Does that imply that the chances of 1989-90 were not used in a unified Germany?
I regard 1989-90 chiefly as a missed opportunity for the West. When the Cold War and the arms race were over, people forgot to keep what used to make Western Europe so attractive: the combination of freedom and social justice. I do not think the West has developed advantageously since then. Many things could have been done differently if people had moved away from the absolute dogma of privatization. Companies like Zeiss in Jena that at the time remained state-owned did develop over time. But of course, when an entire national economy lands on the market, prices are going to fall leading to many companies being bought up. In “Neue Leben,” you write that the socialist states were the only power in the world that could still restrain capitalism and give it a human face. Doesn’t that mean that the fall of the Wall was a disaster for the West? That depends on who you use as a yardstick. The first ones who wanted the Berlin Wall back were West Berlin taxi drivers because of the much cheaper
