Quotessence
Home / Topics / German Reunification Quotes

German Reunification Quotes

Browse 3 quotes about German Reunification.

German Reunification Quotes

“I find it difficult to say whether the leadership's 'second echelon' could have preserved the German Democratic Republic. Helmut Kohl later told me he had never believed that Egon Krenz was capable of getting the situation under control. I do not know — we are all wiser after the event, as the saying goes. For my part, I must admit I briefly had a faint hope that the new leaders would be able to change the course of events by establishing a new type of relations between the two German states — based on radical domestic reforms in East Germany.”

Cold WarEast GermanyGerman Reunification
Book:Memoirs
Create image

“What in essence happened under the Treuhand was a complete transfer without compensation of property and assets accumulated over forty years through hard work and effort by GDR citizens, as well as the land they owned (which in the GDR had no monetary value as such) to, in the main, West German owners. This transfer of a country's assets — unprecedented anywhere in the world during peacetime — amounted to billions of Euros: a robbing of ordinary people for the enrichment of a few. Of those companies and individuals who bought GDR property, 80 per cent were West Germans, only 10 per cent were from other countries, and a mere 5 per cent went to GDR citizens.”

Political EconomyReunificationDdrGdrExpropriationGerman ReunificationGerman Democratic RepublicTreuhand
Book:Stasi State or Socialist Paradise?: The German Democratic Republic and What Became of It
Create image

“What followed was the largest and most rapid privatisation ever seen in any country in the world (except perhaps in the Soviet Union under Yeltsin). Never in the history of civilisation has a state's total assets and infrastructure been disposed of so rapidly and in such a criminal fashion. Its machinations make Al Capone look like a paragon of capitalist virtue.”

PrivatizationDdrGdrExpropriationGerman ReunificationGerman Democratic RepublicTreuhand
Book:Stasi State or Socialist Paradise?: The German Democratic Republic and What Became of It
Create image