"I did not consciously experience the period of reunification, but the stories of my parents and grandparents have shaped me," Kaiser wrote in an annual report presented in Berlin just in time for the 35th anniversary of German Unity Day."
""We children of the late 1980s and 1990s are the first generation to have been socialized in a unified Germany," Kaiser writes in the report's foreword. "Nevertheless, for young people growing up there, 'the East' is still much more than a compass point. It is a space that shapes identities and influences lives," she stressed."
""Many young people... cannot relate to the label 'West German' especially if they live on the coast or near the Alps. In contrast, young eastern Germans identify themselves as Ossis far more often," she wrote, using a slang term for people from the former East."
Born in Gera in 1987, the federal commissioner for eastern Germany belongs to the generation socialized after reunification; the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the GDR ceased in 1990. Children of the late 1980s and 1990s are the first cohort raised in a unified Germany, yet regional differences endure. For many young eastern Germans, 'the East' remains a lived space that shapes identity and life paths and prompts frequent self-identification as Ossis. Many in former West regions resist the 'West German' label, especially those living on the coast or near the Alps.
Read at www.dw.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]