Friday, August 15, 2014

The Wall or Non-Wall Era

Over the past week....there was a minor party of sorts in Germany...twenty-fifth anniversary of the Berlin Wall falling.

A big celebration?  No.  It's noted by newspapers and TV journalists, but frankly....it's not really celebrated by anyone much.

There are three versions of the current feeling about the wall having gone down and East Germany getting absorbed back into plain old Germany.

Version One?  If you are over forty and from West Germany.....most would quietly tell you that the wall should never have gone down....absorbing East Germany was costly and stupid......and there's nothing gained.  This is the same group who'd be happy to be referred to as "West Germany".

Version Two?  Younger folks under the age of twenty-five who don't know much of anything over East and West Germany.....don't care about any lesson lesson.....and frankly are more bothered by too many Muslims, Russians, or oddball foreigners in Germany today.

Version Three? This group of 35-to-40 year old Germans who have some fascination with the wall coming down.....love a united Germany....and will have several books on their shelf to cover the period, with dozens of photos of the event.  This group makes up around two percent of the population.

I'm an American simply observing things and trying to grasp why three versions of this remarkable event exist.  Older Germans think they got taxed to hell on fixing the old DDR infrastructure.  The same older Germans made more per month on their pay, and hint that life was better with the wall up.

Will this ever get resolved?  I think around 2040....as enough Germans simply pass away.....it might start to change, and history be totally forgotten.  Sadly, that's about the only way that it gets resolved.

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