Germany's Reunification, 25 years later

With this BIG holiday just around the corner, I thought I would share some articles which put Germany's reunification into perspective.  Catch up with this reading list, and then celebrate with confidence on Saturday!

East Berliners go west on November 11, 1989. Source: AP 

 

Germany's Unlikely Diplomatic Triumph: An Inside Look at the Reunification Negotiations

By Klaus Wiegrefe

When the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989, nobody expected Germany to be reunified less than a year later. New documents released by the Foreign Ministry in Berlin shed new light on the dramatic negotiations that led to East and West Germany becoming one. 

Reunification Renovations: A Massive Facelift for Eastern Germany

By Solveig Grothe 

During a trip to East Germany in 1990, photographer Stefan Koppelkamm discovered buildings that had survived both the war and the construction mania of the East German authorities. Ten years later, he returned to photograph the buildings again. The comparison threw up some unexpected contrasts.

'Two million fewer people in former East' since German reunification

More than 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, official statistics show two million fewer people live in the former East German states. Eastern states' economies are still weak in comparison with western ones.

Germany 25 years after the Berlin Wall: 5 charts shown its transformation

By Sara Sjolin