24 years ago today---maybe it seems like no big deal now, but back then? The earth moved.

[DFW]

12. The time before everyone sobered up was like floating on air

Last edited Sun Nov 10, 2013, 10:21 AM - Edit history (1)

The optimism was everywhere. A few pessimistic realists were already warning of the costs of reunification, but no one yet wanted to hear that. The West German morning talk shows (their version of Today and Good Morning America) were sometimes being held live from East Berlin, co-hosted with members of the interim government. Easterners and Westerners were dancing every night on top of the Wall like long lost brothers.

A friend of mine from Holland made some contacts with some people from Saxony (Leipzig, specifically) and drove all the way out there to visit them. He said it was like going back in time where everything functioning was from an antique shop. The telephones in use, all rotary, of course, unless you were a high government official, had been in use since the 1940s, sometimes still with the swastika emblem underneath.

The aftermath was very sobering, with a lot of ill will due to dashed expectations of instant prosperity in the east, greedy speculators from the west, and increased taxes in the west (the so-called "solidarity supplement, which was never cancelled, and now even gets attached to my income taxes, since I am now an official full-time resident).

But during those first few months, it seemed like Beethoven's 9th Symphony lyrics, "Alle Menschen werden Brüder (all people will become brothers)" were becoming reality.