German head of state: the best Germany of all time today

In the provincial capital of Brandenburg, instead of the hundreds of thousands of planned folk festivals and large-scale state commemorations, the ceremony was attended by only a hundred people, mostly prominent politicians. Thirty best years in German history.

“We are in a contradictory position because we are not far from where we should be, but we have achieved much more than we think,” said Frank-Walter Steinmeier, emphasizing that “we live in Germany at its best, (…) we rejoice together. and build a good future on it. “

There are still many tasks, including creating a common historical memory of division and reunification, said the German head of state, adding that the transformation of 1989-90 and the last three decades have changed the lives of all families in the East. , but in the West. , and often with distance “experienced the process.

This is demonstrated, for example, by the fact that practically everyone in the eastern provinces has been in the West, but 20% of Westerners have not set foot in the former GDR., and “when East Germans speak of themselves, the West occupies a dominant place in their history, but in the life stories of many West Germans not a word is said about the East.”

The West German approach very consciously demands the position of a “fully German” perspective, and in this worldview life in the East is different from the standard, not as a true German, but as a “different life”, so East German stories are not so natural parts of the ordinary. history like the West Germans.

At the same time, eastern cities like Leipzig or Rostock are much stronger economically than quite a few cities in the Ruhr area, and for years more people have been moving from West to East than vice versa. Many East German universities and research institutes around the world are attracting students and academics as magnets, and in the eastern provinces you can meet “amazing people who have established successful businesses, have made empty cities attractive with their new ideas , and with his will and practicality.

Therefore, in the former GDR, development is more than decline, and in many places the aim is not to imitate the West, but to secure the advantage of the East, explained Frank-Walter Steinmeier, citing Zwickaut as an example, where they built Trabant cars once and more recently. Europe’s largest electric car factory opened in Grünheide, Brandenburg, where one of Europe’s most prestigious players in electric mobility, Tesla, is building its first European plant and development center.

The German head of state stressed that the reunified country is much more than the sum of its units, combining Eastern and Western experiences with a new, “modern and successful country built in the middle of Europe.” The list of Eastern achievements and initiatives that underpin the success of the new country is long and diverse, and building a daycare system includes so much sensitivity and attention to the Central and Eastern European region, Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.

The East German and West German interstate treaty for the reunification of the divided country came into force on October 3, 1990, whereby the GDR became the six new provinces of the United States. Anniversary celebrations are always organized by the Chamber of Legislation, which brings together the provincial governments and the Bundesrat, which holds the rotating presidency, this year in Brandenburg, which is located in the former GDR, surrounded by Berlin.

Brandenburg Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke emphasized in his greeting at the central state ceremony that reunification is certainly a great success, but not a series of success stories.

Severe plagues, defeats, and bugs are also part of our journey.

– Said the Social Democratic politician (SPD), noting, among other things, that in the first two decades of reunification, young people emigrated en masse to the West, and the change turned their lives upside down for those who did not move.

According to surveys, studies and opinion polls published on the occasion of the anniversary, the East-West divide is not the only and not the most important fault in Germany, but even after thirty years it is significant, mainly economically.. This is indicated, for example, by the fact that in the eastern provinces, where 16 million people, approximately 19.5% of the country’s population of approximately 83 million, have a per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of 32,700 euros (12 million HUF), which is more than ten thousand euros. less than the € 43,400 registered in the western provinces.

There is also a characteristic difference in the average income, the value that divides the study population into two equal parts in terms of income, which is 2,827 euros gross per month in the former GDR, almost 700 euros less than 3,526 euros in the provinces Westerners.