Historical and contemporary lessons of the transformation of Europe: the special case of DDR

Abstract

In this article we consider the problem of the transformation of Eastern Europe on a special example of the GDR as «surprising opportunity». As can be judged from today’s perspective, the self-dissolution of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) constitutes an obvious special case in the history of the transformation of the Central European and Central Asian states after the collapse of the Soviet Union. However GDR transformation is the exception to the rule. These aspects will be discussed in detail below. Owing to these particular circumstances, the political, economic and mental changes which ensued in the former GDR can hardly be compared with those in other transformation states. All that in my view can be compared is the extent of the economic decline of industrial production and the rise in unemployment in the «new German states» (the common term for the former territory of the GDR).
I will present a few typical facts about the far-reaching changes in the GDR, which saw the existing political, economic and ideological system abruptly and rigorously replaced but the mentality of the former GDR population hardly changed with regard to certain ideological attitudes. I will look at the transformees and transformers as well as at the winners and losers of GDR transformation and consider the lessons which can be drawn from this transformation, especially for individual nations and also for the international system of states as a whole, in particular for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Key words: History, Europe, Central Europe, Central Asia, transformation, GDR, international system, economy, ideology.