Watching the Collapse of Communism in Europe

The summit between the leaders of North Korea and the U.S. was a major step in reducing the seemingly endless drama (or so we thought) that has enveloped the Korean peninsula and adjacent areas since that summer day in 1950 when the North Korean People’s Army quickly overran most of South Korea, coming within a hair's breadth of accomplishing their mission and inflicting upon the U.S. some of the most humiliating military defeats in its entire history.

Korea is one of those countries, much like Poland, that has suffered severely from bad geography; surrounded by large and powerful enemies, Koreans haven't enjoyed being a fully integrated nation at least since 1910, when Korea was annexed by Japan. Although I don't see a Korean re-unification taking place any time soon, I think it will happen eventually. My guess is that both Koreas are studying German re-unification very closely.

Speaking of German re-unification, it was something I experienced personally, as I was living there at the time. The first sign that the Soviet Union was unraveling came in February 1989, when the formerly mighty Red Army withdrew from Afghanistan with its flag flying high but its tail between its legs.

Although Glasnost and Perestroika were all the rage then, the Soviets were still the Soviets, and it was widely believed that they simply would not allow themselves to be defeated by such a rabble. What they lack in finesse, they usually compensate for with brute force. Like the collapse of European Communism itself, the “experts” also failed to connect the dots, and the outcome was totally contrary to their estimates and expectations. Maybe they should be weathermen instead, as that’s one of the few professions where you can be wrong most of the time and yet still keep your job.

The events that resulted in the fall of the Berlin Wall happened very rapidly. Arch enemies who were constantly on the verge of war, which in turn probably would have triggered another world war, became warm friends virtually overnight. While in the Army there, I was told in 1987 that my life expectancy was three hours to three days if war broke out. Dozens of tactical nukes were targeted on our narrow sector alone.

It was pretty serious stuff. Less than two years later, I had a former Czech soldier who was willing to trade me AK-47s for Marlboros, Jack Daniel’s, Levi’s, and Ray-Bans. Free enterprise at its very best!

On New Year’s Eve 1989, we watched some of a David Hasselhof concert on TV (he was HUGE in Germany) taking place over the rapidly disintegrating Berlin Wall, which was attended by over a half-million people. Much euphoria surrounded these amazing and mildly shocking events. Germany was officially re-unified in October of 1990, and less than a year later, it became a fully sovereign nation again for the first time since 1945, when the Allies (The U.S., the USSR in the form of Russia, Britain, and France) withdrew their post-war powers. Many others weren’t too crazy about Germany being whole again. The Poles were particularly rattled when they asked about the status of the border, and the German reply was something like, “Hmmm…we’ll get back to you on that.” One right-wing German from the former east called for the restoration of Germany to its 1937 borders, which also obviously didn’t go over very well.

It was an interesting time and place to be living there. The entire country of the former West Germany was flooded with newly-liberated Germans. They were driving their dingy little Trabant cars, called Trabbis, with all of their worldly possessions precariously strapped to the top and all seats full, spewing black clouds of smoke as they trekked along the roads and Autobahns. Apparently they took cues from Henry Ford (to paraphrase him, “They can have any color they want, as long as it’s dull beige or dull gray.”). They got an extremely favorable exchange rate for their money, and many of them were suddenly flush with large amounts of cash. The ramshackle Trabbis were quickly replaced by gleaming Mercedes-Benz’s and sleek BMWs. The local McDonald’s (Yes, they have them there, too), which always carried on a brisk business, suddenly had lines of people ten abreast and stretching around several blocks. It wasn’t only Germans; every tongue in Eastern Europe was heard, with many Germans mildly dismayed by the sudden and massive influx of unintelligible scheiss auslanders.

After the initial euphoria dissipated, hard reality started to set in; in addition to a mammoth and massive case of indigestion, numerous problems started to manifest themselves. In addition to the gigantic financial outlay, there were cultural and sociological issues as well. For example, a neighbor who was a construction contractor hired three East Germans. They were building a brick parking lot and they ran out of bricks around lunchtime, but more were on the way. After lunch, those three failed to come back to work; according to the contractor, the men assumed that when they ran out of bricks, they thought it would be days or weeks before they got more, so they left to find work elsewhere. That’s a planned economy for you.

Another problem that apparently wasn’t anticipated was the fact that, ironically, despite being a repressive Communist state, a neo-Nazi movement thrived. As the early 1990’s also saw a huge increase in the number of people seeking asylum in Germany, racial violence like beatings and firebombings became much more common; East German skinheads were usually the culprits. I told my father-in-law that the former DDR (East Germany) was “Ein Nazi Kuchen mit kommustitisch glaetter.” (“A Nazi cake with Communist frosting), which he firmly agreed with. He went on to say that instead of tearing down the Berlin Wall, they should have built it three meters higher, echoing the sentiments of many others.

After a long, painful, and expensive process, Germany appears to be one nation again. They managed to repair and rebuild the former East Germany. Amazingly enough, huge areas of that country still remained in the ruins of World War Two, over 45 years after the war ended. A person who visited the East often compared West and East to the difference between a black-and-white and a color TV. As there seems to be a resurgence of that disease called leftism, those idiot so-called "activists" who mostly have been raised in privilege should listen to people who spent the better part of their lives in a communist hell and know it exactly for what it truly is.