Germany: A decade of hope and despair

Abstract

This paper is based on my diary entries, personal letters, interviews, contributions to conferences or passages from books and articles published during the past decade. It attempts, in a purely subjective way, to evaluate the dynamic transformation which I have witnessed. Highlights are (1) my response to the Wende, which began with men and women overthrowing the totalitarian structures of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and trying to establish a democratic and humanitarian society, and ended with the complete destruction of GDR economy and culture; (2) the changes in the situation of women after 1989 and the East German independent women's movement's rise and decline; (3) the means instrumental to transforming the GDR into an economically derelict province of the Federal Republic; and (4) the hopeful signs which allow me to be optimistic with respect to the future.