[Zukunftszentrum für Deutsche Einheit und Europäische Transformation].

How much do we know about the reunification of Germany?

Are there any inaccuracies in our knowledge related to the reunification of Germany?

After the reunification of Germany in 1990, it’s hard to deny that a considerable amount of information has been distorted as ideologically opposing regimes intersected. Particularly, the distortion of the reunification of Germany by scholars and media who flattered power, such as 曲學阿世 and 曲言阿世, was severe during the 10 years of the leftist regimes of Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun.

Claims such as “There is nothing to learn from the reunification of Germany” and “The reunification of Germany is not our model” are representative. However, it’s unknown how many scholars, experts, and politicians have visited unified Germany during these 10 years of the regime. The problem is that these distorted claims have shattered the hopes for reunification that were once filled in people’s hearts. The increase in people wanting coexistence between North and South is not unrelated to this.

30 years after the reunification of Germany, the clear fact is that the costs that had to be borne in the reunification process have been converted into hundreds of times the benefits. This was possible because the direction of policies such as East Germany’s reconstruction after reunification was right. If they had been indecisive due to the initial cost of reunification, the opposition of East German communist forces, and the rebellion of some citizens, they would never have been able to achieve today’s Germany.

In the 33rd year of reunification in 2023,

Germany is promoting a new project related to reunification. Named the ‘Future Center for German Unification and European System Transition’. First, it reexamines and shares the experience of reunification and the process of system transition in East Germany, and second, it supports the system transition of future Eastern and Central European neighboring countries. The establishment of the center is based on the proposal of the East German Peaceful Revolution and the 30th Anniversary Committee of Unification, aiming for completion in 2028. The reason for establishing such a center 30 years after reunification is to reexamine and commemorate the achievements of East German citizens who made peaceful reunification possible, as well as to unearth any achievements that may not have been revealed. This is to finalize the reunification that began in 1990.

In this regard, the Future Center decided to be located in the former East Germany region. The East German local governments currently participating in the bidding are a total of seven places including Leipzig-Plauen, Halle, Frankfurt Oder, Eisenach, Jena, Mülhausen, and Sonnenberg. The final decision will be made by a selection committee composed of representatives from politics, culture, academia, and civic groups in early 2023. The center will be built as a modern architectural building and will have full support from the federal government. Another important role of the Future Center is to support the system transition process in Eastern and Central Europe, which is still in transition, to minimize trial and error and confusion. It shows the will to properly promote EU integration by finalizing the reunification of Germany.

We hope that distorted information about the reunification of Germany known to us will also be corrected. Especially, we hope that the meaning of reunification costs, absorption reunification, Troihant, and East-West Germany contract community will be corrected. If we inherit and develop the achievements made by Germany in the process of reunification, and take the trial and error as a lesson for the upcoming reunification, we are confident that we can achieve a unified Korea more easily than Germany.