ABSTRACT
Germany’s transition to post–Cold War Europe took an exceptional path when compared to its neighbours in the East; there, the ruins of state socialism lay in stark contrast to the shining examples of stable democracy in the West. East Germany’s civil rights movement and Central Round Table had intensely debated new forms of grassroots democracy, seeking solutions for a ‘third way’ that would bridge capitalism and socialism. In July 1986, when the rising number of asylum seekers was first becoming a political issue in West Germany, Interior Minister Friedrich Zimmermann (CSU) presented a report on the asylum problem at a federal press conference. A survey in August 1986 revealed that almost three quarters of West Germans found the asylum policy to be too generous; three years earlier the figure was 40 per cent.
