This article is from WeChat public account:Interface News (ID:wowjiemian), author: An Jing, title figure: vision China
November 9, 2019 is the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany. German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently said in an interview with the media that if the Berlin Wall is still there, she has retired five years ago and started her dream of a trip to the United States. In addition to being the first female prime minister in Germany, Merkel is also the first prime minister from East Germany.
In addition to sharing her retirement plan, Merkel also mentioned the dissatisfaction of the people in the east to the status quo and called on the people of the east and the west to have a better dialogue. A recent survey by the Eastern Federal Representative of the Federal Government shows that 57% of the former East Germans feel that they are “second-class citizens”.
Image Source: Visual China
According to the German voice on November 5th, “Der Spiegel” magazine released an exclusive interview with Merkel on the same day. Asked if Germany is not unified and what is being done now, Merkel said that she should get her passport as early as five years ago and realize her dream: “The first long-distance trip to the United States.”
The 65-year-old Merkel was born in Hamburg in West Germany but grew up in East Germany. She recalls that in Democratic Germany, the retirement age of women is 60 years old. After retirement, the people can travel freely because they are no longer the mainstay of society.Those who are needed by the righteous worker can leave.”
If there is no unity remaining in the Democratic Republic of Germany, Merkel has retired five years ago and obtained a passport to “go to the United States.” She said that, although she also wants to go to West Germany, the first long-distance trip to the United States is her dream, “because of the country’s land area, diversity and culture.”
“My dream was to go to Rocky Mountain, drive, and listen to Bruce Springsteen.”
American rock singer Springsteen was popular in Democratic Germany. In 1988, the year before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Springsteen held a concert in Democratic Germany.
However, when asked if she would make an American car, Merkel seemed reluctant: “No, I prefer a smaller car. In addition, what other cars can match? Trabant (Trabant)?” Trabant ( Also translated “satellite”) is the former East German car brand, but also the most common car in East Germany.
A Trabant 601 Image Source: Wikipedia
In addition to sharing his own retirement life plan, Merkel also talked about the dissatisfaction of the former East German people about the status quo on the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1990, one year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Democratic Germany and the Federal Republic of Germany were formally unified.
“I know that for many people in the East, life after the Peace Revolution has become free, but it has not become easier. But you have to be clear: even if you are on public transportation, health insurance, the state, or Dissatisfaction with one’s own life does not mean giving way to hatred and contempt.”
In the past two months, the German far-right party Alternative Choice Party has won the second place in the elections in the three eastern states of Germany. When it was founded in 2013, the Alternative Party was not able to get enough votes to enter the federal parliament, but now it has become Germany’s third largest party.
In the interview, Merkel confronted the disappointment of the former East German people. She said that as prime minister, she needs to be responsible for the whole of Germany. “Those who think that I should focus on the interests of the East are wrong, but if you really think so, you will of course be disappointed.”
For the dissatisfaction of the eastern people, Merkel called for a better dialogue within Germany.
German Federal Representative of the Eastern Federal Government, Hilter
In addition, the former East German respondents are more pessimistic about the next generation of economic conditions than the former West Germany; the former East German respondents are also more likely to have a good impression of the alternative party.
Views on the next generation of the economy. Image source: Pew Research Center
The University of Leipzig’s 2017 survey shows that although the former East German population accounts for 17% of the German population, only 1.7% of senior military, commercial, judicial, and political positions are from the former East Germany. area.
On the other hand, Hilter’s report pointed out that last year, the economic growth of the former East Germany region reached 75% in the former West Germany, much higher than 43% in 1990; the average wage level reached the former West Germany region. 84%; the unemployment rate also dropped from 18.7% in 2005 to 6.4%.
Hilter said that the infrastructure, environment, and people’s living standards in the former East Germany have been continuously improving. The dissatisfaction of the people in the region is more “psychologically” and that the eastern region cannot catch up with the west.
The Financial Times analysis pointed out that since 1989, more than 1.9 million former East Germans have left their hometowns to the western region, mostly educated young people. These people are the talents currently needed in the eastern region; and with the departure of young people, the people who remain in the east have a sense of being abandoned, from the rapid transition of the socialist system to the incompatibility brought about by capitalism and some people A nostalgic mindset.
The refugee crisis in Europe since 2015 has also deepened the dissatisfaction of the people in the former East German region with the federal government. The unified minister of the eastern Saxony government, Ke Ping (Petra Köpping) pointed out that when Germany began to receive a large number of refugees, many local people were very dissatisfied, accusing the government of preferring Spending money for refugees from other countries, and not spending money for former East Germans, “People say to me: You and your refugees! You should let us integrate first!”
Professor of Economics at the University of St. Gallen, Rig (Stefan Legge) from former West Germany believes that the people of the former East Germany region are dissatisfied Some are fromCompared with the former West Germany, the east is not as good as the west. However, if compared with the whole of Europe, the per capita income of the former East Germany region has exceeded that of Eastern European countries including Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
“In Germany, the expectation after reunification is that the East will reach the same level as the West. This expectation is still the benchmark for evaluation.”
This article is from WeChat public account:Interface News (ID:wowjiemian), author: An Jing