ABSTRACT
The Cold War always highlighted the degree to which Europe was politically, socially, economically and culturally divided. But Europe was also united across the iron curtain by shared influences and events. On a human level this was represented by many Germany families who lived on both sides of the divide, although until 1989 only those in the West could visit family members in the East. It was much more difficult the other way around. In both countries social expectations were shaped by what was seen and heard about lifestyles in the other half of the country, elsewhere in Europe and in the United States. Life in the workplace was determined by regional and global, as well as local, policies and trends. While the Communist state made strenuous efforts to assert a new proletarian culture, as we saw in chapter 10, the outcome was ambiguous. Shared interests and influences with the West remained.
