ABSTRACT
When the German democratic republic (GDR) Collapsed in 1989-1990, West Germany's success story—a story of economic prosperity and democratic stability—appeared to have been vindicated. The "economic miracle" of the 1950s served to anchor the new democracy in a manner never granted to its ill-fated grandparent, the Weimar Republic. Weimar democracy was not felled purely from below, from the growth of a mass movement under the banner of the original Nazi party (NSDAP). The acquisition of formal freedom and a democratic political system is clearly to be welcomed. The East German leadership devoted strenuous efforts to seeking to create a new national identity for East Germans. German elites are clearly still having some difficulty swallowing any idea of the transformation of their newly united ethnic nation into a multicultural society of citizens. The education system has undergone massive upheavals and transformation. The use of free time by youth in the GDR was always a problematic issue for the authorities.
