The Germany-duel: United in the pursuit of prosperity

occurs When, in a documentary about the living conditions in the former two German States in the introduction to the sentence, there is "surprising results in the application of household appliances", in which people in East and West Germany lived, at least in terms of numbers at eye level, you know: There is also 2020, when the reunification of the 30. Anniversary, in the West, and (since 30 years ago, people in the East and the West paid for) public broadcasting still large gaps in our knowledge of the East German state, called DDR. In this respect, the ZDF documentary is "The Germany-duel" enlightenment in the best sense, where there is for in the GDR, who grew up, of course, little New to learn. You could use the graphic 45-minutes show, however, as a history lesson for the young.

Stefan Locke

a correspondent for Saxony and Thuringia, based in Dresden.

For its East-West comparison, the ZDF holds on to the Numbers, which come mostly from the statistical year books, and sets this with the help of a reduced, but the effect is more graphic as well as film clips from the time in the scene. Historians explain the five categories: – leisure, family, work, health and the environment – the comparisons drawn, the show often, how similar the people in both countries, despite different social systems, there is, be it in education and leisure, in sports or in the possession of the aforementioned televisions, refrigerators and washing machines.

competition of two systems

The pursuit of prosperity in both countries is equally pronounced, but necessarily not to the same degree to implement. The authors choose, however, the people in the GDR as a "travel champion", because three-quarters of a drove of them on a regular basis in the vacation (compared with two thirds in the West) is a Lapsus, the, the until very late in the explanatory half-sentence that almost all of these domestic trips were held, hardly can correct.

The overall impression, but tarnishes the, rather, the Film also shows how to interpret the Numbers. Statistically, the advanced the equality of women in the GDR, far, were, however, more than 90 percent and thus twice as many as in the West, paid work, while women in the Federal Republic still had to ask to 1977, their spouse's permission.