United and Divided: Germany since 1990

The system transformation after German unification in 1990 constituted an experiment on an unprecedented scale. At no point in history had one state attempted to redesign another without conquest, bloodshed or coercion but by treaties, public policy and bureaucratic processes. Unification was achieved by erasing the eastern political and economic model. However, in the meantime it has become clear that the same cannot be said about social transformation. On the contrary, social and cultural attitudes and differentiation have continued and resulted in deep divisions between West and East Germany. After unification, the injustices of politics seemed to have been replaced, in the eyes of most former GDR citizens, by unexpected injustices in the personal spheres of ordinary people who lost their jobs and faced unknown realities of deprivation and social exclusion.

These are the main concerns of the contributors to this volume. Incorporating new research findings and published data, they focus on key aspects of economic, political, and social transformation in eastern Germany and compare, through case studies, each area with developments in the west.

Historians Dennis and Kolinsky (both affiliated with the U. of Wolverhampton, UK) see the reunification of Germany as a one- directional process in which the social and political model of western Germany was imposed on the eastern half of the country, creating imbalances, failing to replicate the western model in the east, and producing its own divided history in eastern Germany. They see that divided history as the central topic of these nine essays, which explore such subjects as the changing historiography of East Germany, the legacy of the Stasi (the secret police), the role small and medium sized businesses in economic restructuring, east-west comparisons of higher education, migration in eastern Germany, and the societal position of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Mike Dennis is Professor of German History at the University of Wolverhampton and author several books and essays on political and social developments in the GDR. Eva Kolinsky is Professor Emerita of German Studies at Keele University and Professorial Research Fellow in German History at the University of Wolverhampton.