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self-government. Currency reform and the Marshall
Plan helped the demoralized people get back on
thei r feet. With determination and energy
unmatched in history (unless perhaps by the
J apanese) the West Germans got their battered
country going again. Today they are once again the
most powerful nation in Europe.
Young East Germans
at National War Memorial
1n thc East it was a
different story. The
Russians had had
enough-twice in one
generation they had been
invaded by German
armies. They were in no
hurry to see their old
enemy strong again.
T hey ruled their zone of
occupation with a firm
hand. Reparations were
demanded . They insisted
that factories and
industrial equipment that
had survived the war be
dismantled and be sent
by rail to Russia. Then
they had the rails pulled
up and sent too. A
pro-Soviet regime was
established, and three
weeks after the creation
of the Federal Republic of (West) Germany, the
Soviet occupation zone became the German
Democratic Republic. At first under tight Russian
control, the GDR became a sovereign state in March
1954, and soon after, a member of the Warsaw Pact.
The Other Economic Miracle
The cold war ended whatever hope of quick
reunification the Germans may have had. For the
foreseeable future, they were to be a divided people.
As prosperity in the West increased, more and more
workers in the beleaguered East tried to flee there.
Starting in May 1952 the GDR began to sea! their
860-mile frontier with West Germany. The only
apcrture left was the border between East and West
Berlín. Refugees continued to pour through. l t has
been estimated that three and a half million people,
one fifth of the East German population, crossed
from East to West between 1949 and 1961. Many
were highly trained scientists, technicians, teachers
and skilled workers.
No nation- but especially a nation trying to
recover from near destruction- can tolerate such a
hemorrhage of talent. And the stern regime was in
no position to improve conditions to make life more
inviting.
On August 13, 1961, the world awoke to find the
last remaining access between the two Germanies
blocked by a rising Berlín Wall. At first it was just
a barbed wire barrier, later reinforced by cement
block. It has since become one of the most
impregnable barriers ever devised- 29 miles of
January
1984
floodlights, land mines, 10-foot concrete walls,
automatic machine guns, guard dogs and wire mesh
designed to collapse and cut off the fingers of
anyone trying to climb it.
lt
is undoubtedly one of the most dangerous
places on earth ... but it achieved its purpose.
Overnight the flow of refugees was almost halted.
Most East Germans, now that they could no longer
seriously contemplate getting out, settled down to
the task. of getting on with rebuilding their country.
The East German economic miracle is less
well-known than West Germany's
Wirtschaftswunder-but
in its way, it is even more
remarkable. Although tied to the apparatus of a
centrally planned economy, and lacking nearly all
natural resources except low-grade coal, the factories
of East Berlín, Dresden, Jena and Leipzig began to
produce again.
Sorne years ago the
Tímes
of London commented:
"The East Germans are a tough and capable people.
If anybody can make a Soviet-type system work they
can." In the last 20 years we have seen how well
they can make their system work. The GDR has
become by far the most economically successful
country in the communist bloc. Mcasured against
West Germany, of course, their record may seem
unimpressive (but then, so does nearly everyone
else's). Yet the East German gross national product
is higher than severa! of the capitalist countries of
Europe. They are well fed and generally well
housed. One in three families has a car. The
Capital and showcase city of the D.D.R.-East Berlin
consumer goods may be unimaginative, but they are
of excellent quality.
Although its population is only 17 million, the
GDR produces more than all of Germany during the
heyday of the Third Reich. With loans from the
West the GDR has become the ninth industrial
powcr in the world. Even making allowances for
exaggcration in "official" figures, they have done
well- and have the potential to do even better. ln
spite of this, the East Germans struggle with a
national inferiority complex. They try to counter
their also-ran reputation by st riving to excel in every
field open to them. Their
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