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Teaching aim: Comparison of the different political and economic systems in Germany since 1945,
consequences of the division of Germany, problem-oriented analysis of the consequences of the
reunification process on a national and European scale Keywords: Economic systems in the former West and East Germany, the inner-German boundary and its impacts (Iron Curtain), economic cooperation in Europe, regional shifts, the blue banana, a new Germany in a new Europe |
Only a very few countries of the world have shared Germany's recent history of being divided into two different states with completely different political and economical systems. Only Korea, since the Korean war of 1956, has been in a somewhat comparable situation. From all the territorial changes that occurred within Germany over the last one hundred years, the creation of the iron curtain in 1949 had by far the deepest impacts on its social and economic life. While West Germany developed a strong market economy, helped by the Marshall Plan in the take off phase, East Germany had to overcome the destructions of WWII on its own means. Furthermore the Soviets dismantled most of the remaining WWII industrial plants. Politically, they had to develop new economic concepts and development strategies with which they had no earlier experience.
What were the basic differences between the two systems?
In terms of classical location theories, however, both Germanies suffered from the division of the country. Especially along the inner-German border, former flourishing centres such as Braunschweig, Kassel, Eisenach, Erfurt and others lost their traditional hinterland. Whether they were located east or west of this border, the effects were the same. Kassel [1], the former capital of Hesse, is a good example to demonstrate this. Based on various pre-industrial roots, the town attracted during the 19th century a number of very dynamic enterprises such as Henschel, a family plant that became one of Germany's first producers of locomotives in the boom period of railroad development. The firm specialized, during WWII, in the production of war equipment which made it a special target for the bombings of the Allies in 1945. Kassel was almost completely destroyed during a bombing raid. When the war was over, the recovery did not materialize mainly because of the loss of Kassel's traditional hinterland. The German-German border was located less than 40 kilometres east of the town. Ifa heavily subsidized Volkswagen plant had not located there in 1957 the whole region would have regressed into its agrarian past. The VW plant became the most important employer [2] not only for Kassel but for the northern half of Hesse in the ensuing years.
The situation was certainly worse on the eastern side, since the East German government deliberately did everything to hinder any economic development near the border. People were not even allowed to approach the border for fear they would escape to the West. In fact, within a 10 kilometres wide belt along the border only those people could go who lived there. The border itself was a highly sophisticated defence line which was systematically patrolled by machine gun carrying border guards. In addition there was a barbed wire fence, a belt of mine fields, and regularly spaced observation towers. Its brutal image can hardly be imagined by anyone today. More over, almost all roads, rail, water and power lines were severanced after the war. Only a few special road, rail and air corridors were allowed to function, basically because West Berlin as part of the FRG needed to be reached other than only by air.
All these differences could not predict the problems that occurred when reunification took place in 1990, the more as this was totally unexpected. East Germany's economy literally collapsed, as did all the communist economies in the neighbouring states to the East. However, the final shock to East German manufacturing as well as to other economic operations, including agriculture, came after reunification when state subsidization and monopolization was removed over night. It became obvious that products and wages bore no resemblance to productivity. Since the whole eastern bloc had collapsed, the traditional markets for East Germany's economy did also. One of the first endeavors of the federal government after reunification was the creation of the Treuhandanstalt, an organization to implement the privatization of firms and property in former East Germany. Special efforts were also made to reestablish the communication links with the West. These and other integration attempts have been very numerous and costly. But they have not solved all the social and economic problems in the East. It will take many more years before the new Germany will have overcome the differences that are still very obvious between east and west.
But there is also a broader European perspective on German unification. The political events of 1989/1990 not only ended Germany's separation, they also have reopened the bridges between western and eastern Europe. All of a sudden, Germany became surrounded by new trading partners. Many European countries turn their focus eastwards, which for political reasons was excluded for nearly half a century. The question now is, whether and how the historical links, which have always existed between these two halves of the continent, can be reestablished. This is an ongoing debate and a source for many planning schemes and strategic discussions that will go on for many years to come. During the years of political confrontation between east and west, spatial organization within the capitalistic and communist blocs had changed traditional interaction patterns. Historically, social and economic interaction within Europe had a very strong west-east component, an almost logical consequence of the physical structures of the continent. As a consequence of the enforced separation, these links became more and more north-south oriented. Development of an economic corridor which is often referred to as Europe's Blue Banana Belt [3] exemplifies this new pattern. This corridor supposedly has its beginning in mid-England, includes the greater London area, traverses the economic cores of the Netherlands (Randstad, Rotterdam) and Belgium, continues into Germany and stretches along the Ruhr-Rhine-Axis until it reaches its southern end in the famous industrial triangle of Northern Italy. Within this belt exists a high concentration of Europe's manufacturing capacity (therefore blue, refers to blue colour jobs). The term also stands for an economically prosperous region, where many trans border activities have developed over the last decades. Along the eastern borders of the belt, new government supported so-called Euregios have been created in order to stimulate regional development. In many cases, however, economic growth has not yet taken off, whereas along the western border economic interactions [4] are very well established.
Many of Germany's high quality transportation and communication links, such as its high speed railroad systems, its four lane highways etc., are directed from north to south. The so-called 'Rheinachse' (literally the Rhine-axis, means the concentration of powerful transportation systems in the Rhine valley) is the best example of it. Moreover, Germany's economy has undergone a frostbelt-sunbelt shift. While traditional economic cores of northern and central Germany declined, south German cities such as Munich and Stuttgart have attracted many new economic activities. On a European scale, a similar tendency exists. The coastal strip between Valencia in Spain and Genoa in Italy is frequently referred to as the 'Golden Banana of Europe', sometimes also as the European Silicon Belt. High tech industry, electronics, aircraft industry, research centres etc. are well settled in many cities of the Mediterranean arch. Clearly, economic development in the second half of the 20th century shifted away from the east and to the south. Reunification of Germany and the political restructuring of Europe is therefore an astonishing social event. It will be an economic and human challenge for many years to come and it still is very uncertain what the final results of this reunification process will be.
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Questions that may be asked:
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[1]
http://www.uni-kassel.de/fb12/afks/Deutsch/frameset.htm
[2]
http://www.baunatal.de/6004/info00.asp
[3]
http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/verlag/reports/otteu/banane.gif (28.08.2003)
[4]
http://www.bagso.de/01_03_21.html
(28.08.2003)
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