“Ich will hier raus”: Emigration and the Collapse of the German Democratic Republic
“Ich will hier raus”: Emigration and the Collapse of the German Democratic Republic

Author(s): Norman M. Naimark
Subject(s): Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Post-Communist Transformation
Published by: CEEOL Digital Reproductions / Collections
Summary/Abstract: The miraculous recovery of the German economy after the Second World War—the Wirtschaftswunder—took place in an atmosphere of fierce political struggle in both the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Not only did the Soviet Union and the United States fight their cold war on German territory, but Germans themselves in the West and in the East battled for control of the destiny of the divided nation. Less well known, but equally important, were the political struggles that absorbed competing forces within each of the Germanys separately. In the Federal Republic, one of the most uncompromising rivalries in postwar European politics—that between the socialist SPD (Social Democratic party) leader Kurt Schumacher and the anti-socialist CDU (Christian Democratic Union) champion Konrad Adenauer— threatened to tear West Germany apart before the economic recovery could take effect.

• Details
• Contents