German Unity Day "The majority feels reunited"

German Unity Day "The majority feels reunited" Status: 03.10.2021 09:39 Uhr Material prosperity, freedom rights: for most people in East Germany, the great expectations of reunification have been fulfilled, says social scientist Kollmorgen. Nevertheless, frustration and skepticism remain.tagesschau.de: On October 3, 1990, German unification was completed. After the fall of the Wall in 1989, many GDR citizens took to the streets for reunification. What expectations, what hopes were associated with that?Raj Kollmorgen: I would say from the perspective of the majority: There was a great hope for material prosperity, of course with an eye to the level of prosperity in the West. And a great many people thought that it would be enough if they continued to work diligently and adapted to the conditions of the market economy. After all, they themselves were so far advanced and so modern in their companies and with their own labor force that this would hardly mean a break. There were also those who wanted to secure the rights to freedom that had been won during the peaceful revolution. They were not quite sure whether democratization could be maintained within the framework of the GDR. And then, of course, there were many who held on to this desire for reunification from the perspective of a German nation. And who wished that they could visit their relatives and friends without bureaucratic hurdles and travel freely.But many East Germans also saw that it was something of a deal. That on the one hand you give up your independence as a GDR and GDR society and in return you receive material prosperity. Raj Kollmorgen | rbb About the person Raj Kollmorgen was born in Leipzig and is a social scientist at the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences. His research interests include social change, post-socialist transformations in Eastern Europe, and German unification. From 2019 to 2020, he was a member of the German government's commission "30 Years of Peaceful Revolution and German Unity" tagesschau.de: What of these expectations has been fulfilled - and what has not?Kollmorgen: The expectations of a secure and liberal order of freedom and justice have been fulfilled for most. With the small reservation that, where property rights, professional rights or tenancy law were concerned, it became clear that there would also be hardships, but that these would certainly have an impact on people's awareness of the successes or failures of German unification.As far as material prosperity is concerned, one has to say quite objectively: That has been fulfilled magnificently. But it depends on how people see and judge it. And the problem here is the comparison with the old federal states, which are not seen as a whole. Most East Germans look at examples such as Hamburg-Blankenese and Constance, i.e., at the wealthiest strata of the population and at the richest and most beautiful neighborhoods and cities. And then many East Germans feel underprivileged to this day.tagesschau.de: How did the satisfaction of people in the former GDR develop and how is it now?Kollmorgen: A basic trend can be described: According to this, satisfaction has increased, despite the many debates about the successes of unification, about "second-class citizens" and about AfD election results. East Germans as a whole have actually never been more satisfied than they are now. But at the same time, you can see very clearly the slumps in life satisfaction as soon as there were crisis phenomena: In the early 1990s with the Treuhand, in the 2000s with Agenda 2010 and the Hartz IV laws, or during the migration crisis. But overall, there was more of an upward trend, which contrasts so irritatingly with the election results of parties that see themselves explicitly as critical of the system. Manuela Schwesig | REUTERS "tagesschau.de: So how did these election results come about?Kollmorgen: The problem is a kind of false conclusion. Because people see their own good situation, but always think that others are worse off. You also ask yourself what the future will bring and what you are influencing with your election decision. Is it going in the right direction? And so people say, even though they themselves are doing relatively well: I'm afraid that I'll lose the material level of life that I have now, the position, the status, the prestige.Added to this are the dramatic upheavals that many people have experienced themselves.