In regards to the East Germans, the Law was effectively
self-imposed, and "neither submission nor voluntary self-submission is
likely to engender the social and political coherence which is a
necessary condition for a stable democracy" (Preuss 54). In regards to
the economic aspects of unification, some major problems exist in the
transition to democracy and market economics. According to Preuss,
the two main issues included in the realm of "backward justice" are
the privatization of large pieces of state property, and the
punishment of the elites of the previous regimes and their comrades
under the headings of "self-purification" and "collective amnesia."
The privatization issue is among the thorniest involved in any
country's transition from communism. For one, a system of procedures
must be developed simply to transfer such large amounts of property to
private citizens. Also, there must be mechanisms put in place to both
protect new owners from claims of previous owners and to satisfy
former owners without alienating possible future investors. The
problem boils down to the fact that private property laws do not
always coincide with the "fair" concept of restitution. As Petra
Bauer-Kaase writes, "East Germans still have difficulties in adjusting
to a political system where individuals have a great deal of
responsibility for their own life" (307). The former East Germans
look upon this issue with contempt, because it is the Westerners who
have control over the rules, as well as the enforcement of those
rules. This is merely one of a multitude of instances where this
mistrust manifests itself. There are also the issues of self-purification and collective
amnesia. Due to the pervasive nature of the communist regime's
surveillance programs and so forth, there is very little room for
anyone to claim pure hands. While West Germans can claim that they
are innocent by virtue of geography, East Germans are never able to
escape the suspicions that they may have been part of the machine. Government jobs are denied to those who were affiliated with the
Stasi, and private businesses also may deny employment to these
citizens. While unification has occurred theoretically, in reality
the Germany today is one of de facto separate-but-equal citizenship.
There is no denying that there have been many problems
associated with the unification of East and West Germany. The
transition from communist state to liberal democracy is a very
difficult one, and there is no real way to predict how the German
experience will turn out.