East and West Germany had different ideas about social justice. In the GDR, the idea prevailed that all citizens were equal and had the same right to goods, work, education etc. Social justice in the FRG meant that merit, equal opportunity and need were to be considered next to the equal access principle. Juxtaposing these systems, one may ask whether social justice exists at all. After Reunification, transitional justice concerns added another dimension to social justice: Questions about how to address abuses and violent crimes committed by people in the name of building a Communist society in the GDR- and how to heal- became important. These conversations are still ongoing.
