Two years have passed since East and West Germany were rejoined as a single political and economic entity. While much has changed already in what was the Communist East, it has become distressingly clear to Germans on both sides of the former divide that true unification-of economy, of government, of purpose and of spirit-will be a longer, more difficult feat than was envisioned in the euphoria that surrounded the destruction of the Berlin Wall. The euphoria is gone. In its place is a sour sense of uncertainty and resentment.
Merging the two Germanys has turned out to be an extraordinary task. After all, the German people were separated for a span of two generations. They not only developed two kinds of government and two sets of
infrastructure-one that ranks among the world`s most sophisticated, one astonishingly decayed-but different ways of thinking and behaving.
So mutual resentment stems not only from the huge sums the West is paying to bring the East into a modern, free-market system, and not only from East German expectations of quick elevation to Western affluence. It also stems from profound misunderstanding of how much the German people had grown apart. It is a resentment born of unrealistic expectations on both sides, of an illusory promise by Chancellor Helmut Kohl that unification would not raise West German taxes, of apparent ignorance about the extent of structural dilapidation and environmental destruction in the East and, most
fundamentally, a failure to grasp the cultural and emotional differences wrought in nearly half a century of socialism and separation.
Two parts of a clan long lost from each other have been abruptly thrown together. After the initial hugs and kisses, the rich and poor relations are learning they`re not always a like-thinking family.
The federal government`s aim is to reunite Germany under West German rules and standards. When it comes to income and lifestyle, the East Germans want Western standards-now. But they`re not all as convinced about life in the capitalist system that produced the Western wealth.
Under communism, there wasn`t much for most East Germans but certainty. Their homes and jobs might not have been grand, but they were guaranteed. Now, with inefficient companies being scaled down, sold off or closed, and former residents arriving to reclaim property, everything in the East is uncertainty. The terms commonly used to designate people of the East and West-Ossies and Wessies-are not often employed affectionately by the opposite side. ”Why are Ossies lazy?” was the question posed on a recent West German talk show.
The gulf can be bridged, but it will take a good deal of time and more billions of deutschemarks. It may take a shift of attitudes as well, especially by West Germans and the West-dominated government, which, in its rush to sell off Eastern property for cash on the barrelhead, risks creating a long-term tenant class in the East, where few have the resources to bid for ownership of their homes, businesses or farmlands.
Americans need to remember that our own nation has experienced similarly divisive misunderstandings. While unemployment and economic and social fears fuel extremists on both the German right and left, it is important that Americans not automatically view the events of today`s disoriented Germany through the lens of that nation`s past. Not every skinhead punk represents a return of the Nazi brownshirts.
German essayist Peter Schneider, writing about post-wall Germany, asks,
”Can we exist without an enemy?” The U.S. is struggling similarly to redefine its purpose in a post-Cold War world. It won`t be a quick, painless process for either nation. But a close and empathetic alliance between the U.S. and Germany remains as important as ever.
