Truth is, German Reunification was never an aim of West German politicians until it suddenly appeared as an option at the end of the 1980s. And even then, half of the political spectrum was strongly against it (eg Gerhard Schröder, who later became German Chancellor). Before that, anyone who argued in favor of reunification was eclipsed into the fringe.
Having been bombarded with arguments against reunification for decades by at least one half of the spectrum, will have shaped the views of many. A lot of people felt unease about an American president pushing so visibly for it, as Reagan did.
For the German Easterners it must be said, they were the only "revolutionaries", the only Germans who risked anything and showed courage and actually fought for freedom. Yet, there is almost no official commemoration of it. Partly because many Easterners were part of the system. Partly because the West-German left hated to be reminded of their own amorality.
Thus, "reunification costs" are only a translucent argument. As if the redistribution policies already existing in West-Germany weren't the real culprit why the West-German worker was left so little of his wage and why the job market was stagnating at best for years.
> For the German Easterners it must be said, they were the only "revolutionaries", the only Germans who risked anything and showed courage and actually fought for freedom. Yet, there is almost no official commemoration of it. Partly because many Easterners were part of the system. Partly because the West-German left hated to be reminded of their own amorality.
I don't think you can dismiss Ostalgie (nostalgia for East Germany/democratic socialism) either. There are quite a few people who miss those days, as incredible as it might seem to us who come from countries which don't shoot you if you want to leave. I know some folks who grew up in another Communist country, and they mention that everyone seemed bound up together. They'll admit that materially things are much better now, and sometimes they'll admit that everyone was in bondage together — but most of the time they really do miss what we would consider a repressive state (so bad that they weren't even allowed to speak their native language at home, and had to hide religious artefacts from the secret police).
Being against reunification. Being reminded of the failed experiment across the just deleted border. Being reminded that that failed experiment should have given them some doubts about their doctrines. Being reminded that in the most remarkable story of human progress in contemporary history [1], not only were they not part of the heroes - they were complicit agents in defending the status quo of an unfree Eastern Germany.
Which is why the SPD (with a few exceptions) and the Greens have never set foot in the East as did the conservative CDU.
[1] that remarkable story of course includes the whole of Eastern Europe and that human progress may only be equated to the rise of China (although not politically).
Many of the people who started the protests in East Germany did not have the aim of reunification either. Their goal was to reform and open up the system. Only later when the protests had swelled up in numbers did the slogan of "Wir sind ein Volk" appear.
That is true. Technically, to be precise, it wasn't so much a reunification as it was an annexation. Wanted by the majority of people on both sides of the border.
While I doubt, that anything else than a single Germany would have happened after all - how the reunification came to be could have certainly be different.
But looking at the options that are usually brought up when speaking about "the lost chances" of remaining an independent but free East Germany, the implications are usually so undesirable and unrealistic, that a) those still complaining about it come across as melancholic revanchists and b) the reunification as it happened seems to have been inevitable.
Having been bombarded with arguments against reunification for decades by at least one half of the spectrum, will have shaped the views of many. A lot of people felt unease about an American president pushing so visibly for it, as Reagan did.
For the German Easterners it must be said, they were the only "revolutionaries", the only Germans who risked anything and showed courage and actually fought for freedom. Yet, there is almost no official commemoration of it. Partly because many Easterners were part of the system. Partly because the West-German left hated to be reminded of their own amorality.
Thus, "reunification costs" are only a translucent argument. As if the redistribution policies already existing in West-Germany weren't the real culprit why the West-German worker was left so little of his wage and why the job market was stagnating at best for years.