Posted on 11/09/2009 3:41:40 PM PST by inflorida
For many in the GDR, the fall of the Berlin Wall and unification meant the loss of jobs, homes, security and equality
On 9 November 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down I realised German unification would soon follow, which it did a year later. This meant the end of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), the country in which I was born, grew up, gave birth to my two children, gained my doctorate and enjoyed a fulfilling job as a lecturer in English literature at Potsdam University. Of course, unification brought with it the freedom to travel the world and, for some, more material wealth, but it also brought social breakdown, widespread unemployment, blacklisting, a crass materialism and an "elbow society" as well as a demonisation of the country I lived in and helped shape. Despite the advantages, for many it was more a disaster than a celebratory event.
Just two examples. My best friend, a foreign languages teacher, lost her job and was blacklisted because, at the time the wall fell, she happened to be teaching at a government law college. She was not a member of the party or indeed political at all. After much effort she managed to find a job helping young people excluded from school, with no long-term contract and on a much lower salary. My brother, who has a PhD in the philosophy of science, lost his research job at the academy and ever since has only been able to find odd, low-paid temporary jobs.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Capitalism goes thru normal business cycles. Say what you want about the banks, but NOBODY was bitching about the loans they were getting, qualified or not.
Some people have more than others but all have the chance to do with their lives what they want. Unfortunately, many just piss it away and blame other people for not being able to afford 24" rims. Ups and downs. Sort of the way life works.
Communism is a tightly controlled monetary system with a rigidly controlled populace. That's the only way they can make it work. Under communism you are either very rich or very poor. Politicians are rich - everyone else is poor. So, yes, it's more fair in the fact that you have just as much as everyone else, which is nothing. You share a flat with your extended family and perhaps share a common bathroom or kitchen with other families. You cannot go where you want, say what you want or do what you want. You are told where to go, what to do and even what you will major in in college, if you're picked to go to college.
I love it when people, particularly young people, jack their jaws about "communism" and compare it to the "downtrodden" under capitalism. They obviously have NO IDEA of what they speak other than what their Che-loving teachers have told them in class.
T-72 and GDR officer
2S3 155mm SPArty and GDR Arty troops
BMP-1. GDR Troops in background (that guy up close and personal checking out the BMP was a buddy of mine. They were NOT happy he was that close)
GDR Airborne troops and their 'mascot'.
Lots of Nazi’s lost much in 1945 too.
I visit Berlin quite frequently and even though the east side has greatly improved, to the point of being equal to the west, there is still evidence of the Russian occupation. Just one rotation in the Fernsehturm and you can see the decrepit apartments still standing along the east Berlin borders.
Don’t you remember the words to the East German National Anthem:
“Hail Hail East Germany
Land of vine and grape
Land where you’ll regret
Any try to escape
No matter if you take a running jump,
or tunnel under the wall
Forget it, the guards will kill you—
if the electrified fence doesn’t first”
I sent 27 months in West Berlin, and the East was just down right creepy!!
Really? RESEARCH in PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE? What did he expect after that useless degree? A million dollar a year salary?
I've always felt the West/East German experience was a perfect experiment in a communist versus Western state. It took just thirty years for communism to bring poverty and totalitarianism to half of what was once one of the most prosperous and sophisticated countries in the world, and in the West was once again.
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