The Federal Republic In The West (GDR) And The Democratic Republic

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Introduction
Germany stands today as a united country; a feat by no means certain after the end of World War II and the destruction of the Nazi Regime, which saw Germany split into four, then ultimately two separate and distinct states by 1949. The two Germanys – the Federal Republic in the West (FRG) and the Democratic Republic in the East (GDR) – departed on two radically different paths of state development. The focus of this essay, on the GDR and its collapse, is not comparative in a strict sense, but comparisons between the regimes do arise due to the fact that citizens of the GDR engaged in this analytical process constantly when evaluating their own quality of life. By 1989, the unfavourable material conditions of the GDR drove thousands …show more content…
Glasnost promised increased openness in Soviet society, but to Honecker, it represented the liberalization of dissent, augmented by increased access to the West. In January 1988, the GDR “attempted to censor news about the progress of Soviet glasnost by removing the magazine Sputnik from kiosks”. Honecker treated Perestroika with even greater contempt, stating that it threatened the stability of his regime, and represented a “slander of the CPSU history and socialist construction of the USSR”. This development reveals the conservative nature of the GDR’s leader and his unwillingness to entertain fundamental changes to the GDR’s economic and political system.
As relations became strained over reforms in the USSR, Honecker outwardly projected stubborn confidence, claiming in January 1989 that the Berlin Wall “will still exist in 50 and even in 100 years' time, if the reasons for its existence have not been removed.” It is worth reminding that this was a regime that applauded the violent suppression of the democratic movement in Tiananmen Square later that year, orchestrated by the supposed reformer Deng Xiaoping. When Gorbachev refused similar action in the GDR, the SED alone held the responsibility for repressing …show more content…
It is true that if the Soviets had remained consistent to the Brezhnev Doctrine, force would have been used to suppress the movements in Berlin and Leipzig. However, this perspective falls completely short in providing an understanding of the chronic internal issues faced by the GDR in the late 1980s. The focus on foreign leaders, such as Gorbachev, or President Ronald Reagan, as harbingers for the fall of the Berlin Wall, has detracted from a broader understanding of the GDR’s socialist system and the people living within it. In order to arrive at a more profound understanding of the GDR, the failure of the SED to harness widespread support for its system of governance from within must be
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