Unification of Germany was completed on 3rd of October, 1990, and as it was prepared, on 23rd of August the GDR Volkskammer officially stated the state’s will to access West Germany, and to accept Western laws as their own 30 years later, the situation in Germany isn’t that simple that it might seem. The division is still clearly visible in many statistics, covering things from wealth and welfare to opinion on free immigration. The notion that the East – it’s culture, heritage and everyday life of its citizens – had became invisible after the unification is persistent; the economical fall of former Eastern Germany after the unification is a factor as well. Ostalgie, nostalgia for the East, had been coined as a term covering not only Trabi adventure companies, but also growing sentiment of Ossis – former citizens of GDR, and residents of ex-GDR part of Germany – towards their former homeland that voluntarily ceased to exist. 30 years after the last Zersetzung – this time aimed towards the state itself – I’m interested in what remained of GDR heritage and identity of Eastern Germans after reunification of Germany, and what were the side effects of this process.
Ongoing.
When Heinz-Josef Große spotted that the guards are absent, he drove a backhoe loader up to the fence and climbed it, trying to escape. He was fatally shot few meters before reaching the Western territory, in a spot now marked with a white cross.
DDR Shepherd was a breeding line of German Shepherd, created after the division of Germany. Unlike their Western counterparts, Eastern Shepherds were tougher, bigger – and free of hip dysplasia, which is the biggest disease of this breed. Now, there’s about ten breeders of DDR Shepherds.
After unification, that is after 1990, no one in Eastern Germany wanted to ride a Trabant and no one wanted to have an East German shepherd. Everyone wanted to ride a Golf and have a shepherd from the West, so for many years you couldn't sell puppies, nobody wanted them. Then people saw that Western Shepherds were sick, but they noticed it too late.
Wikipedia lists 22 currently active museums of former internal border between East and West Germany.
Pepole jumping over the fence to take part in the “30 years after the Wall fell down” party.
We both were here 30 years ago as well, also on paramedic duty, but we were on different sides of the border that was opening that night.
Treuhandanstalt was part of the post-unification policy, a state entity tasked with the privatization of the former East German property, which for a moment was the largest trust corporation on earth. Detlev Karsten Rohwedder, head of Treuhandanstalt, was assasinated. This building was named after him.
The relationship between Wolfgang Grams and Rohwedder is still only an assumption; but evidence suggests that the head of Treuhandanstalt was killed by Grams, a member of the third wave of Rote Armee Fraktion. Grams also died in rather unclear circumstances at Bad Kleinen train station, during a shootout with a special GSG-9 police unit that tried to capture him. During the pursuit, Grams fatally shot officer Michael Newrzella, and then allegedly committed suicide, but many people doubt it and rather indicate that he was actually shot by police forces. He was the last member of the RAF to die violently during the militia operation.
The Central Refugee Shelter for the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was located in an 11-storey plattenbau apartment complex in Rostock-Lichtenhagen, known as the Sun Flower House. From August 22 to August 24, 1992 violent xenophobic riots took place in Rostock. These were the worst mob attacks against migrants in postwar Germany. Even though stones and petrol bombs were thrown, no one was killed. At the height of the riots, several hundred militant right-wing extremists were involved, and about 3,00 neighbourhood onlookers stood by, applauding them.
The main purpose of the Hohenschönhausen prison was to force the prisoner to testify, acting mainly under great psychological pressure. The prison was so well hidden that it was discovered several months after reunification.
None of the prisoners really knew they were in Berlin; all transports took place in a way that made it impossible to determine the exact location of the complex.
Pioneerrepublik Wilhelm Pieck was the most important Youth Ponieer Camp in whole Eastern Germany, where only the selected, best behaving children could spent their summer.
The hole Mig21 made when hitting the apartment block was completely repaired after a few days. Seven people died in the crash and subsequent fire, including the pilot of the plane.
