6. The Collapse of the GDR and the Reunification of Germany

Set up as a Soviet satellite after World War II, the German Democratic Republic was bound to follow the developments of her ‘big brother’, who controlled (or in Soviet terminology “defended”) the little state with approximately 380,000 troops and vital oil and gas supplies. Consequently, the disintegration of the USSR would have severe repercussions on Eastern Germany as well. But at first, the reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev were met by different reactions in the GDR. While glasnost* was taken up willingly by the majority of the population, the political leaders in East Berlin must be characterised as backward hardliners. Due to these domestic differences, the ultimate downfall of the socialist system in Eastern Germany turned into a series of dramatic events which make the peaceful reunification of the two German states look rather like a miracle than an inevitable process.