Day 16

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The process of bringing two pieces of anything together is difficult on paper and in reality. If you think of a puzzle, the pieces fit together, and they were originally made as one, but then they were cut and separated. Even when you find its place and put it back together again there is still a line. There is still a clear division where the pieces are joined.

Germany is just the same, its long history of separation dating back to the 300+ states that were settled in the 1800’s all the way to the separation of the East and the West after WWII. The reunification of the East and West was possible on paper, you can tear down the wall and change the zip codes and call yourself one country, but the cultures have grown in different directions and the people have lived with different morals and ideologies. The legal side of the unification was very successful when you look at that, isolated from the cultural and societal reunification, it was speedy and very successful. When looking closely at the way the people were affected by the joining of the East and the West, it was less successful. There was economic instability, and lots of tension between the people of both sides. The rebuilding process that took over after the reunification seemed to want to erase the East entirely and create a Germany that was all like the West had been. Capitalistic and Americanized. The West tore down buildings that the East had fond memories of, they removed structures and replaced them with new malls and shopping centers. Never asking the Eastern Germans what they wanted.

Through many of our tour guides we have learned that there are still people that grew up in the East that think of themselves as East Germans. There are still people that recognize the differences between the Easterners and the Westerners.

I think that before this trip a lot of what we were taught about East Germany was that they were bad. They were all communists and socialists and that was why we needed to liberate them from this horrible form of government and enforce democracy into their country. Now that I have been able to see both sides, I don’t think that reunification was successful. I think that it was positive for some. I think that the government in the East was not good to all of its people. It was oppressive and violent. However, if the reunification was going to be successful, they should have melded the ideals of the people on both sides together. By tearing down Eastern buildings they took away the say of the people the same way that their government took away their say.

The memorials that we went to had a lot of the wall incorporated. I think that the inclusion of the wall is also part of what keeps it separated. You are able to see it, walk around it, and you are free to be on both sides, but the wall being in its original place, still separating streets and people doesn’t allow the two sides to reconcile with their past. Berlin becomes a constant reminder of everything that happened. Its a city that is basically one big memorial, and people just live in it. Is it fair to tear down the wall completely? I don’t think so, but how much of the wall is necessary to get the point across. I am only here visiting, looking, observing, and studying. Do the people of Berlin think of the memorials as a burden? Do they feel like they are weighed down by the mistakes of the past? I think the separation of East and West Germany puts different pressures on the people and the reunification doesn’t absolve that weight, in some cases I think it might heighten it. Its a hard question… but overall I think that it will be a task for all the people in Germany to continue to push for unity maybe forever.