THE GERMAN REUNIFICATION OF 1990

Results of 40 questionnaires

Places of Birth

The WESTSIDE• The former Federal Republic of Germany: 32 or 80%

The EASTSIDE• The former German

Democratic Republic: • 4 or 10%

• Foreign Countries:• 4 or 10%

Do you still know …

• how and when you got the information about the opening of the inner-German border by GDR-troops?

• Yes: 40 or 100%. • No: 0 or 0%

• Remark: Historicans and psychologists say that the more important an event is, the more people remember details even after decades.

How did feel when you heard about the opening of the border?

Happy, glad, positive … 21 or 51%

Sceptical 8 or 20%

Denying 11 or 25%

It was uninteresting for me 0 or 0%

What did you expect after the opening of the inner-German border?

• The reunification will take place very fast:• 18 or 45%• There will be two sovereign states:• 0 or 0%• The GDR will withdraw or cancel this decision:• 4 or 10%• No expectations at all:• 18 or 45%

Did you have any contact to people of the GDR after the border was open?

• Yes, I had. And we started talking fast:• 7 or 17%• Yes, I had. But we showed respect to each

other and remained reserved: 0 or 0%• Yes, I had. But the contact was rather

annoying or unpleasant: 7 or 17%• I had no contact at all: 26 or 66%

What do you think of the reunification now (2014)?

• It was and is a positive decision: 19 or 47.5%• It was and is a negative decision: 2 or 5%• Neither positive nor negative: 19 or 47.5%

• Remark: The high amount of indifferent opinions may refer to the fact that there were not that much expectations that could be compared to after the reunification.

Today there are some people thinking that the reunification was wrong ….

• „I agree“: 12 or 31%• „I do not care“: 13 or 32%• „I do not agree“: 15 or 37%

• Personal ideas or personal relations may have an influence on these answers.

When did you realise that the reunification would really take place?

• A short time after the opening of the inner-German border: 27 or 73%

• After the D-Mark (currency of the FRG) was introduced in the former GDR: 4 or 10%

• In autumn 1990 after the „4+2 negotiations“ had been finished: 0 or 0%

• I never believed in a reunification: 9 or 17%

Who do we owe special thanks for the realisation of the Germ. Reunification?

• The people of the former GDR: 24 or 60%• The people of the former FRG: 0 or 0%• Politicians of GDR AND FRG: 10 or 25%• Politicians of the USA, the USSR, France and

Great Britain: 6 or 15%

How did the reunification have an influence on your (your family‘s) life?

• In a positive way: 8 or 20%• In a negative way: 8 or 20%• There is no influence: 24 or 60%

• Why is/was there „no influence“? Either due to the fact that there were no relations before the reunification or due to a lack of imigination.

What impressed you most when the inner-German border was open?

• Free answers:>>>>• „People of both states were so happy.“• „The general feeling of joy.“• „We are one people.“• „People waiting peacefully for their travelling

into the west.“• „The fact that people can cause change – and

nobody called the army.“Autor: Michael Lüer- Oberschule Weyhausen