20% of the Germans want the Berlin Wall back

Originally posted by verfed
The two German exchange students on my cross team, Raik and Dennis, told me that East and West Germans hate eachother still. Kind of like the East side vs. West side hate here in America. Raik is East and Dennis is West. They always make jokes about who is better. East or West? Maybe it is more then play?

Well, honestly. I nerver met anybody who actually hates the "other side". Bad feelings from both sides on certain issues...but hate. No, I think they are just not thinking enough about the word hate.
Or would you joke around with somebody you truly hate?

Is this crap still going on?

When i was there, back in the mid 90's, people were already angry at East german. Alot of the Germans I talked to thought of the East germans as lazy, did not work as dilligently or as efficently as workers in the west. This was due to the fact that udner communism, everything was so regimented, including big breaks and the like, that people from the East did not know how to work like the west. there were also complaints that the cost of rebuilding east Germany was too high, really choking the west.

However, I often told my friends, it was too early to throw in the towel, that it would take a long time. The east germans lived almost 50 years under Communist Russia's bootheels. I personally think that it will take a full generation to fully get the East up to speed, since most of the people of working age right now were alive and raised under communism. But as the younger generations of East Germans grow up under a free market/democratic society, they will be able to fully re-integrate with the west. It is a long painful process, but in the end, I hope the Germans stick it out, because I think its essential for the future of the country to stay united. Even if it takes a while, the benefits will show themselves soon enough. It will take time, as there is alot of damage to recover from.

But I think it can be done, and hopefully, as the older generations retire and move on, the younger generations will embrace it. I think it can happen.