talkpolitics | The walled mind

^ This is Berlin, exactly 23 years ago. The day Germany was re-united. For 28 years the East Germans had lived literally surrounded by walls in the former post-WW2 Soviet occupation zone. Escape from DDR was almost impossible. And socialism reigned supreme behind that wall. But at the end of the 80s, the political experiment finally crumbled down.

In '89 the authorities on both sides of the divide opened up the borders. It was a time of great exodus: many East Germans moved west. Some, to have a taste of freedom. Others, to see what it's like to travel without restrictions across an increasingly integrated Europe. And still others, just to buy some stuff that had never been available around the DDR stores. The first consequence of the change was the gradual transformation of the East German wardrobe. The rather dull and easily recognizable clothes (grey shoes, raincoats, etc) started to disappear. The hair style changed too - now people from both sides of the former border were virtually indistinguishable. But what turned out harder to change was what was in their minds. Deep down, many of the old divisions remained for much longer. And the prejudices, too.

According to researches the major prejudice of many East Germans (or "Ossies", as they're called) is that they perceive the "Wessies" as arrogant, superficial, too pedantic, and very materialistic. Granted, the East Germans seem to be still much more prejudiced towards their Western fellow countrymen than the reversed. If you look deeper beneath the surface, you'd begin to realize that the Germans from the eastern and western provinces are hardly viewing themselves as one people yet.

Many East Germans, particularly those of the older generations, are still seeing themselves as being treated as second class citizens. They believe the conditions and the living standard in the eastern provinces are essentially discriminatory. Granted, much of the residential, industrial and transportation infrastructure has been modernized in the recent couple of decades, but the incomes of the people there are still roughly 4/5 of those in the West, and the pensions are much lower as well.

This may have a lot to do with the fact that the eastern part of Germany hosts mostly medium to small businesses, while the headqarters of the big companies (and the big job positions, respectively) remain concentrated in the West. Even the billions of euros of subsidies for leveling the standards between the two parts have not been able to erase this discrepancy. Which is what fuels the disillusion in the East.

Meanwhile, the West Germans also harbor a number of general prejudices towards their Eastern brethren. Many consider them restless, distrustful, even cowardly. And they wish that the "solidarity" tax that's meant to close the gap between the western and eastern provinces could go away as soon as possible - while forgetting that this tax applies to the Ossies as well. Even this fact by itself speaks volumes about the process of unification in the minds of the Germans, which has hardly been completed.

There are too few personal connections and friendships between Wessies and Ossies. Much less than some might've hoped for, anyway. The good news, though, is that the picture looks a bit more optimistic as far as the younger generations are concerned. It's natural that they'd find much more to unite them than divide them than their parents once did. But when exactly the differences will disappear altogether - that's hard to predict. And yet, today is indeed a day of celebration and jubilation all across Germany, no matter East or West.