Commerce and Industry in a United Germany

Abstract

In 2011, 20 years after Germany’s reunification, survey results published by the Center for Eastern Studies reported that a number of assimilation problems continue to plague the unified of East and West Germany. These included mutually negative stereotypes and strong disagreement in interpretation of different versions of German history after 1945. Another factor contributing to misconceptions is that things in the eastern Länder (the “new” states) are not as bad as they are reported to be by the Western-based press. Moreover, the new states are growing faster than the old (Western) states, although they are still not as well off as the old state. Also, both left and right radical political parties are much stronger in the five new states than the older states of the West.