Germany’s Evolution from Occupied Territory to Western Partner: 1945–9

Abstract

Millions were overjoyed when the Wall and the East German communist regime fell in Berlin in November 1989. But the peaceful end to the cold war in Germany also gave more than a little headache to a variety of political analysts. It meant trouble not only for those unfortunate western experts who had told us that the German Democratic Republic was economically advanced and politically stable. On a much broader scale social scientists and historians had to ask themselves painful questions, as a good deal of their published wisdom was shattered by the East European revolutions. Funeral orations are being prepared for many intellectual constructs of the cold war era. But it would be wrong to throw up our arms in despair or simply to point at those who were most obviously mistaken. Like aircraft makers who visit the site of an air crash we need to sift through the debris, analyse our mistakes and look for the lessons to be learnt.¹