REVISITING GERMAN REUNIFICATION WHERE EVEN I WAS A SPECTATOR

Revisiting German Reunification 

Where Even I Was A Spectator 

Published in the KTM Post on September 28, 2013 
http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2013/09/27/on-saturday/voices--a-spectator-of-history/254125.html



DIE DEUTSCHE WIEDERVEREINIGUNG (GERMAN REUNIFICATION)  

THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL

I had had a rare opportunity to witness and experience the German reunification. The timing of my stay in Germany could not have been better in another sense: While there, I was able to witness first-hand the fall of the Berlin Wall. Between 1989 and 1995 I had got an opportunity to study Electrical Power Engineering at Dresden University of Technology under the DAAD scholarship. I was indeed the first Nepalese female to have completed Master in Engineering from a German University. Travelling was, and still is, one of my favourite things to do in free time, and I had visited many cities already back then. But Berlin was special; there were so many world-renowned monuments to look at and the city also boasted Europe's finest subway system at the time. So I visited Berlin several times during the course of my studies in Germany. The notorious wall itself was something of a stark sight. Built of barbed wire and cinder blocks, guarded with watchtowers, gun emplacement and mines which had in attachment with it a bitter past. In the years between 1949 and 1961, about 2.5 millions East Germans were  believed to have fled to the West, including steadily rising members of skilled workers, professionals, and intellectuals. Such a scale of migration understandably threatened to destroy the economic viability of the East German state. In response, the East German regime – the German Democratic Republic (GDR) - erected a vast barrier in Berlin on the night of August 13, 1961 to prevent unauthorized movements between the two sides and to cut off West Berlin or the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from East Berlin and surrounding East Germany. Still even after this, about 5000 East Germans were reportedly successful in crossing over via various means safely while other 5000 were captured, and 191 more were killed. I can still recall that 15 feet high barrier, which came to symbolize the cold war divisions of the Eastern and Western Europe, standing in front of me with apparent doubt about its own continued existence in future. It was definitely not a symbol of prosperity, rather a symbol of regression, a step back from the civilization, and whenever I saw it, I'd get this strong sense that it needed to come down, and soon. After all, the GDR and its rulers were not successful in representing the will of all political and social forces of the people. The citizens had no opportunity to participate in decision-making process.  They were virtually imprisoned in their own country by their own rulers. I was not wrong in making the guess. The evitable soon happened. In early October 1989 while the GDR celebrated the 40th anniversary of its foundation in an event attended by the Soviet leader Michael Gorbachev, anti-government demonstrations were slowly propping up in East Berlin. Civil unrest then spread to other larger towns: In Leipzig weekly protest marches were organized. In Dresden a series of daily demonstrations began, each attended by as many as 120,000 people. Even our University in Dresden did not remain untouched by these events. In fact, each evening, after lectures, we'd march along street singing "We shall overcome…… We shall overcome someday!" Eventually, as the demonstration attracted increasing popular support, intervention by the police ceased.  In mid-October, the political situation in Germany was becoming more volatile. First , Erich Honecker, the General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party (SED), resigned. An amnesty was then announced for those who had been detained during the demonstrations and for those imprisoned for attempting to leave the country illegally. On November 7, 1989 in a further attempt to placate the demonstrations, the entire membership of the GDR council of ministers resigned, and 2 days later restrictions on foreign travel for GDR citizens were removed and all border-crossings to the GDR were opened.  No more confinement to dream. Yes, the Berlin wall was to be brought down, finally, broken into tiny pieces, and handed out as souvenirs. Of course, the movement did not stop there. Mass demonstrations continued - prompted by revelations of corruption and personal enrichment by the former leadership and of abuses of power by the state security service. A special commission was established to investigate such charges, and former senior officials including Honecker were expelled from the SED and placed under house arrest, pending legal proceedings. As the political situation became increasingly volatile, the entire membership of the SED Politburo and Central Committee resigned. In December 1989, Chancellor Kohl, who had earlier proposed a plan for the eventual unification of the two countries, made his first visit to the GDR. On October 1, 1990, representatives of the four countries that had occupied Germany after Second World War met in New York to sign a document in which Germany's full sovereignty was recognized. The GDR joined the FRG as 5 additional states: Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-West Pormerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringen. Finally on October 3, 1990 the two German states were formally unified, after 45 years of being divided. Germany was once again a united nation. Unification was a significant milestone, but there were still many fundamental issues to be dealt with. Was it possible for the two German states which developed sharply divergent political and economic systems to become one so easily? One of the most serious problems confronting the Government immediately following the reunification was that of escalating unemployment in eastern Germany, as a result of the introduction of market-oriented reforms. A substantial increase in the crime rate in eastern Germany was also recorded. A further disturbing social issue was the resurgence of extreme right-wing and neo-Nazi groups, which were responsible for a series of brutal attacks against foreign workers and asylum seekers. The issue of asylum seekers became so severe that extreme nationalistic sentiment in some quarters began to pour a serious threat to law and disorder, when 5 nights of serious rioting by neo-Nazi youth occurred in the town of Rostock. Attacks were centered on a reception centre for asylum-seekers, and were followed shortly afterwards by attacks on refugee-centers in 15 towns and by the bombing of a memorial to the Holocaust in Berlin. Sporadic attacks continued throughout Germany in September and October 1993. The murder of 3 Turkish immigrants in an arson attack in Moelln in Schleswig-Holstein prompted the government to ban several right-wing groups that were believed to have been responsible for co-ordinating attacks on foreigners. In May 1993 the death of 5 Turkish women in an arson attack near Koln (Solingen) precipitated protest demonstrations throughout Germany and widespread condemnation in the international media.                   Despite many obstacles on its path, however, Germany was able to eventually transcend these barriers. The reunification of Germany was a great event which had an immense impact on world politics and brought great changes all over the world in the years to follow and I feel grateful to have been in the country at such a significant point in its history.    (The author holds a post-graduated degree from German University)