Katrin Göring-Eckardt, former leader of the Green Parliamentary Group and later Vice President of the Bundestag, warns that the enduring material differences between East and West Germany, coupled with the trivialization of the GDR, pose a threat to democracy. Speaking to Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland on the 65th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s construction, the Green politician from Thuringia stated that the commemoration is more than just a historical event. She noted that “on different maps today, one can still recognize the old course of the wall based on socio-economic data.”
According to Göring-Eckardt, West Germany maintains a significant advantage in terms of property, wages, salaries, inheritances, and even foundation funds. Simultaneously, she points out that the downplaying and romanticizing of the GDR persist-a situation she deems dangerous.
While the Wall was indeed brought down in 1989, Göring-Eckardt observes that this newfound self-determination receives scant attention in public discourse. This vacuum, she argues, allows parties like the AfD to claim that life in the GDR was actually quite good, while simultaneously implying that modern Germany is a dictatorship where people cannot express themselves as they wish.
She urgently called for confronting the history of dictatorship, stressing the need to clarify that structural differences continue to exist and have significant political repercussions. However, she also issued a caution against protecting AfD voters, reminding them that they are aware of what dictatorship entails and how fascism affects individuals and society as a whole.
