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Rainer Bieling on the brave virtual world of the GDR
The German Democratic Republic (GDR) ceased to exist on October 3, 1990. Rainer Bieling writes in the conservative daily Die Welt that after its demise as a state, communist East Germany continued its existence as a virtual project by preserving its intellectual heritage amidst new-found prosperity: “The new elites are the same as ever. There was no changing of the elite guard in the new German Länder [former East Germany] similar to that in the Soviet Zone after 1945. Instead these new, old elites made themselves comfortable in a new, virtual GDR, blending old ways of thinking with the new prosperity. The West brought affluence that exceeded individual productivity in the form of financial aid. The East brought ways of putting the past in a better light in the form of intellectual aid. … The virtual GDR consummates the essence of the real GDR, the true goodness of the idea of socialism which suffered under the failings of people who were too small for the grandeur of this idea.” (Die Welt – Germany, 02/10/2009) Leggi tutto