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Differences between East and West (November 12, 1990)

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Political questions predominated; they ranged from Hitler (“A great statesman if not for the war?”) to the so-called achievements of the GDR to current issues, such as how many former “nationally-owned” enterprises were doomed and how the legacy of the Stasi should be dealt with.

Interviewees were asked about foreign language skills and vacation destinations, about God and world opinion, about a Germany that might now be seen as too big and too powerful. Employed people were asked if they were satisfied with their jobs; other questions focused on how families spent their free time or the principles according to which people lived.

In order to get a snapshot of people’s everyday lives, interviewers asked about daily routines, drinking habits, and tobacco consumption.

Smoking rates are approximately the same in East and West. The low-grade tobacco of the GDR decades did not cause a decline in the number of East German smokers. West Germans consume alcohol somewhat more frequently than East Germans.

East Germans wake up earlier and go to bed earlier. On weekdays, most people over there are already flat on their backs by 10:30 p.m., whereas here a slight majority is still watching TV, talking, reading, or dozing. TV-viewing times differ slightly, but the number of hours spent watching television is more or less the same: almost three hours per person on weekdays.

One of the goals of the GDR leadership (which was loyal to Moscow up to the start of perestroika) was to see Russian replace English as the country’s primary foreign language. Five generations of schoolchildren considered this a burdensome requirement, and very few learned even a single Russian word in excess of what was deemed necessary to avoid attracting attention.

The end result of the attempt to force a foreign language onto a populace that simply did not want to learn it: Russian and English competency among East Germans is about the same.

Differences between Germans in East and West extend far into their leisure time activities.

Pastimes that cost little or nothing are just as popular here as there: Television in any event, as well as reading newspapers and books, visiting friends, and working in the garden.

Movies and discos in the East are visited roughly as frequently as those in the West, even though they became more expensive after the monetary union. But young people there seem to think that the ratio between enjoyment and price is still fair.

A far greater share of West Germans actively participate in sports, attend theater performances or concerts, or go out to eat. The state on the other side failed to offer its citizens sufficient options of this kind (regarding sports, the old men in the SED leadership were more concerned with top athletes than the masses). And for most East Germans, all of this is too expensive at the moment. There is probably a domino effect almost everywhere, with the result being that the average German in the East spends more evenings at home than his counterpart in the West.

With respect to weekends and vacation, the opposite is true. The relatively few cars in the ex-GDR are on the road more often than the many cars in the old FRG.

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