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In Kella, a border village on the former line between East and West Germany, a sense of identity came to be somewhat fluid through periods of authority change as well as internal and external transformations. During the GDR, Kella was considered to be on the eastern side of the East- West border in Germany. ... The case study depicts a shift from a Socialist regime during the GDR period in East Germany to a reunified Germany and the nation wide spread of a market economy. ...
Even the role of the woman and the extent of her involvement in the life outside of the home were affected by the disappearance of the literal border between the East and the West and the economic and social changes that ensued. ...
In her case study, Berdahl shows that the people of Kella ultimately were disappointed with the process of integration into the West, following the reunification. Inequality immediately became apparent between West Germany, which had been a part of a market economy for years already, and East Germany, having been isolated for decades. A series of actions taken by West Germany challenged fundamental parts of the east, such as the selling of East German factories to western companies for extremely low prices, restructuring of East Germany’s educational systems, renaming of streets and public buildings, rebuilding urban and rural spaces and comparison by the west of the socialist regime in East Germany with the Nazi regime. After an initial warm welcome to a united Germany, the differences between the east and the west came even closer to the surface. West Germans complained about East Germans working for lower wages and thus stealing their jobs as well as ridiculed the cheap and old clothes and cars of East Germans, as well as their sudden consumption frenzy. Jokes and stereotypes inevitably followed, making East Germans feel inferior.
Following an extended period of trying to assimilate, catch up and fit in with the west, the people of Kella’s sense of identity was restored as a people of East Germany.
Approximate Word count = 1653
Approximate Pages = 6.6
(250 words per page double spaced)
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