ABSTRACT
When the Berlin Wall started to crumble and then came down on November 9, 1989, euphoria in both East and West Berlin led to impromptu celebrations. Each German Democratic Republic (GDR) citizen received a welcome gift of 100 West German marks on his or her first visit to the West. After World War two East Germany and West Germany grew apart under their opposing political and economic systems, with respective capitals in East Berlin and Bonn. While the GDR under Soviet rule adopted the economic system of central planning, the Federal Republic developed and prospered under democratic rule, guaranteed by its constitution, and the "social market" economy, with its generous welfare state. As with other totalitarian regimes, the GDR government devoted much effort to political, economic, and social indoctrination. Its goal was to instill beliefs and values that would convince its relatively consumer-good-deprived citizens that they belonged to a society that was nonetheless superior to those of the West.
