Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
countries, although nominally still subject to control, could cross the border
unhindered. During the course of the year most of the central sections of
the Wall
were demolished and numerous cross-border streets linked up once again.
As border controls in Berlin and elsewhere throughout the former Soviet bloc eased,
Berlin became a magnet for the restless peoples of eastern Europe. he first arrivals had
been the
Poles
, who set up a gigantic impromptu street market on a patch of wasteland
near the Wall, much to the chagrin of Berliners, who felt the order of their city threatened
by the influx of thousands of weekend street traders selling junk out of suitcases. hey
were followed by
Roma
, fleeing alleged persecution at home and hoping, by taking
advantage of visa-free access to what was still the GDR, to secure a place for themselves in
the new Germany. Post-unification visa regulations were to put a stop to the commuting
activities of the Poles, but as asylum-seekers the Romanians had the right to remain, and
the sight of Roma begging on the streets of Berlin became commonplace.
Reunification and the 1990s
On
October 3, 1990
, the day of
reunification
, Chancellor Kohl spoke to assembled
dignitaries and massive crowds in front of the Reichstag. A conscious effort was made
to rekindle the spontaneous joy and fervour that had gripped the city on the night the
Wall was opened and during Berlin's first post-
Wende
new year, but for many ordinary
people already experiencing the economic side-effects of the collapse of the GDR the
celebrations left a bitter taste. On the sidelines anti-unification demonstrators marched
through the streets, precipitating minor
clashes with the police
.
Just over a month later, on the night of November 13, the reunited Berlin
experienced its first
major upheaval
when SPD mayor Walter Momper ordered the
police to evict
West Berlin squatters
who had occupied a number of tenement blocks in
the eastern Berlin district of Friedrichshain. he violent tactics of the police, coupled
with the uncompromising stance of the radical Autonome squatters, who responded
with petrol bombs and a hail of missiles from the rooftops, resulted in the fiercest
rioting
seen in the city since 1981, with dozens of police injured and more than three
hundred squatters arrested. Politically, the unrest resulted in the
collapse
of the fragile
Red-Green SPD/Alternative Liste coalition that had governed West Berlin for the
previous twenty months.
December 2, 1990
saw Germany's first nationwide elections since 1933. Nationally the
CDU, in coalition with the FDP (Free Democrats), triumphed easily. One surprise was
that the PDS secured 25 percent of the vote in East Berlin on an anti-unemployment
and anti-social inequality ticket. At the start of 1991, with the celebrations of the first
united Christmas and New Year over, it was time for the accounting to begin in earnest.
he new year brought vastly unpopular tax increases in western Germany to pay for the
spiralling cost of unification. As the year wore on, and unemployment continued to rise,
Kohl's honeymoon with the East ended. He became reluctant to show himself there, and
when he finally did, in April, he was greeted by catcalls and egg-hurlers.
Ill-feeling between easterners and westerners also became apparent and increased
throughout the decade. West Germans resented the tax increases and caricatured
easterners as naive and lazy. East Germans resented patronizing western attitudes and
economic inequalities that made them second-class citizens, so mocked westerners for
2006
2008
The football World Cup is held in Germany, with
the final played in Berlin's Olympic stadium.
Tempelhof airport is o
cially closed; the
surrounding area is later turned into a public park.
