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Focus on Eastern Germany

October 12, 2005

DW-WORLD takes a closer look at current issues in eastern Germany.

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Ampelmännchen
Green light for the eastImage: AP
Click on the links below to find out more about the continuing process of unifying Germany and problems faced by the new German states in the eastern part of the country.

Skip next section Reports & Analysis

Reports & Analysis

Eastern Germany Gets Pep Talk on Wasting Money

Eastern German state foreign ministers got a dressing down from the government for an alleged waste of Solidarity Pact funds, with Berlin rejecting their calls to relax the stipulations governing how the money is spent.
June 13, 2006

How the Stasi Rigged East German Sports

With the notorious Rosewood File now lifting the lid on more Stasi subterfuge, experts on GDR sports argue that it's time former collaborators with East Germany's secret service were called to account.
May 31, 2005

The Quest for Gold Left Lives in Ruins

More than 160 athletes from the former East Germany are demanding compensation for the effects of performance-enhancing drugs they were made to take, often as children. The drugs have scarred or even ruined their lives.
June 29, 2005

East German Loses Copyright Battle over Beloved Traffic Symbol

An east German businessman on Friday lost a copyright battle over the use of the former communist state's beloved traffic light symbol, the Ampelmännchen, to a souvenir entrepreneur from the west.
June 17, 2006

Revisiting East German Punk

Not even the former East Germany was spared the punk explosion of the late 1970s. But as a new exhibition shows, GDR punks had a very different agenda than that of their western counterparts.
August 30, 2005

East German School Outshines Competitors

East Germany discarded the socialist rule that all of its citizens were equal when it came to select schools. Only one such school remains. Could Germany learn from it?
July 26, 2005

Museum Takes Controversial Look at Mundane East Germany

A new, private Berlin museum focuses on everyday life in East Germany. While some see the exhibition as an important part of coming to terms with the GDR, others feel that it plays down the brutality of a dictatorship.
July 18, 2006

Eastern Germans not Crazy About Angela

Much has been made of the East German roots of Angela Merkel, Christian Democratic Party head and possibly Germany's first female chancellor. But in the area she grew up in, she doesn't enjoy any hometown advantage.
August 9, 2005

A Win-Win Situation for American Investors in East Germany

A central location, government subsidies, financial security and low wages make former East Germany attractive to American investors. US companies are bringing funds and much needed jobs to the former communist region.
July 13, 2006

An Economic Motor in the Stalled East

A new comparative study ranking economic dynamism in Germany's federal states has put Saxony at the top of the list, setting it far apart from its eastern brethren, most of whose economies are barely limping along.
October 10, 2005
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