d.t. you know that 77 percent. are younger than 6 of us. that's me and me and. if you know what it's time all voice is. on the 77 percent it's all the body stuff pops up this is where. the 77 percent this weekend on d w. germany is marking the 1st year found a verse or rate of the reunification of the 2 germany's east and west following the full of the berlin wall of the crumbling of communism it seemed at the time like something of a miracle but for the people of today's germany there's been a change of perspectives the country has become more mixed more diverse which is welcomed by most violently rejected by so what is the younger generation think

about the way things are developing on to the point this week we are still german reunification is it time for the next generation. thanks very much indeed for joining us here on to the poets are my guests here in the studio my 2 boys the recent art student focusing on migration and she argues that we in west germany are rediscovering the eastern german identity and we must learn from it also with us is melanie stein journalist and psychologist who says reunification shaped us know we mean the shaping society and a very warm welcome to see journalist and radio presenter vladimir ballard some who believe that today's united germany in small diverse than ever short. embrace dance

. and thank you for being here folks thank you for those 3 interesting statements i'd like to begin with you my 2 i called german reunification in my introduction and the fall of the berlin wall a miracle because that's how it felt to me i was there at the time and i was amazed by what i saw what does it mean for you today. in the 1st place it meant something from my parents after the your station that meant for them that contracts terminated my parents back then were contract workers just explained sort of about the vietnamese background and the contract workers in germany. starting in 1800 i guess because that's when my father 1st came to east germany. vietnam and east germany back then had a contract. during the socialist union to invite contract workers in or to work for them in companies and stuff like that will get

us aboard because many people i think many of our views would not know that and are your parents in that community in eastern germany did they celebrate german reunification was it was it a joyous occasion for them for them it was a shock because their contracts would have terminated years later and the ecosystem kind of fell apart they had to start start to be on their own to find ways in order to survive not only the contracts terminated but also the living conditions and kind of. changed in a way ok that's a fascinating introduction to your story will continue on that's a just a little bit shortly melanie thought to use a reunification are you some of what is there to celebrate from from your perspective. well i think we're just i think there they were unification as one of their biggest extensions of germany of course and i think it's not another day you

celebrate with your family. and maybe it's also because. you know. in the years when when the unification happened or of the year before and it was the people who were fighting for democracy the players. from there peaceful revolution are not really and is the subject of this day here in the stent you know so much information so well we had so that we had the chance to create a new constitution and 3 missed this chance unfortunately no it was more symbolic act in a way and take over and described as the whole story will take over the west taking over the east and yeah well we had that there were people i'm craving a new constitution they had great ideas like the white to work the white to.

an apartment environmental protections things we discussed today. politicians decided to not do that but decide to decide which for the take over and i think that's a reason why people from the east and west didn't need to i level and this was followed by some problems we're talking about today or the younger generations talk about today and there's a lot of me you were a young teenager of the time tell us about what your perspective was there in the truth today or the 9th of november 89 was actually more important to me than the 3rd of october 990. the fall of the wall of history have been 15 years of age and my mother came into my room and said you know this is there's really something historical happening and i want that actually the next day we have been living in it lived and lives at the time and i wanted to go to west but then of course the next day or what i did with most of my friends so school was empty it's been

a friday i remember that and this was just a great time and i will you too to see all these places to meet people and to see all sort of differences from the very beginning when i went to west berlin i suddenly noticed that this is another part of germany i wasn't really prepared for it so. and the 3rd of october i mean you have to remember it's just less than a year later the. then a year this the state of g.d.r. disease germany actually you know just disappeared from the earth and that's a very very short period. was talking about how perhaps people in the east got a bit got a rule deal you might say from from the west and i'm just wondering i mean no one can tell exactly what did it because it's been a democratic decision has been like elections on the 18th of march in 1901st free election in east germany which was there and people decided people voted and they voted for the conservative movement which was strongly of course also supported by

a head would call in this government in a city you from the west but still the east german people decided themselves you know what happened to their country and it wasn't a takeover they were headed north also big chris are called sad you will have promised a lot yeah from of the law to now it's only after one years later and people lost trust in the government so you're absolutely right and was there decision of the people and you wanted that and was based on promises which were not told is true but that's nothing new in politics i'd say and. i'm just i'm just wondering mind to when we when we talk about this sort of the 3 decades of german reunification do you do and you listen to that discussion is continuing obviously because with celebrations again this year as usual do you sort of look at that discussion and think we should be moving on here we should be moving away from that discussion and moving towards. germany's future is a more diverse and the more precisely that as

a more diverse society i mean in the 1st place we have to acknowledge that germany itself is already there verse we have lived experiences that go beyond being east and west and german and for example my story but also like so many other stories that have been unheard because the story usually have been told from the west german perspective and even german people try to tell more of their stories and i think they are valid to be heard not to matter i'm just not just going to come back to your sort of what to mystic take on the process because you know we all know the do this so this term this horrid term was used the aussies to sort of almost look down denigrating young people from the east i just want to know would you ever turn to never ever never you were never called and also you never sort of people were amazed when they realized i'm from the east actually

you're really from he said that you would have believed it so they had their cliches in mind obviously you know even my wife when we had our 1st 2 or 3 dates she thought i'm from the west she's from the east and it took at least a 3 dates. for her to learn that i'm actually also from the east and i. think you adopted very well to the system probably yeah. well of the heart of burma and of the heart of german reunification is potsdamer platz once it was one of the busiest traffic hubs in the world and it was like to wipe from the map but it's back so what's the people there say about the coming together of east and west 30 years of them. after reunification can stomach plots in the heart of berlin became the biggest building site in europe now it's once again a lively bustling district this is all that reminds people of where the war once

stood. germany is one country i never accepted east germany i'm glad it's gone it is. i knew the old east germany i was 10 at the time and felt very positive about it what came next was a very tough time for us teenagers and kids because our parents lost everything but looking back i'd say it was nonetheless a good thing. i think we're on the right track in my generation at the latest he won't be able to tell who's from the east and who's from the west. is that really the case. might who i'm i'm surprise you know that sort of an aspiration here. people in the west shouldn't be different the difference shouldn't be a part of what do you say i think we have to acknowledge the differences not only between western and eastern german people but also the variety that that make the

society diverse and the way. that we have to learn from those. identities that we can acknowledge them and feel compassion for them is that happening. in some parts it is because for example my generation is speaking up about those past and histories which people don't know about yet and we hope that in the future. people in general not all west. will understand the history behind existence. of the you you founded in addition cold we all the east you mainly young. who are proud to be proud of well they actually poke fun at the media because. sometimes i meet people from the east and like this and they put them all in one box and

this box is not very positive connotative so along side with the rise of right wing populism and we're never minded media reports and. this is problematic because the majority i did percenter voted for democratic democratic political parties and not shown and so we thought ok maybe we have to give them a platform and so people on our platform tell about their story and they many of them for the 1st time publicly talk unpopular what they or their family actually experienced as experienced so we want somebody. to be so one very common example is that many people who are from the younger generation site where they didn't have parents who had that much time because of course they were busy to find new jobs 2 thirds of the people in east germany lost their jobs and.

yes there is a they have to become. very early. but also i think this gives some strange experiences. transformation is actually a skill we need nowadays and it will be of little how it's a great advance themselves that's really important it's a very very important point i'm actually proud of many years germans what they achieved they surely in this 8990 and also in the ninety's in a way that had depth to a totally different system totally to the political system would we use today's resilience yeah yeah yeah i think they i mean not all of course i mean not all i mean many many many lost lost their jobs and head like a broken biographies and so on of course of course and especially when you talk about minorities by the way for example the vietnamese minority or the cuban minority and so on they had really really problems strong problems so. most of you are going to say you did a good job yes of course i think. it was

a tough time back then and it still is because it will always be a tough time even whenever a person migrates nowadays in germany they won't ever identify themselves with the german identity for example africa who moved to germany it even after the my parents moved here and for them they will always be strangers that's what they are telling themselves and that's what they tell us and the community so. i think it's also part partially because they experience the kind of. sorry. experience that that identity is not being welcomed here and this is going to you're being very very cautious yes quite courses cautious because my exist and my identity is in danger in the german society you know when i

go out. i grew up with neo nazis in front of my door we're talking about i mean back then in the ninety's you know specially it was a terrible decade in that respect i think. and that's how they're still there you know as you change to school or is it still the same threat level of threat to you to your well being when i was a child i could identify them by wearing black or being skin hats nowadays this kind of disappeared in the way they are they kind of. became the same like everyone else and so it's very hard to identify the person who would put in danger . one of the we're i was on i was on your science and i was looking at some of the statements that some of the people were making and one of the statements was. we we want people in the east.

so we want to be seen as an opportunity and i said to myself ok you want to be seen as an opportunity what does that mean that it isn't seen as an opportunity that it is perhaps even something troubling why is that the case and why is it still the case if it's true it's all yeah yeah i mean it is like the case that and more people in the east and fought for at the age of 50 and we have to. have to for germany poets and writers when tyson said there is no use in them yes and by the way shouldn't ask why do east germans wrote about why it should why could the a g become not popular in this part of germany. question your answer to that question there is very many answers one to me in a nutshell well so one quarter of the east german people have left many academics

this is one reason we didn't have the movement of the 1968 in east germany and i think the most important thing is we are missing as strong or is this as a civil society it's not as strong as in rest germany so we really really. need this but we also need more people like in the media or we need more more east german perspectives because there is this fact that east german people don't have that must much trust in the media and in the government and i think this is not surprising they had so many so much hope and then there were you know there was a valuation and laws and of course a loss. trust and and their perspectives are not seen in the media so we have to change these things and what can we really do ok let's try and keep all of that on

board and look to the future a little bit and if you really want to get a feel for how dynamic many parts of the former east germany are becoming then one place that you might go to is the city that gave us the. leipzig is booming it's among the fastest growing cities in germany. it's buzzing with young creative people it's being called the new berlin its economy has been buoyant. that's for life you think it's like 10 or 15 years ago because there's so much going on and when you're when you're young you want to make things happen and you like to keep cans leipsic has a very active youthful startup scene a lot of old buildings have been renovated and the rents are relatively cheap. major corporations are also well represented porsche b.m.w. and d.h.l. for example. despite the enormous effort to catch up in the eastern states

productivity there is still 20 percent lower than in the west and household income is still 12 percent lower polls show that 57 percent of germans say the advantages of reunification outweigh the disadvantages 15 percent say the opposite where does the future lie in the east or the west. that question where does the future lie in the east or the west well i know it's difficult to actually answer that question because i think it lives in both parts but from the east comes definitely a very innovative. let's say energetic kind of movement but i would say at least for the for the younger generation it is a good example i think we've seen that in the in this little film places that you know other places places like a bit a smaller place like an r. and. drazen is another place which is booming potsdam close job and to actually the former west berlin. like urban urban areas which i really

like on the good on a good way towards towards future and of course on the other hand side you have like a rule rule areas where it's much much more difficult actually where many especially young well educated women left the place and what's left are just rather elder men with less education but this is not true for the city so let's it is a very very good example actually as i grew up there in the eighty's and i studied their ninety's i really saw a place which embraced actually this this new time and you know the fall of the wall and everything what came afterwards so it's a very good very good example actually for my 2 from your perspective what can we learn from the east we can learn from the east that the will to tell your story is definitely there and we have to acknowledge that that we as especially because we're talking from west of any from here. that we have to find

a way of like use that to find not only ways but on also to educate people that the east germany is not the dark part of germany. like forever because we have to find ways to support them to. build infrastructure and ecosystems in which they can flourish and also yeah yeah. we want to shape the future that was your statements at the top of the show how. you know it's one of the tools of one of the goals yeah well as i said people who experienced transformation in themselves or through their parents they have a certain skill they can use now and. show these people and so for example. that i would chain has found in association that stuff old basic income and research on that we have people who create co-working spaces and then

sky and and so i think this is one big part of the skill of transformation and also i think well people in east germany they did not inherit much right so as a country property was given to the west west germany i mean for our audience just briefly there were in the western part of germany there have been huge sums of heritance is being passed from one generation to the next the hasn't been the case in instant germany in very many people view it as simply an object really. well 'd but it's also a chance because i don't take it with the company of my parents i have free choice and my parents will also support me because they couldn't do what they want to do in the g.d.r. and that's really a great opportunity and they see really in many many. great young people doing

very influential things now ria having the digital they absolutely can be really very engaging you'll take yeah well. to be honest as i said from east germans i mean the whole germany can learn from the from the east german story how you can adapt to new to new conditions and to a new situation and to challenges that's what these germans learnt and i think they are. most of them i'm still speaking of the rather younger generation much more resilient actually to anything what may happen in the future. and i just wonder you know we have these i said earlier we have these sort of our annual celebrations and sometimes as a carries a little bit of sort of going through the motions here in germany talking about you know what was back then what was that it was a very important juncture in german history and one of the cliches that is often used in that context is that we we all perhaps people in west germany people in

east germany have walls you know heads still do you have a wall and you know i wouldn't say so i would say so i mean i don't i would say for myself i don't have any walls in my head my parents do definitely but that's as i said when when we talk about east and west german you know about we need for gays and we have to talk about generations this may be another subject for another show but it depends very much on how what you it what you actually experienced yourself and how you how your own life went how your biography was changed so that's really important always to keep in mind we're speaking of 30 years after which is a long time it's more than a generation it's a 100 bucks because it's a long time in a short time but you know in time but it is it is 3 decades yeah but the older generation also passes on some experiences also some negative experiences to the next generations tell their story maybe their negative story and reproduce actually all these kind of breaks and wounds and everything what may have happened over and

it wasn't a trauma yet because you know yes from what i think it has on the straw man which is a problem to the next generation so this is what i'm slightly whereis and i hold it just here. well i have to disagree on some part because the studies show or we say share the same values that if you ask east german person does that pearson from the west share your well used and 45 percent will say no you are. so there is this construct of east and west i never felt like east german i was mate and german i felt like an open person or european and i think for really hans. and stop your things this construct very important point i just watched one more a prescription for my just tell me you know in a sentence what is your vision for the future of germany as saying work with us we're talking about that acknowledging that not seeing walls is a privilege and understanding how to use that privilege and earth to support the

nonprofit that's ok to the point on the german arranger cation i'm sorry much for joining us if you've enjoyed the show come back next time and so when bob i. want. to. cut a. mexico

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