How accurate is it to say that the GDR collapsed primarily due to economic factors?

Question 1

What four factors need to be discussed?

Answer 1

1) Economic factors and differing levels of prosperity between the states
2) Actions of Kohl in the FRG
3) Actions of the SED in the GDR / Revolution in the GDR
3) Migration crisis

Question 2

As the GDR was depleted of a significant stock of workers due to the migration crisis, by what percentage did productivity fall?

Answer 2

50%

Question 3

What were the environmental conditions in the FRG like and what were their impact on human health?

Answer 3

The GDR had the worst environmental conditions in the world, with the highest levels of CO2 and SO2 in the world. Forests were threatened with acid rain and respiratory illnesses were twice the European Average.

Question 4

Compare the life expectancy of men and women in the GDR compared to the FRG in 1989?

Answer 4

By 1989 the life expectancy of a GDR citizen was 2 1/2 years lower for men and 7 years lower for women compared to the FRG.

Question 5

What were the two main economically industrialised regions of Germany, where did they lie and how did this lead to the collapse of the GDR?

Answer 5

The main industrial lands of Germany were in the Ruhr and the Saarland, both of which lay in the FRG. The GDR, however, had a largely agrarian economy, but a state committee to giving its citizens ever-generous welfare that was becoming increasingly unaffordable.

Question 6

What two quite early dates did the FRG give the GDR huge loans to prop up its welfare state and spiralling debt?

Answer 6

1983 and 1984

Question 7

How was the FRG giving the GDR loans humiliating?

Answer 7

it looked to the world as if Communism had to rely on Capitalism for its survival

Question 8

What policies of Gorbachev in which year put pressure on Honecker?

Answer 8

Glasnost and Perestroika in 1985 put Honecker under pressure to match his economic reforms however this didn’t happen and instead created a distinct contrast between him and the draconian rule of Honecker.

Question 9

Honecker was reluctant to change despite which two eastern European states adapting Perestroika?

Answer 9

Poland and Hungary

Question 10

What was the SED report about the GDR’s debt and when was this?

Answer 10

October 1989, an SED report said that exports needed to increase by DDM 9 million in order to stabilise the country’s debt. This would have required a level of investment that they country simply didn’t have

Question 11

When Maizière and Köhl did unify the two currencies, what happened?

Answer 11

The demand for East German goods completely dried up and ensured its economic collapse

Question 12

How should you divide the migration crisis paragraph?

Answer 12

Into before the wall fell and after the wall fell

Question 13

Hoping to enhance its relationship with the FRG, the GDR allowed how many people to emigrate in 1984?

Answer 13

40 000

Question 14

By 1988, Honecker was able to find what figure?

Answer 14

That only 1.5% of East Germans who left stayed there

Question 15

What is the caveat of Honecker’s 1988 assertion that only 1.5% of East germans who left stayed there?

Answer 15

many who returned sought permanent permission for emigration

Question 16

What did the GDR do in 1986 to perpetuate the migrant crisis?

Answer 16

the GDR government relaxed its definition of who could leave the country

Question 17

As a result of the GDR government relaxing its definition of who could leave the country in 1986, what happened in 1986 and compare this to the year before?

Answer 17

In 1986 573 000 left the country, a 400 000 increase on the previous year.

Question 18

As a result of the GDR government relaxing its definition of who could leave the country in 1986, what happened in 1987 and compare this to the year before?

Answer 18

1987, 1.2 million had left the GDR for the FRG. IN 1986 this was 573 000

Question 19

When did Hungary open its border with Austria?

Answer 19

2nd May 1989

Question 20

thanks to Hungary opening its border with Austria on 2nd May 1989, how many East Germans had crossed into Austria via the Hungarian border by what date?

Answer 20

40 000 by 7th October

Question 21

By what date, how many East Germans were camped in or around the German embassy in Prague?

Answer 21

3rd November, 45 000

Question 22

By 3rd November, 45 000 Germans were camped in or around the German embassy in Prague. Every time a new agreement was reached, what would happen?

Answer 22

This would empty and fill up again

Question 23

Between August and November 1989 alone, how many East Germans left the country, and what was the peak rate?

Answer 23

Between August and November 1989 alone, 200 000 left the country at a peak rate of 9 000 a day

Question 24

Between August and November 1989 alone, 200 000 left the country for the FRG, how many were there estimate who hoped to join them?

Answer 24

1.3 million

Question 25

Those who left, such as the 200 000 who left between August and November 1989, were mostly what?

Answer 25

Young, middle class and skilled Germans whose loss was great for the German economy and structure of the state

Question 26

How many East Germans left for the West in November 1989 and January 1990?

Answer 26

In November 1989 133 000 East Germans moved to the West and in January 1990 a further 60 000 left the country.

Question 27

When the wall fell, how many were leaving the FRG every day?

Answer 27

2 000

Question 28

When the wall fell, 2 000 people were living for the FRG every day, in what two ways did this lead to unity?

Answer 28

This led to unification not only because of the integration that it provided but also because that it was fundamentally unsustainable to be losing so many people from the country.

Question 29

When the wall collapsed, what was the instinctive reaction of Kohl?

Answer 29

to provide economic aid to those leaving the country

Question 30

When was Kohl’s 10 point plan?

Answer 30

28th November 1989

Question 31

What was the aim of the 10 point plan?

Answer 31

To stabilise the the migrant situation by moving Germany towards a confederate state

Question 32

What was the other motivation for the 10 point plan other than stabilising the migrant situaiton?

Answer 32

The CDU were polling low and he believed that by announcing the plan, he would win the next election

Question 33

On 28th November Kohl made his speech to the Bundestag in order to do what?

Answer 33

“regain Germany’s national unity”, reversing his previous position of wanting to maintain stability

Question 34

What was Kohl the first chancellor in 20 years to do?

Answer 34

Call for unity

Question 35

What suggests that Kohl was not really in control of the situation and the collapse of the GDR?

Answer 35

He wanted a confederate state within 5-10 years, not a unified state almost immediately as eventually happened

Question 36

What gave Kohl, in the FRG, the mandate to push forward with economic integration?

Answer 36

18th March elections in the GDR

Question 37

Who won the 18th March elections in the GDR?

Answer 37

Maizière

Question 38

Within two weeks of Maizière taking office, what did he and Kohl do?

Answer 38

Set a date for monetary and social unity

Question 39

As a part of the monetary unity, what were East Germans generously allowed to do?

Answer 39

convert DDM4000 into West German Marks (DM) at an exchange rate of 1:1

Question 40

East Germans were allowed to convert DDM4000 into West German Marks at an exchange rate of 1:1 as a part of economic unity, despite the actual exchange rate being close to?

Answer 40

1:4

Question 41

Even though the currency conversion was very generous for those in the GDR, what was caused in the FRG through economic unity?

Answer 41

Economic meltdown as East Germans were simply not used to paying the kind of money seen in the FRG, with some goods even being supplied for Free though the generous welfare state

Question 42

Kohl gained the support of which US president?

Answer 42

Bush (eventually)

Question 43

Why did Bush come round to the idea of a unified Germany?

Answer 43

Barrier against communism (aghh)

Question 44

US support for Kohl was in spite of what?

Answer 44

Thatcher and mitterrand, both who opposed the new state

Question 45

US support for Kohl gave him what?

Answer 45

International credibility

Question 46

The paragraph Actions of the SED in the GDR / Revolution in the GDR should be divided into what?

Answer 46

Political and revolutionary

Question 47

What shows the extent to which the Honecker regime was deluded with the situation in Germany?

Answer 47

The fact that Honecker, when he returned on the 25th September, acted as if there was no danger to the FRG and argued that those leaving the GDR were traitors and were not welcome in East Germany

Question 48

Who took over from Krenz, when did he do this and what does it show?

Answer 48

Modrow took over on the 3rd December 1989 after Krenz resigned, demsonqrating the political instability in the country

Question 49

Though Morrow took over on the 3rd September, for when did he announce elections?

Answer 49

March 18th 1990

Question 50

Modrow’s elections of March 18th 1990 backfired how?

Answer 50

shered in the ‘alliance for Germany’ who won 192 out of the 400 seats, with the SED (now PDS) winning just 66

Question 51

The success of the CDU and its leader de Maizière is testament to what?

Answer 51

The extent to which the GDR’s citizens had lost faith with their country

Question 52

When was Honecker taken ill and what did this mean for Germany?

Answer 52

Honecker was taken ill and couldn’t fulfil his iron grip on power (from August 21st until late September 1989)

Question 53

What kind of riot happened in Dresden at the beginning of October?

Answer 53

At the beginning of October, there was a three hour long riot involving 10 000 people in Dresden, trying to board a sealed train travelling through the GDR from Czechoslovakia to the FRG.

Question 54

Why did the riot around the train in Dresden happen and how many were involved?

Answer 54

This occurred because Honecker had decided to allow 14 000 East Germans camped in the West German embassy in Prague to migrate to the FRG. As it passed through the GDR, the people on the train threw their authorised passports out of the train windows to the crowd of 10 000.

Question 55

By the 17th October, the Leipzig Protests had reached what size?

Answer 55

100 000

Question 56

What was the focal point for the Leipzig Monday protests?

Answer 56

St. Nicholas’ Church

Question 57

By 9 October 1989, just after the 40th anniversary celebrations of the GDR, gatherers at St. Nicholas’ Church, the focal point for the protests, had grown to more than how many thousand?

Answer 57

70 000

Question 58

By the 17th October, the Leipzig Protests had reached 100 000 out of a population in Leipzig of how many?

Answer 58

500 000

Question 59

By the end of October, how many were taking part in political protest?

Answer 59

320 000

Question 60

What did the October protests lead the SED to do and what does this show?

Answer 60

These protests led the SED to sack Honecker and replace him with Egon Krenz. This demonstrates the extent of the political instability in the country and the fragility of the situation.

Question 61

What did the demonstrations after the wall feature the was pro-unity?

Answer 61

German tricolours

Question 62

What was the mass protests in Leipzig after the wall fell?

Answer 62

11th December 1989, 300 000 people

Question 63

When did Kohl visit Dresden?

Answer 63

19th December

Question 64

What was the welcome that Kohl received when he visited Dresden?

Answer 64

100 000 gathered to hear him speak

Question 65

When did the Stasi headquarters fall?

Answer 65

15th January 1990

Question 66

What does the Stasi headquarter’s fall demonstrate?

Answer 66

This demonstrates that the GDR as a strong political force had very much ended, showing the citizens of the GDR no longer scared of their regime.