Why Germany is Still Divided 30 Years Later

Three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification, many Germans think the country is more divided than united. So in this video, we'll explore this persistent East-West divide, the root causes of it and whether this could change.

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[iPlayGamesITA]

"And you're even complaining?"

Me, an Italian, with a worse north-south divide existing since 1861

[nomore]

Imagine if the Koreas were unified...the differences there are beyond comprehension

[ahdhudbbh]

Apparantly the north south divides in the UK & Italy are worse than the east west divide in Germany. The Germans seem to have done an amazing job integrating East Germany.

[joeyjojojrshabadoo]

It's important remember that Germany actually only united relatively recently as well (1866) there are still quite a few cultural divisions between east and west which predates the literal wall.

[igr]

You guys could do a sequel to this video explaining why Poland is still divided *228* years later

[theconqueringram]

Germany was divided for 45 years, unification was 33 years ago. Overcoming these divisions takes time, but there is progress.

[SonnyDarvish]

As a foreigner who landed in Berlin, I felt the difference while living 1.5 years in Berlin and much more after I moved to other western side cities in 3 different states.

[propositionjoe]

Considering it was two different countries and it's not been that long since reunification I'd say Germany has done a pretty good job. It you drive to the east from the west you will also notice all the roads and other infrastructure seems so new compared to the west which was all built in the 70s and is now all under construction. The money invested into the east is insane.

[XMysticHerox]

An important thing about the DM to mention is that the exchange rate was arbitrarily set at 1:1 when in reality it was closer to 1:4. This basically meant that any debt as well as the wages east german companies had to pay quadrupled over night for no real reason.

What should also be mentioned is that initially shares of east German businesses were meant to be distributed among the population. That also did not happen obviously.

Then there is also the outright criminal stuff that took place which is worth mentioning. It is estimated that between 3 to 10 billion DM were stolen/embezzled etc.

Overall east Germany was basically ransacked by the west following reunification. While yes the east was economically weaker thats not really why the divide is so extreme today. I don't really like the idea that the west simply "outcompeted" the east though yes that played a role as well.

[lorenzociliberto]

Well, East Germany is less US-propaganda victim. The can think of theirselves.

[jeremybird]

That was a good report, but it missed a couple of important details. The firms in the 90s couldn't compete because they couldn't get loans to upgrade their capital. The western banks claimed they didn't know them and couldn't trust them. This lead to a fire sale of businesses and buildings. Today in the east 70% of people rent, compared to only 30% in the west. Those buildings are primarily owned by people in the west. That is a massive private transfer of wealth from the east to the west. To compensate for this the average person in the west has to pay extra tax, which they (understandably) resent. They can't see the indirect benefits. The east resents the west lording the transfers over them. The rest of the divide is superficial, probable equal to the difference between north and south.

[badluck]

North and South Carolina could never have a similar unification. The difference in mustard-based and vinegar-based BBQ sauces is too vast.

[tobiwan]

A few points to consider:
1:33 Wealth here refers to median financial net assets (excluding real estate and pensions and net of debt)
1:53 those are local unemployment numbers. The internationally comparable ILO numbers are much lower. However, I could not find those numbers for East and West, but the overall German unemployment under ILO stats is 3.2% for August 2023.
5:00 The GDR had a special extra low exchange rate for exports. Almost no companies were competitive after reunification and even without the 1:1 exchange rate they would have likely not survived.
7:20 It shows the productivity convergence not the increase in productivity, as the comment suggests
7:45 the main reason for Tesla choosing Brandenburg are the low labour costs. They are 30-35% lower than the pay of other car manufacturers in Germany, it's true though that the availability of land, lower energy costs and lower labour costs are attracting new companies to Eastern and Northern Germany, although the currently wealthiest areas are in the south. Especially in semicoductors, battery production and other high-value energy-intensive manufacturing.

[JosephSolisAlcaydeAlberici]

The decision to peg East German mark with West German mark 1-to-1 was a big mistake from the start that made areas used to be under GGR economically desolate until recently.

[LMB]

A bit of background:

West Germany didn't "miraculously" grow in the 1950's, and East Germany wasn't that poor in 1945.

Both parts come from a state that was well developed following a series of a few very good moves in the 19th century (and earlier in some regions), amd priduced masses of educated workers.

The difference is that West Germany was allowed to flourish, while Eadt Germany was "cutring off the coupons of success", i.e. using up what they inherited in 1945, intil the resources ran out in the early 1970's.

According to some economists, rhe DDR was richer per capita than the UK all the way up to early 1970's. If you know Germany from the inside, you'll understand that it is a believable theory - although trying to measure GDP in a communist country is like trying to measure the size of the sun with a ruler.

[-haclong]

Whenever you ask a German they will say that "there is no divide, Germans are 1 people" but then you look at literally anything and there are always major cultural differences that they refuse to admit.

[rosegreensummer]

i remember reading in the paper, everyone in the east was crossing the wall to shop in West Germany, except, the reporter said, a little old lady, who told him she had found loads of bargains in the empty shops of the East, including a carpet she had loved that was now a quarter of the price it was last week

[Ui_Kozekis_Friend]

The same thing can happen in North Korea and South Korea's reunification. If this happens, it could cause the entire first days of United Korea to be chaotic due to how extremely divided it was.

[henrybnar]

Regional economic imbalance is inevitable when tax systems ignore the effects of geographical advantage and disadvantage. The disadvantaged locations are below the margin at which profitable economic activity can take place. This is an example of Ricardo's Law of Rent, which is, apparently not taught in most economics courses.

[redwolfnum]

wounds of the past never really disappear