The INVISIBLE WALL: Is GERMANY still divided into TWO large BLOCKS? - VisualPolitik EN

When we think of Germany, most of us may imagine a very cohesive country, where the economy is doing well and where prosperity seeps into every corner.

A superpower, no less that the driving force of Europe. However, beyond first impressions, the truth is that Germany is not exactly like that, or at least not completely.

You will see that although the division of Germany into two parts, a capitalist West and a communist East, formally ended on 3 October 1990, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, the country is still somewhat fractured. Believe it or not, you can still spot the existence of two great blocs.

Yes, we’re not making it up. There is an invisible wall that divides two quite different Germanies. In this video we tell you all the details.

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[azmodanrom]

Romania was unified a 100 years ago, but there is still a visible economical and social divide between the old kingdom and Transylvania

[shakiMiki]

UK has 9/10 of the poorest regions in Northern Europe, & central London is richest part of Europe. The difference between Emilia-Romagna & Calabria are almost 1st world & 3rd. There are equally or arguably more divided part of european countries.

[TheLoyalOfficer]

I met a dude in NYC from West Germany who stunned me when he told me: "We will only absorb the East when everyone born before 1980 is dead."

[chartreux]

As a Bavarian who is also a Historian on Contemporary German History, who both has Family that lived in West and East Germany and seeing People in the Comments who question that the Eastern Germans have it harder even after the Fall of the Wall.
They do indeed, even today still have it harder, especially economically, since the East was basically a Semi Soviet Puppet State and just like the others, once the Soviet Union met it's Demise, they had to start from anew. So naturally Eastern Germany is less wealthy and less economically balanced than the West, which had proper Growth without Interruption since the 1950s. For example i remember as a Kid here in the Bavarian Alps that a lot of Eastern German Kids suddenly showed up in our Elementary School during the whole 1990s.
Simply because there were no Opportunities in the former Eastern Germany, and others moved away from there because of bad Experiences.
This is also why i always find it rather disgusting when the typical Western German Politician (no matter the Party) judges Eastern Germans regarding their Votes, and as this Video shows, many Eastern Germans either vote for Die Linke (The Left) or the AFD (The Right), which makes Sense when you got barely any Opportunities while simultaneously the Politicians of the Establishment Left (The Social Democrats) and Establishment Right (Conservative Democrats) judge, insult and attack them for voting either for the AFD or Die Linke. The same goes for all the privileged and usually City-living Twitter Folk (usually Students who btw. also include People from the Left and the Right).
You definitely don't help the Eastern Germans by judging them for who they vote for and calling them "uneducated".
So yes, Eastern German States definitely need more Help from the Gouvernment and less being called "Communist" or "Nazi" because of who they vote for in their economical Desperation.
All of that said, great Video as usual!
Prost and Cheers from the currently very very cold Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps

[hl]

East German here. Very accurate video.

I'd like to add a few things:
In my opinion, the Treuhand (trust fund) did a necessary but sometimes terrible job. While it is absolutly clear that most GDR company have no chance to survive in the West, there were some companies which were okay and given a certain investment to modernize and some time to adapt, they could have survived. For example, in my area, there was an agglomeration of the most advanced IT companies in the whole Eastern Block. None survived. Only some knowlegde was transferred to found new companies which are producing solar panels and silicon products (we call it "Silicon Saxony" now, no joke.)
But this survival would have meant two things: Competition for the West German industry and many people could have stayed in the East rather than emigrating to the West. This would have helped a lot, since the East lost 2 Mio people (out of 17 Mio in 1990). But the West German industry naturally had a lot to say in the reunification process, so the Treuhand shot down much more than necessary. The East was practically deindustrialized within a few years.

Another thing is the fact that until this day, many West Germans don't really get the East. This includes West Germans who live in the East for years now. I'm always shocked how ignorant/uneducated they can be when it comes to experiences with the GDR and the reunifcation. Many have no idea what emotional scars it leaves behind when you see the country you grew up in being dissolved by the former enemy. This got nothing to do with politics. Imagine being born in 1945. So in 1990, you are 45 years old. You grew up in the East, got used to it, maybe don't like the system, but you have your job, your family, and your children get a good education. And suddenly, you lose your job, your company goes bankrupt, your country ceases to exist, many friends leave and those arrogant dudes from the West tell you how everything was terrible and how to do things better. Thats a very hard pill to swallow. My granddads couldn't swallow it. They never got over it. And one of them really hated those damn communists.

To finish with something positive: One of my former professors, a West German, once said that the East German students are much more disciplined and not as lazy as their western counterparts. :D

[anthonystaunton]

I would love to see an economic video about Iraq after 2003. How the followed governments dealt with issues and what are the challenges today.

[ualuuanie]

As a former German once told me work in the west and retire in the east. But after he retired in Singapore instead.

[Cykler]

I as a german can only say that everything is true. Good video :) and greetings from west Germany

[quantumeseboy]

Imagine if Koreans decide to unify, what a disaster that would be!

[josephstalin]

The last time I was this early there was a physical wall dividing Germany

[MrReviews]

Looks like Korea will need a miracle on the 38th parallel.

[RAS_Squints]

People who want North and South Korea to be unified should pay attention to this

[urazoe]

as a western german, having had a girlfriend from the east i can say that it sometimes felt like we where from different contrys

[Diego.]

8 out of 10 judges and prosecutors grew up in the West... which means that the East is OVERREPRESENTED. Some may think that East and West were not just two parts of Germany but the two HALVES. However, those living in the eastern states now represent some 15 percent of the German population, down 3 percent from the 18 percent at the time of reunification.

[nicoheintel]

I think a good visualization in terms of mentality, culture and past or current developement is this one:
Bavaria = Texas
North Rhine Westphalia = Rustbelt
Rest of west Germany = New England
East Germany = Southern States
Saarland = Hawaii (lol)

[menumlor]

I think it’s safe to say that Russia achieved its goal of keeping a powerful country like Germany divided. Especially long after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

[spartanm]

My dad told me all the time as a kid. Stupid people destroy and hurt, while smart people create, build and help others. But strong people can do all of that but choose to do good while taking a few on the chin.

[KuchiKaeschtliTV]

as a Correction: actually, Germany is only partially removing the Soli. the top 10% still have to pay which is still a lot of money going to this fund. if it stays that way is unclear since the first opposition-party already sued against this rule due to unequality reasons and it should not be forgotten the Soli was supposed to be a One-Time-Thing and got dragged out due to high costs and late due inequality reasons for years.
Furthermore it's pretty cheap to only mention the lack of immigration to blame for the fight against the immigration laws of the east. as mentioned, in east Germany it's more common to have jobs where less education is required. therefore it already is a though place to get a job due EU-Schengen agreement. East Germans have to compete with cheap labors from east Europe (Poles, Hungerians, Romanians) where they can find a way around the minimum wages through sub-sub-contractions or higher Education in those places also include German courses to make it easier to get a job in Germany. So it's understandable that they don't feel like make it even harder to compete against even cheaper refuegees from middle east (state subsidized labour as interation program)

[janfpv]

I think it will take a very long time to finally end the division. For example you can still see the pre-war German border when looking at election results in today's Poland

[JebusGoesonanAdventure]

On my way to Poland I had to change trains in some village in East Germany and it looked like the Soviets left yesterday. Everything was destroyed the nicest building was a Casino. West Poland got nice again.