ABSTRACT
Air pollution was a pressing issue in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), and the reduction of dust and sulfur dioxide pollution required both technological and economic solutions. Atmospheric pollution quickly attracted the attention of the authorities and the general public, but the GDR did not find solutions for its environmental problems. It is true, however, that until the end of the 1970s, Western liberal democracies battled with identical pollution problems to those in the GDR. When in the 1970s effective pollution abatement technologies appeared globally, the GDR struggled with aging industrial infrastructure, lack of financial resources and a meager capacity to tackle pollution problems effectively. As a result of the above-mentioned factors, East German authorities did attempt to, but could not effectively, mitigate the country’s pollution problems. To overcome this fiasco, authorities in the GDR falsified environmental data, which eventually contributed to the loss of public support for the regime.
