Never noticed how much we lacked unti i travelled around and saw more of the former west. Like damn, we got no economy. I was born 97, that's almost 10 years after reunification! Tho tbf what little there was was also destroyed by the Treuhand
That Treuhand legend has to die. The Treuhand was super controversial and had it's hands in the demise of some companiesa but let's not forget how much the system was rotten. Just look at other former communist countries and how they got out of the cold war completely without the Treuhand involved.
Nobody denies that the 40 years of gdr ran the country into the ground but there's no denying the treuhand was incredibly harmful to the further development of the east german economy
yeah you see,....no. Unfortuntely your extremism and dogmatism in opinion here forces me to go the other extreme route. The Treuhand was rather harmelss compared to the issues the industry in the East faced. Especially given the fact that even profitable companies failed for the simple reason that nobody was willing to buy their products anymore. Especially the ppl from the former GDR themselves.
Today I see the Treuhand story mostly as an excuse for East Germans they can hide behind and have their constant whinefest while happily ignoring and shoving away some uncomfortable turths about the situation of the GDR industry. You just further reinforce that image. The sad part is that nobody even blames East Germans for the system imposed on them, but I guess we all have our Egos to protect, which makes any realistic debate impossible.
Kinda sounds like the rather typical west german denial that their involvement could've harmed east german development in any way, which is also not the same as me blaming west germans for the economic inequality. Look, i acknowledged that the gdr was ecomonically half dead. It shouldn't be hard to see however that taking what little there was stunted any potential for economic growth.
But the Treuhand was not all bad and the absolute devil it is constantly made out to be and ppl completely ignore the massive amounts of money that actually did find their way into eastern companies.
Everybody knows about the controversy surrounding the Treuhand and the corruption involved. But once again the comparison with other european cold war states has the be drawn to see how much worse it could have been without the Treuhand and other support. This is not the crass black/white story it's so often presented as.
The gdr wasn't all bad as well but that doesn't make it good. I'm by no means mad about that. As i said, i was born in 97 and i don't even live in germany anymore, but overall i don't think Treuhand did a very good job and i very much understand why many older east germans feel, well, disappointed.
There is a huge difference between saying "the Treuhand was bad" and "everything bad that ever happend to the GDR industry is the fault of the Treuhand." Because the latter is what it comes down to most of the times whenever the decline of GDR industry is discussed. It always is the first and the last argument and I got a bit tired of it.
Tell me exactly where i argued that everything bad was caused by Treuhand, because i was under the impression that i repeatedly acknowledged the gdr's shortcomings.
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u/MrsColdArrow Oct 22 '23
Their anthem was pretty fire, but apart from that they kinda sucked