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The Costs of German Division

The Costs of German Division

The Costs of German Division

Alexander Pfennig, Dung Vu Tien – 2017

In many countries, the process of German unification is of continued interest. While the fact that peaceful unification was possible is generally appreciated, the costs of unification seem to still be of great concern. Yet, they have always to be seen in relationship to costs of division. It may be impossible to work out exactly the final sum of costs of German division. We searched for costs that occurred for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) since 1949 and what we put together is, admittedly, an incomplete compilation, as it is a difficult undertaking which has not been done before. Furthermore, it is almost impossible to calculate the costs the German Democratic Republic (GDR) paid for division. Thus, we can only present an estimate. Costs of division as juxtaposed to unification costs will show that unification in Germany is not even twice as expensive as was division. Many of these costs facilitated normalization and the opening up of East Germany—in the end they turned out to be a most valuable prepayment for German unification.

Titel
The Costs of German Division
Verfasser
Alexander Pfennig, Dung Vu Tien
Verlag
Berghahn Journals
Schlagwörter
costs of division, costs of unification, Federal Republic of Germany, German Democratic Republic
Datum
2017-09-01
Kennung
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3167/gps.2017.350304
Erschienen in
German Politics and Society, Issue 124 Vol. 35, No. 3 (Autumn 2017): 55–68
Sprache
eng
Art
Text