Germany’s History – Unification of GDR and FRG

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The onset of 1990 marked the merger of the (German Democratic Republic: GDR (East Germany) and Federal Republic of Germany: FRG (West Germany) as a single state, a process that ended in October the same year. In an endeavor to ensure that the two Germanic states (west and east) united with no problem, the four powers that ruled Germany after World War II and the two states signed an agreement that addressed all military issues and boundary problems.

Further, because these sides had different internal ruling policies, between May and August the same Year, the two sides signed a number of agreements that addressed issues such as state boundaries, economic, social and political policies, law-related factors, and environmental protection policies.

Although the main goal behind the unification was to have a single Germanic nation with no disparities between the two states, the unification proved to be of more a burden to Germans, as it required integration of varying political, social, and economic policies of the two sates (Hauss, 2008, pp. 138-143).

The unification joined two states that had different economic achievement levels and very different operational systems. For example, economically, the west was far much developed than the East, a fact that created a big burden to the East, as it had to re-evaluate its monetary policies and privatize its economy in order to be at par with the west.

Before the unification, majority of the east people had the believe that, alleviation of poverty from a nation was a function of the state, as promised, a notion that was contrary to inhabitants of the west, where dedication and hard work was compulsory for a stable and poverty free nation.

This created an economic burden to the people of the west, as from time to time the unified government had to make numerous credit transfers to the east, in an endeavor to achieve some balanced development. On the other hand, majority of workers from the west were less educated and skilled hence, to ensure that the GDR achieved the same level of development as FRG, most companies from the East had to recruit workers from the west.

Although this helped in alleviating the skilled labor deficits in the East, it created an economic burden to organizations of the west, as their survival depended on their ability to pay inflated wages demanded by workers from the west. Socialism that loomed in the east had limited the ability of its skilled workforce; hence, it was hard for it to reach the west’s economic standards without “importing” workers (Doyle, (n.d), pp. 1-2).

As research studies show, the transfer of workforce to the east led to increased unemployment among the inhabitants of the east, leading to many social problems such as increased poverty levels and poor standards of living. This like a case is evident even in today’s Germany, as most inhabitants of East Germany are still struggling to achieve the same social, political, and economic achievement standards as those in the west.

In addition to poverty, because of unemployment, integration of cultures was another problem that proved of burden to inhabitants of the two unified Germanic states. Unlike the west where capitalism was the main governing ideology, the east main ruling and cultural ideology was socialism; hence, their notion that it was the government’s duty to ensure its citizens have good lives (Hauss, 2008, pp. 138-145).

On the other hand, achievement of justice was another burden created by the unification of the two states. As research studies show up to today, although the unified government promised to bring into justice the socialist crime perpetrators, such endeavors hit a snag, as the ruling class feared that such an activity might jeopardize the unification. Majority of the socialist criminals continued controlling most state organizations, a fact that left most victims of such crimes helpless.

This is a clear indication of hindered justice, which inhabitants of the newly formed government demanded; hence, putting into question the credibility of the new unified Germanic government (Schirrmacher, 1995, p.1). Generally, the unification of the East and the west created more problems that many expected, although subsequent governments have endeavored to deal with such problems, to achieve a democratic state.

Reference List

Doyle, M. (n.d). Closing the productivity gap between East and West Germany. Web.

Hauss, C. (2008). Comparative politics: domestic responses to global challenges. 6^th e.d. Stanford, Connecticut: engage Learning.

Schirrmacher, T. (1995). Four problems with Germany’s re-union. Contra Mundum. Web.

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Germany’s History – Unification of GDR and FRG

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