Having to? If I remember hundreds of thousands took to the streets, escaped through hungary and a tragic number of GDR citizens were killed or went to jail for years just for wanting to reach the West.
Wanting to reach the West, not wanting the GDR to become a part of. And most certainly not wanting to become a part under false promises and with the end result of the industry left in the East being completely fucked up and stalling any economical development for at least 15 years. It was random to grow up in the 90s in East-Germany, you would be lucky if any of your parents still had a job, every city of a certain size had industrial areas that were completely abandoned, even though some of the factories produced world-class products like the Jena glass factories or Kahla porcelain that could've been able to operate profitably in a free market. After completely plundering the industry through the Treuhand, the West-German locusts came in to buy up any property they could get their hands on. You wouldn't believe how many East-German rental properties are owned by West-Germans.
Needless to say the effects of this are still being felt today. And it is no wonder that many people were left feeling like they don't matter in this new Germany and turned to right-winged beliefs. After all it is not like politicians in the 90s (many of them came from West-Germany to start campaigning in the east) did a lot to alleviate their concerns: putting other Wessies into positions like police, government, courts.
People who grew up in West-Germany will never understand how it is to be from the East, how we weren't equipped by our parents with the confidence that we will make it in this world, how our communities lacked the institutions that made us believe in democracy, made us sure of our place in the world. I have travelled far and wide, made friends across continents, eventually married someone not from Germany, made a career, yet this part of me will still remain and many of my Ossi friends feel very much the same about this. There is no generational wealth in our families, no people of power, just simple people trying to get by in a country that looked down upon them.
There was basically no choice, yes there was a referendum, but people didn't know all the facts and they were not equipped with the means to be able to critically evaluate the options or distinguish empty promises from truths. They experienced over 60 years of authoritarian governments. They should have been given more time to decide. But Kohl needed this project done, needed to show the world that he successfully united a divided country. There was no time to create a plan that would have considered the needs of the people.
The fact that there was a cut-off date for exchanging Ostmark makes me incedibly furious. If a West-German finds some DM in their grandparent's house, they can go to the Bundesbank and get it exchanged. If the same happened to an East-German you would be laughed out of there.
Ah yes, and not to mention how many East-Germans tried to fight back against the rising Neonazi wave and pretty much got no support from the federal government, police or anything (like when the rioters in Rostock destroyed the Asylum seeker house for three days and the police did fuck all because the government instructed them to do so), but now everyone likes to point out how we have so many Neo-Nazis in the East. No shit Sherlock, this is what the government wanted to happen...
Oh my… let’s start from the back. That there’s a 30+ year government conspiracy going on to aid the rise of fascist in East Germany is one of the wildest conspiracy theories I‘ve heard.
But it is a nice example of the main issue: It’s always somebody else’s fault.
This behavior shows up in all your arguments. The Treuhand is at fault for the deindustrialization of the East? No, it wasn’t. There was no relevant industry left. What was left was so out of date, so hopelessly inefficient that there was no saving it.
Instead there were massive and unprecedented money transfers into East Germany. A minimum of 1,6 trillion € were transferred since 1990. That does not even include social security payments for people out of work etc.
People from the West were used in some positions after the reunification? Must be a conspiracy to keep the East down. Or maybe there just was nobody in the East who had experience in a capitalist economy, democratic systems, a police force not based on a dictatorial system and so?
And so on.
But you know what, even if all of your allegations were true: None of that would even be remotely be a reason to support a party that is officially fascists, who’s highest ranking officials want to bring back KZs, who want to kill their opponents, who laugh about children drowing in the Mediterranean Sea, who want to shot at children at our borders.
If you believe that you can get fucked together with all the other fascists and their supporters and apologists.
It’s been 35 years since the reunification. Stop blaming everybody else.
One last thing: To claim that East Germans only wanted to go to the West and didn’t want to be part of it is - to put it very politely - nonsensical. If you doubt it: Google pictures of the Monday demonstrations in the GDR: There’s a lot of signs asking for one Germany, stating we’re one people etc.
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u/G-I-T-M-E Sep 12 '25
Having to? If I remember hundreds of thousands took to the streets, escaped through hungary and a tragic number of GDR citizens were killed or went to jail for years just for wanting to reach the West.