Money to welcome you to the West
East Germans remember how they spent their 100 Deutschmarks "welcome money" after arriving in the West after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Script:
It looks like a bank run.
But twenty years ago these Germans were waiting to receive a
gift.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall - East Germans queued up to
collect their "welcome money".
Each citizen who crossed over to the West got 100 Deutschmarks -
around 75 U.S. dollars - to start their new life.
Ursula Knappe and her husband used their money to buy a
television - but others opted for treats.
SOUNDBITE: Ursula Knappe, East German who received welcome
money, saying (German):
"I'd say they bought lots of little bits of rubbish. I asked my
daughter and she still remembered. She bought a big packet of De
Beukelaer biscuits and ate them all straightaway."
And Andreas Ziehmann invested in fashion with his.
SOUNDBITE: Andreas Ziehmann, East German who received welcome
money, saying (German):
"I bought leather cowboy boots, real Western boots. I then
investigated the night life here in former West Berlin and went out
a lot."
Experts guess between three and four billion Deutschmarks -
around three billion dollars - were paid out in November and
December 1989.
Theo Waigel was West German finance minister at the time.
He says they wanted to give East Germans some financial
independence.
But the welcome money scheme and the cost of reunification
became a big burden for the government.
SOUNDBITE: Theo Waigel, Former German Finance Minister, saying
(German):
"I can say to you today, that there were huge errors in what the
research institutes and the top economic advisors said. I don't
want to reproach them for that. But no one should reproach the
politicians. No one knew what the East German capital stock really
looked like."
Politicians like Waigel may not have comprehended two decades
ago how long it would take for Germany to recover from the costs of
reunification.
But for the East Germans who received the money - the fall of
the Berlin Wall opened up a whole new world of consumer
opportunities.
Joanna Partridge, Reuters