From the Bonn to the Berlin Republic: Germany at the Twentieth Anniversary of Unification ed. by Jeffrey J. Anderson and Eric Langenbacher (review)

Jeffrey Anderson and Eric Langenbacher’s collection of essays written to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of German unification paints a nuanced portrait of the developments occurring in and around Germany over the past two decades. From the Bonn to the Berlin Republic should be of interest to German-area specialists who wish to update their general knowledge of contemporary German politics, economics, social life, and culture. Even experts in these fields will take away new insights about developments in contemporary Germany. Though the editors divide the book’s twenty-four substantive chapters into four categories—historical reflections, culture and society, politics and policy, and political economy—the contributions can also be read as addressing two broad questions: First, what is the state of Germany’s innere Einheit a generation after the fall of the Berlin Wall? And, second, how have international trends such as globalization, European integration, and the end of the Cold War shaped united Germany in the decades since unification?

Roughly half of the volume’s essays investigate the state of East-West German relations in the year 2009 and come to mixed conclusions about the state of German unity. Some argue that Germany has indeed become a unified state, just a more diverse one than had been the case prior to 1989—despite vocal public disputes over issues such as the appropriate way to memorialize the revolution of 1989, the continuation of the Solidaritätszuschlag (a tax to help rebuild eastern Germany), and the extent to which the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was an Unrechtsstaat (illegitimate state). In his analysis of postunification film portrayals, for example, Brad Prager agrees that Germans are more unified now than they were twenty years ago, and argues that cultural memory has become more nuanced over time. Cinematic portrayals of the GDR have moved from simplistic condemnations (e.g., Das Versprechen) and nostalgic portrayals of earlier times (Good Bye, Lenin!) to more complex analyses of both the GDR past and the postunification present—such as in the film Die Unberührbare. A. James McAdams’ discussion of “the last East German,” which depicts varying responses of former GDR citizens to unification, finds that both the “ideal-typical-person-on-the-street” and “idealistic . . . official[s]” have adapted to a unified Germany. The third and smallest group of eastern Germans—his “last” East Germans—are the dissidents who helped end the regime, but who now find themselves forgotten and marginalized in united Germany. Their continuing self-identification as East Germans is, for McAdams, not a sign of a lack of inner German unity, but rather a missed opportunity on the part of united Germany to recognize the importance of civic participation and the role it played in toppling the socialist regime.

There are other areas of convergence as well. Holger Wolf describes some positive economic developments in the east since unification, including improvements in infrastructure and communications, modernized housing and capital stock, dynamic urban cores in regions such as Saxony, and a noteworthy rise in labor productivity. Dagmar Herzog also notes considerable convergence in sexual attitudes across Germany since 1990, making it one of the most liberal and “sex-positive” cultures in the world. Since unification there has been rising support for gay rights, the decriminalization of prostitution, and greater support for sexual activity among youths and the disabled. In both halves of Germany marriage and childbearing are on the decline.

While many of the contributions in Anderson and Langenbacher’s volume document increasing national unity since 1989, others provide considerable grounds for pessimism that innere Einheit exists today. Myra Marx Ferree argues that an “invisible wall” (217) remains in Germany, with eastern German women much more closely resembling women in other postindustrial democracies than western German women do. Eastern German women are much more likely to have...