---
title: Marking Thirty Years Since The Fall Of The Berlin Wall
description: Thirty years ago, millions of people across the world were glued to their TV screens, watching the grainy, sometimes chaotic […]
author: Alexis Boddy (Writer)
date: 2019-11-09T14:00:16.000Z
updated: 2026-02-25T15:40:34.757Z
canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/marking-thirty-years-since-the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/berlin-mauer_t20_LQLkbn.jpg
categories: Culture
content_type: Feature
region: Germany
publication: Sovereign Magazine
---

Thirty years ago, millions of people across the world were
glued to their TV screens, watching the grainy, sometimes chaotic images coming
out of Berlin as the wall fell. They watched, as crowds of people pulled apart
the once-imposing barrier with fervent elation, 
surging from East to West, embracing long-lost relatives and friends.
Even though I was a child at the time, I felt its importance, its weight, its
massive significance.

Embed from Getty Images

The 9th November marks the 30th anniversary since those
iconic scenes unfolded in Germany’s capital. 30 years since the feted
reunification, the joining together of a people torn apart by physical and
ideological barriers. So was Willy Brandt right when, the day after the wall
fell, he uttered the now famous line: ‘Now we are in a situation where what
belongs together, will grow back together.’ The coalescing of two separate
economic and political states into one homogenous nation was never going to be
a simple task but now, three decades later, many agree that there is still much
left to be done.

At the beginning of October, to mark 29 years since the
official reunification of Germany, the [Associated Press](https://apnews.com/a30ca38ed0604104900ebbd1b8c3c4b2) reported that German
Chancellor, Angela Merkel, who herself grew up in East Germany, addressed a
crowd in the German city of Kiel. She spoke of the unique challenges of
reunification and stated that:

“the official German reunification, that is complete. But
the unity of the Germans, their unity was not fully complete on Oct. 3, 1990,
and it is still the case today.”

Indeed, the economic and commercial repercussions of
Germany’s division are still being felt in East and West Germany today. Many
‘Ossis’ (people from the former East Germany) feel politically and economically
disenfranchised, with a 2014 report from the Berlin Institute for Population and Development,
asserting that the majority of major manufacturing organisations have their
headquarters in the West, with more jobs for mid, senior and upper level
management available in that region. A recent article in [The Economist](https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2019/10/31/thirty-years-after-the-wall-fell-east-german-art-is-causing-a-stir) stated that a mere 4% of elite
jobs in the east are actually held by east Germans and that none of the companies
listed in the DAX30 index are headquartered in the east.

Back in May of this year, a panel of German economists at
the [Institute
for Economic Research](https://www.ifo.de/en/node/42076) (IFO) were surveyed with questions relating to
the disparity between east and west. When asked if they believed that the east
would catch up with the west’s economic levels within the next few years or
decades, 69% believed it wouldn’t. 61 percent believed that there would be no [convergence
at all](https://www.ifo.de/en/node/42076) in the medium and long term.

So why do these imbalances still exist, thirty years on from
that momentous night when the wall fell? When asked this question, the same
panel of economists at the IFO specified a [multitude
of reasons](https://www.ifo.de/en/node/42076). These included qualified workers often moving from east
to west, the productivity levels varying in the two regions, the economic
policies in the years following reunification, that there are more early
school-leavers in the east and that there is a lack of research and development
opportunities. These were just a few of the reasons cited, along with Niklas
Potrafke, Head of the IFO, stating that “It seems to be a vicious circle: Many
well-educated young people see no prospects in the East, apart from exceptions
like Leipzig, Dresden or Jena, and go to the West…Now they are missing in the
East, which hampers economic development there, and instead many conurbations
are flourishing in the West.”

But it is not all bad news. The cities that Potrafke
mentioned, Leipzig, Dresden and Jena, are all experiencing an upswing, with
affordable housing, a booming tourist market and industrial innovation. The
Federal Government’s yearly report, assessing [the state of German unity](https://www.bmwi.de/Redaktion/EN/Publikationen/jahresbericht-zum-stand-der-deutschen-einheit-2018.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=3), was also positive
about the future. In 2018, the report recognised that even though “a gap
persists between GDP per capita in the east and the most successful regions in
the west, some regions in eastern Germany such as Jena and Leipzig have already
succeeded in overtaking regions in western Germany in terms of economic strength.”
The report goes on to acknowledge that “key industries are gradually developing
in the eastern federal states.” As part of its plans for the future, the
Federal Government says it is committed to “systematically promoting SMEs,
strengthening research and innovation potential and securing skilled workers.”

It seems as though, three decades on, there are no simple
answers to what is, at its heart a deeply complex cultural and economic issue.
The series of events planned by the [Commission on the 30th Anniversary of the Peaceful
Revolution and German Reunification](https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/pressemitteilungen/EN/2019/10/30years-fall-of-the-wall.html), hope to give the German people
a chance to reflect on their shared history, while looking ahead. Part of this
includes a chance for people to upload short videos, describing their
experiences, thoughts and feelings surrounding the reunification. Chairman of
the commission, Matthias Platzek said “we commemorate all those who, with
their hope, courage and energy, helped to bring down the Berlin Wall. Their
com­mitment and individual biographies should, however, also remind us that
even three decades later we need to strengthen cohesion and interaction between
East and West.”