Abstract
The German Democratic Republic (GDR) ceased to exist at midnight on 2 October 1990, when its territory acceded to the Federal Republic of Germany. East Germany nevertheless remains a particularly fascinating case study in the history of communist states. In the past, because Germany had been divided, it was unique in Europe in providing an opportunity to analyse what happened to the same nation under the conditions of Soviet-type socialism and under the conditions of western liberal democracy. It thus acted as a ‘control case’ in the effects of communism, and most comparative work on the GDR contrasted it not with its neighbours in Eastern Europe but with West Germany.
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© 1993 School of Slavonic and East European Studies
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Henderson, K. (1993). The East German Legacy. In: Whitefield, S. (eds) The New Institutional Architecture of Eastern Europe. Studies in Russia and East Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-23075-4_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-23075-4_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-23077-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-23075-4
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