German-German history
30 Years of Reunification

Thirty years after German reunification, are there still differences between East and West? In an interview, former GDR civil-rights activist Freya Klier talks about the time just after the Berlin Wall fell, the new freedoms it brought and about whether Germans are now “one people”. 

The films of the GDR’s state film production company, DEFA, always bore the stigma of being permeated by propaganda. That, however, is only part of the truth. When it comes to feature and animation films, fairy tales and documentaries there is a valuable artistic film legacy to be found. The DEFA Foundation wants to make them more easily available digitally.

Germany and the Germans brought unprecedented suffering to the world during the Nazi era. The way Germany dealt with its past is considered an example of a successful historical reappraisal. But does that really correspond to reality? How did the two German societies deal with National Socialism and the Holocaust after 1945?

One year after Berliners danced on the wall, Germany is one country again. But how did the reunification feel for a former inmate of Hohenschönhausen? A story about Argentinean steak at the Stasi headquarters, unexpected reunions and Berlin clubs.

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germany has changed - the city of Berlin has become an international metropolis. On the occasion of the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, today's pictures recall the history of yesterday: a walk along the most important places of the capital.

The border that once divided the two Germanys - the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic – has been transformed into the German Green Belt. The biotope provides a new home for flora and fauna while testifying to its conflict-laden history.

Modern-day development projects vs. trailer parks and teepees: where the Wall once divided Berlin in half, the city's housing culture is now torn between memory and modernity, nostalgia and progress.

German showrunners have discovered that life on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain makes for gripping television.