacy of the “Ministry of Love” turned out to be considerable: millions of personal dossiers on residents of the GDR, and even the Federal Republic of Germany - on almost everyone, except infants and old people.
Now the Stasi archives have been opened - more than a million people have already viewed their files. People, immersed in reading thick cases, were dumbfounded. Imagine the state of a person who suddenly finds out that he was betrayed by his best friends for many years, that his schoolmates, teachers, and even relatives spied on him.
The declassification of the dossier turned the fates of many upside down. If involvement in the activities of the Stasi is revealed, the official is immediately fired, and politicians lose their popularity. The Germans legalized lustration, that is, former spies were forever blocked from accessing public service. A state security worker cannot even become a kindergarten teacher there or a singing teacher in a rural school. And even if former spies are already retired or receiving benefits from the state, this assistance to them may be reduced.
Thus, Germany drew a line under its past and excluded the repetition of such crimes in the future. Contrary to some prophets, no acts of violence or civil war resulted from the declassification of documents.
7.2. The difficult path to unity - from euphoria to reality
United Germany became the first European state in terms of population and third in territory. Berlin became its capital again. On the day the Berlin Wall fell, the happiness of all Germans knew no bounds. But no one expected that the path to unity would be so difficult and would require such sacrifices and costs. After the euphoria, sobering set in. The poll results are striking: about 80% of Germans agree that German reunification was the right step, but half of them believe that they personally lost from it. And what has it come to! - every fifth German would prefer to return the Berlin Wall back. Many residents of the former GDR now feel like strangers in their country, second-class citizens. On the other hand, an astronomical amount of money flows annually from West to East to boost the economy. And some West Germans also wonder: was such a unification necessary?
Note that it was not a synthesis of two systems. In contrast, the East German socialist economy was rebuilt along Western, market lines. The Ossies had to adapt, and the Wessies dictated their terms in everything.
“Ossies” rushed to buy themselves what they had long dreamed of - a car, a VCR or a trip to a long trip, often on credit. From gas and electricity bills to food, living costs have approached Western ones. Debts appeared, fear of losing my job and apartment.
What did the Ossies gain from the unification? They became freer, less dependent on the state, and goods from all over the world became available to them. “The freedom to travel is great, but what does it do for those who don’t have the money to go on holiday? To find a job, I wrote 40 applications, and everything was useless,” nurse Amelie, who came to West Germany from the GDR, tells us. Is she happy that she moved? “In general, yes,” she answers. “Although I have a feeling that people here only think about money all the time.”
We met a family from Thuringia in West Germany. Her husband Rudolf was previously the director of a furniture factory in the GDR. Raw materials for it were previously supplied from the USSR, but without it production stopped. His wife Magda, who worked as a head teacher at the school, was a member of the ruling Communist Party (SED) and because of this also lost her job. This is typical of perestroika in the GDR - all members of this party were removed from leadership positions. The couple moved to the West and, not without difficulty, found work there: he became a consultant on enterprise management, and she became a teacher at the People's Evening University.
On the territory of the GDR, the transition from state ownership to private ownership began. Who could privatize all this? East Germans, who had little money, were left with only small businesses like pharmacies and greengrocers. Large enterprises were bought up by entrepreneurs from the West. The East Germans were outraged by this “selling out of the GDR” and turning them into second-class citizens in the service of “Wessi” - first-class citizens. Many businesses have closed. Why? Many of them turned out to be uncompetitive and lost the sales market in the USSR and other socialist countries. Every second East German lost his job. Due to rising rents, people were often forced to look for cheaper apartments.
When carrying out reforms in the eastern lands, it was decided, as it is sung in the Internationale, before building a new world, to destroy the old world to the ground. The principle prevailed: everything reminiscent of the GDR must be destroyed. For many East Germans, everything that surrounded them in the past is crumbling. “I was recently in my homeland, Frankfurt an der Oder,” says 53-year-old Caroline. - Where I lived is now empty. Of the many lines of houses, only one remains, the school is closed due to lack of students, the bakery windows are blind and dirty.”
“The bosses from the West are firing us in full force,” says 54-year-old worker Paul from the GDR. Teacher Volker (38 years old) says that the majority have gotten better financially, but psychologically the opposite: “Before there was no unemployment, and rents were lower. Now the work has become more intense. People began to help each other less. Everything became about money.” The East Germans had to face a lot of difficulties. All the laws have changed, and even the streets have been renamed.
After unification, the population of the lands of the former GDR decreased by 1 million people. The "Ossies" who moved to West Germany, with a few exceptions, live, according to my observations, much more modestly than the "Wessies." After all, they arrived there without capital. Pensioner Elke, whose son was unemployed in the West, tells me: “The system here is bad, it’s not a social market economy, it’s capitalism.” Residents of the former GDR, after disappointment in socialism, begin to become disillusioned with the opposite system.
West Germans reproach East Germans: “You live at our expense!” They have to finance their “poor relatives,” who certainly want to catch up with them in terms of their standard of living. West Germans experienced a shock - for the first time in many years, their level of well-being ceased to rise regularly.
Almost half of the adult population of the eastern lands lives on social benefits. The most painful difference still remains - there are twice as many unemployed in the East as in the West.
And yet, despite all the difficulties, there has already been considerable success in unifying the country. The incomes of the “Aussies” and “Wessies” are increasingly equalizing. Now older East Germans - pensioners and even the unemployed - can afford to travel to France or Spain. Previously, they could not even dream about this.
The East of Germany has become the most dynamic region in Europe. Some cities of the former GDR, previously polluting water and air, have become models of environmental cleanliness. Görlitz, a small town on the Neisse River, has recently been called the most beautiful in Germany. There you can see wonderful baroque facades, fabulous ancient palaces and fountains, romantic streets and courtyards. In addition to the state, some unknown philanthropist allocates half a million euros every year for the restoration of architectural monuments of this city. One can imagine how he walks around the city unnoticed by everyone and enjoys its beauty.
There was a lot of good things in the GDR that were later lost. This is universal employment and a real right to work, albeit with lower labor productivity, a smaller gap between rich and poor, a high level of social security, a sense of confidence in the future and, as a result, a higher birth rate, less selfish and selfish, more friendly relations between people . There were well-organized assistance for families with children, a free system of nurseries and kindergartens, extended school days, education and health care. Now you have to pay for everything.
The majority of residents of the former GDR (73%) believe that socialism was a good idea but poorly executed.
Based on the experience of the Germans, then perhaps the ideal slogan for society would be: “Within a market economy, more socialism.”
7.3. “Ossi” and “Wessi” - “wall in the heads”
The Berlin Wall has collapsed, but, as the Germans themselves admit, there still remains “a wall in our heads.” Let me give you an example: a company from both parts of the city gathered in Berlin, but the guests did not sit down the way the hosts wanted. “Wessy” and “Ossie” sat separately and had little contact with each other. It is curious that there are very few marriages between “Ossies” and “Wessies”.
Most Wessies have a sense of superiority towards Ossies and show no interest in their lives. Businessman Harald says: “I feel more at home in Paris than in Leipzig.”
West and East Germans have long lived in two completely different worlds. Hence two different ways of thinking and popular expressions - Besser-Wessi (West German, who always knows better what to do) and Jammer-Ossi (East German, inclined only to whine). This, of course, is not always the case, but there is some truth in it.
What are the main differences between "Ossie" and "Wessey"? Most unemployed people in eastern Germany blame their situation on those “up there” – the state, rather than themselves. “Ossies” feel like victims of society, capitalism, and everything connected with the West. “Vessies” believe that the virus of socialism lives in their minds with its constant question: “What should the state give me?” “Wessy” has its own opinion on any issue. They are more enterprising and get involved in everything, even if they do not have enough knowledge and experience to do so.
It is more difficult for people from the former GDR to live in a unified country. In the West, in order to make a career, entrepreneurship was needed, and in the East, adaptability and obedience were valued. Previously, the “Ossies” lived in constant fear of the authorities, but now they have different fears. They are afraid of everything: rising prices (with relatively low inflation), criminals (although the crime rate is relatively low) and strangers (although there are very few foreigners in the east of the country). "Ossies" prefer other newspapers and books than "Wessies" and other goods. Many people feel nostalgic for the GDR.
My friend Jurgen from Berlin says he is part of the largest East German party. Which one? The one who does not participate in elections. More than half the population of the former GDR belongs to it. This is typical - if “vessies” want to change something in the life of society, they create civil movements and fight to solve problems. On the contrary, the Ossies are accustomed to the fact that nothing depends on them anyway, and they prefer to complain about their fate.
How to imagine a typical "Wessy"? According to sociological surveys, many West Germans are self-confident, somewhat selfish, arrogant and arrogant, and are also prone to rapid manifestations of hostility. Unfortunately, I have observed these last traits in some officials in their interactions with foreigners.
How do you imagine a typical Ossie? He is more conservative and has a complex towards the West: “You won’t buy us with your sausage!” “Ossies” are more sociable than “Wessies”; they are more likely to receive guests at home or go on visits. They spend more time at home - playing with children, making something or working in their garden. They are more interested in politics and read newspapers more often. Ossies are more likely to care about the people around them. And “Wessies” play more sports and go to restaurants more often. “Ossies” are more responsive, softer in character, they have warmer relationships in the family, with friends and relatives. This is understandable: under conditions of pressure from the state, family and friendly relationships acquired special importance.
"Ossies" are more open in character. When getting acquainted, they do not think about whether this will bring them financial benefits or useful connections. However, we also found wonderful friends among the West Germans.
Both spend their leisure time differently. On Sunday, many West Germans will go to church with their families, while East Germans would prefer to go to the store. Only a third of East Germans believe in God, not three-quarters of the population as in the West.
How do "Ossies" and "Wessies" relate to each other? In some ways this is reminiscent of the relationship we have between the majority of the population, the “Soviet”, and the “new Russians”. According to the West Germans, the Ossies are inert, they have forgotten how to really work like Germans. The former director of a furniture factory in the GDR, Rudolf, told me that almost only women worked there. If someone suddenly says that cheap bananas were thrown away in a store nearby, the entire factory becomes empty - everyone runs to the store. Workers were endlessly asked to go home during working hours to care for their children, and the director had no right to fire anyone.
"Wessies are so neat, so aloof, so insincere, so arrogant and arrogant," says a 17-year-old schoolgirl from East Germany. She is offended when they want to cross out her past life. “We weren’t tortured for days at all. We lived too, and it wasn’t so bad,” she says indignantly.
Many "Ossies" consider "Wessies" to be cynics, deceivers, misers and Abzockers - insidious grabbers. And most importantly, the East German does not understand why he should work more than his colleague in the West, but receive only about 80% of his salary. And it is difficult for a West German to understand why the East pays this 80% if labor productivity is only 70% of the West.
An engineer from the former GDR states: “In the West they value money, in the East they value character.” It is easier for us to find mutual understanding with the East Germans: we lived in the same system. It is curious that the best German jokes, so similar to ours, were born in the GDR. A student from Russia says: in Leipzig - in the land of the former GDR - at a stop, when trying to buy a tram ticket, for some reason her card did not work, and she ended up as a hare on the tram. And the controller (“Ossie”) didn’t fine her! And in Munich, where she studies, none of the “Wessy” would forgive her.
Despite all these problems, relations between the Ossies and the Wessies are gradually improving. Bruno, a leading engineer at one of the West German companies, told me that their company willingly hires East Germans. Because, he explains, they are better able to work in a team and are less inclined to push others with their elbows. One country, but two peoples? Yes, but not forever. “Ossie” and “Wessey” will ultimately come to unity and mutual understanding, although it seems that the “wall in the heads” will last for a long time.
