West Germany’s mistakes in facing the East

Leipzig literature professor Dirk Oschmann recently told me a joke. This is new to me – which probably proves: I am one of them Son of the old Federal Republic. Or I forget jokes too quickly. Anyway, it goes like this: When did East Germans meet West Germans? Answer: Either he meets with the owner, his boss – or he goes to court. That laugh stays with you Look at the statistics stuck in the throat.

Also 36 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall The following applies: Nearly 20 percent of East Germans occupy leading positions in administration, justice, business, and media “structurally disadvantaged”. In other words: rarely. According to Elitenmonitor (examining around 3,000 top positions in twelve sectors), the proportion of managers from the East in Germany’s 100 largest companies is zero percent.

Find images on unity celebrations

As is known, East German officials, nine-member group photo on October 3. This can of course be explained by protocol constraints, location (Saarland) and general constraints. The point is: It doesn’t even need to be explained.

In the best-selling book “The East: a West German Invention,” author Oschmann deliberately explains some of the causes and consequences of this lack of visibility. The main criticism: The The West views itself as the norm and look at it East as an aberration from that. Who ticks differently – that is wrong.

East-West double standards

In a discussion in Bonn last week, Kafka experts explained how the AfD’s success in the east is often a factor “After all there are all the Nazis” commented. But if the same party becomes the second strongest force in Hesse or almost overtakes the SPD in Gelsenkirchen with 29.92 percent, it will search in vain for headlines. “Hesse chocolate”or “Nazis in the Ruhr region”.

I can’t disagree. But when I think about the night of November 9 to 10, 1989, I… German-German tears of joy before your eyes. And I’m impressed with how much things have progressed since then.

Until now, West German people still make mistakes when dealing with East Germany

But we can’t imagine it if we experienced it at that time Fast forward to 2025 I believe Germans still fall into that category “us” and “them” talk about each other. Often characterized by disappointment, incomprehension, contempt or indifference.

The fall of the Berlin Wall remains the most beautiful event in our history. But no one else could reach this level of superlatives an emotionally united country. For example, it would be helpful if when we think of the word “diversity,” what comes to mind is not just women, ethnicity, and sexual orientation – but also women, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Germany is still underrepresented from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony, Thuringia and Berlin (East).