European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 7, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                              After the fall Germany still adjusting to life without Berlin Wall a by is w w few a a of \ i is s % of f \ p by x % a f f v1 j % v above a Crane completes the Job of removing the Wall that was started by thousands of Hammer swinging souvenir Hunters shortly after the Wall was opened. Tivo West germans celebrate a reunited Berlin on the Eastern Side of the Brandenburg Gate. Communist Bosses Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker show their Unity on the largest surviving Section of the Berlin Wall. A Eastern Europe s mixed Success communist Rule was disintegrating throughout Eastern Europe before the Berlin Wall fell but that event helped Speed up its demise in other countries besides Germany. Here is a look at How some of the other Eastern european nations have done during the past five years. Albania non communists who took office in 1992 v Are pursuing free Market reforms but foreign investment remains Low in Europe s poorest country. / Bulgaria political infighting has Hamstrung parliament and stalled economic reforms voters will elect third Post scorn Monist government next month. Czechoslovakia rapid economic change pushed by dominant czech Region alienated Slovakia the country s poorer Eastern Section. The two became separate countries in 1993. Hungary Post communist economic malaise fed disillusionment with conservative coalition government and renamed communists were elected in May. Poland private sector thriving but High unemployment in state sector splits Over political and economic reforms have brought five governments since 1989. Romania Only nation where bloodshed accompanied fall of communism transition to democracy has been marred by ethnic clashes and labor violence. Yugoslavia ethnic frictions led to collapse of federation in 1991, followed by War in Croatia and then Bosnia and Herzegovina. The associated press by Larry Thorson the associated press hey danced  the Berlin Wall the night it opened on nov. 9,1989. Now five years later the people of East and West Germany have pulled Back from that embrace and Are warily testing each other. The Wall itself is gone. Checkpoint Charlie once the Symbol of cold War tensions is being replaced by the american business Center. Potsdamer Platz the Square that was no Man s land for decades is being dug up for a retail office and residential Complex and May eventually recapture its prewar Fame As the busiest intersection in Europe. _ but while construction cranes Bridge builders and Tunnel diggers Are binding Berlin Back together and transforming All of former communist East Germany politics and old divisions Are holding East and West _ germans apart. _ some Eastern germans have extraordinarily mixed feelings about the last five years. " the euphoria of Freedom still brings tears to Catherine Erdmann. She and her husband Helmut 36, joined the throng that poured through checkpoint Charlie. That was really a fantastic time said Catherina Erdmann 38. You forget so much with time. So much is natural As if it had always been so., but that night really Shook the  the Erdmann had been psychologically ready to go West they had braved secret police harassment and applied to leave East Germany in 1986. Now they feel like second class citizens in United Germany. On the social welfare Side the East was better. There s no question about that said Helmut Erdmann who spent months unemployed before he found a Job at a cleaning business in the West. Germany has changed into one country in Many aspects since the Wall opened. Yet old divisions haunt the country divisions that gave the reformed East German communists big gains in the oct. 16 National elections divisions that will make politics Tricky for Chancellor Helmut Kohl in his fourth term. Some have cheerfully overcome the Divide. Njirich Bachmann was compute director for East Germany s sports federation for 20 years and says his life then was not so  now he has his own computer services company with 12 employees and annual Revenue of about 6.5 million Marks $4.3 million. Life is much More hectic and risky but the potential is great i certainly Don t regret anything Bachmann said i would never have had the Opportunity to found this  on the other Side in the recent election 2,067,391 people voted for the former communists nearly 20 percent of the Eastern German electorate. Among them is Reinhard Hummeltenber a 24-year-old chemistry student the socialist Utopia has t been knocked Down just because East Germany collapsed even though this Utopia went astray Hummeltenber said. But Many other germans recall a police state that killed those who tried to flee and compiled millions of secret files on those who stayed. Germany s two Peoples lived very different lives during 40 years of division and their outlooks Are often at Odds. We have different biographies said Harald Ringstorf head of the Liberal social democrats in the Eastern state of Mecklenburg Western Pomerania. Brandenburg governor Manfred Stolpe also a social Democrat bucked Western party Bosses in consulting former communists in his Eastern state. We can t simply exclude 2 Milliorn voters Stolpe said. Despite lingering tensions there has been much Solidarity and Progress since the Berlin Wall opened East Germany and West Germany United peacefully on oct. 3,-1990. Although a surge of Neo nazi violence has been aimed at foreigners germans in both East and West decisively rejected far right parties at the ballot Box. Germany has proved itself a steady partner to its nato allies and the last russian troops departed Eastern Germany in August. The German Economy has rebounded from recession. The formerly communist East has the strongest growth in Europe with an annual rate of 9 percent for the first half of 1994 the Agency Selling off former East German state companies dissolves at the end of this year testimony to a successful privatization of the former centrally planned Economy. _ still the German economic scale is weighted heavily to the West. About $170 billion Worth of West German products were sold in the East in 1993, compared to Only $23 billion that went the other Way. The jobless rate of 15 percent in Eastern Germany is another concern. It requires expensive government subsidies wounds the self esteem of older people accustomed to jobs for life under communism and leaves Many youngsters at dangerous Loose ends. Fast German Drivers Gas up their Small engined cars with special fuel before heading West. East German politburo member Gutter Schabowsky mistakenly announces the end of travel restrictions to the West. Five years ago berliners unable to control Joy Rynesh Starcevic the associated press he stunning announcement came from Ginter Schabowski a member of East Germany s ruling politburo at the end of a late afternoon news conference in East Berlin on nov. 9,1989. Najt germans would be free to travel to the Westek immediately Schabowski said his Reading glasses perched on his nose Ash a Fumble through several pieces of paper. Later he said the new rules would take effect at Midnight creating More confusion about the rapid changes sweeping Over East Germany. In a television interview five years later Schabowski conceded he misunderstood the paper he was Reading. It was just a draft Law to be discussed at a politburo session but he thought it was a decision that had been made. It was not Clear what the vague new guidelines meant. Would travel starved East germans storm the barbed wire Border would the communist Border guards shoot or let them through r All remained quiet in the crisply Cool air on both sides of the Berlin Wall that thursday night. Suddenly at Midnight there was no holding Back the East germans who had been hemmed in for 28 years. Without Clear orders Border guards simply opened the Gates. -. / through checkpoint Charlie at invalid Strasse Over the Glenicke Bridge people streamed into West Berlin. Tearful families reunited. Euphoric youths kissed and toasted each other with Champagne. Bars gave out free drinks. There was dancing in the streets and on top of the Wall. " a 24-year-old easterner from Potsdam went into labor on bustling Wurtem Bergisch Strasse in West Berlin and gave birth to a girl on the sidewalk people came on foot in sputtering trabant cars on Smoky motorcycles on rickety bicycles. Thousands swelled into hundreds of thousands. They gaped at the size of grapes gawked at West Berlin s glittering shop windows and wondered How Long their new Freedom would last stores stayed open and Banks handed out 100 Marks $50 then to each East German visitor. The party lasted four Days. More than 3 million of East Germany s 16.6 million people visited Western Europe about a third of them going to West Berlin. By saturday East germans were knocking Down sections of the Berlin Wall and tourists were Chisling away souvenir pieces. Nesha Starcevic an associated press reporter in Germany for 10 years. Covered the fall of the Berlin Wall. 1 16 the stars and stripes monday november 7, 1994 the stars and stripes 17 body Huml