Since 1789 pieces of the Bastille have been sought-after decorations on
mantelpieces in France. Two centuries later, bits of the Berlin Wall
have travelled all around the globe. It is “the only monument that
exists on all continents,” except possibly Antarctica, says Axel
Klausmeier, the boss of a Berlin foundation for its remembrance.
That says a lot about what Germans call their “peaceful revolution”, which climaxed with the breaching of the wall on November 9th 1989. This weekend Germans will mark its 25th anniversary with a celebratory bash.
As the first successful liberal revolution in German history, 1989 ranks in importance with 1789, says Rainer Eppelmann, head of a foundation studying the East German dictatorship. Even better, unlike that French revolution 200 years earlier, the German one was non-violent. Because the Berlin Wall divided not just a city but also a country, a continent and the world, its fall implied a global promise of liberty. In geopolitics the “end of history” seemed possible, though it later gave way to a “clash of civilisations”, as duelling book titles put it in the 1990s.
German expectations were highest. “Now what belongs together will grow together,” predicted Willy Brandt, a former chancellor and mayor of divided Berlin, the day after the wall fell. Contemplating the environmental and economic dereliction of 45 years of communist rule, Helmut Kohl, then chancellor, envisaged “blooming landscapes” in the east.
A generation on, Germans still debate whether they have grown together and to what extent the east has bloomed. In terms of motorways and other infrastructure, the east sparkles today. In certain social indicators, such as women’s participation in the workforce or the enrolment of toddlers in crèches, it even leads the west. But overall, according to polls, eastern Germans are still less content than westerners.
After years of net migration from east to west (which only recently abated), parts of the east are depopulated, especially in rural areas. Eastern Germany’s GDP per head is still only 67% of that in western Germany. Its productivity is 76% of the western figure and the number of patents filed just 29%. Its unemployment rate is 9.7% to the west’s 5.9%. Apart from a few industrial clusters, the east has hardly any large companies (see article).
Yet a closer look reveals that the differences within eastern and western Germany are now greater than those between them. Saxony in the east, especially around Dresden and Leipzig, is comparable to Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, two vibrant regions in western Germany. Parts of Lower Saxony and Westphalia, in the west, are as downtrodden as Brandenburg or Mecklenburg, in the east.
Read more: The Berlin Wall: Twenty-five years on | The Economist
That says a lot about what Germans call their “peaceful revolution”, which climaxed with the breaching of the wall on November 9th 1989. This weekend Germans will mark its 25th anniversary with a celebratory bash.
As the first successful liberal revolution in German history, 1989 ranks in importance with 1789, says Rainer Eppelmann, head of a foundation studying the East German dictatorship. Even better, unlike that French revolution 200 years earlier, the German one was non-violent. Because the Berlin Wall divided not just a city but also a country, a continent and the world, its fall implied a global promise of liberty. In geopolitics the “end of history” seemed possible, though it later gave way to a “clash of civilisations”, as duelling book titles put it in the 1990s.
German expectations were highest. “Now what belongs together will grow together,” predicted Willy Brandt, a former chancellor and mayor of divided Berlin, the day after the wall fell. Contemplating the environmental and economic dereliction of 45 years of communist rule, Helmut Kohl, then chancellor, envisaged “blooming landscapes” in the east.
A generation on, Germans still debate whether they have grown together and to what extent the east has bloomed. In terms of motorways and other infrastructure, the east sparkles today. In certain social indicators, such as women’s participation in the workforce or the enrolment of toddlers in crèches, it even leads the west. But overall, according to polls, eastern Germans are still less content than westerners.
After years of net migration from east to west (which only recently abated), parts of the east are depopulated, especially in rural areas. Eastern Germany’s GDP per head is still only 67% of that in western Germany. Its productivity is 76% of the western figure and the number of patents filed just 29%. Its unemployment rate is 9.7% to the west’s 5.9%. Apart from a few industrial clusters, the east has hardly any large companies (see article).
Yet a closer look reveals that the differences within eastern and western Germany are now greater than those between them. Saxony in the east, especially around Dresden and Leipzig, is comparable to Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, two vibrant regions in western Germany. Parts of Lower Saxony and Westphalia, in the west, are as downtrodden as Brandenburg or Mecklenburg, in the east.
Read more: The Berlin Wall: Twenty-five years on | The Economist
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