hankyoreh

Oct. 3 is Foundation Day in South Korea, and it is German Unity Day in Germany. This is the day that the closed heavens opened above the Korean Peninsula, and it is the day that a divided nation was put back together in Germany.
No one is more interested in the unification of Germany than South Koreans, who live in the world‘s only divided nation. But there are also many aspects of German unification that South Korean misunderstand. One of the most important of those misunderstandings is the idea that German unification occurred through West Germany’s absorption of East Germany. Unification by absorption is a myth invented by South Koreans.
Germans do not even have a word for “unification by absorption.” The concepts that are frequently used to refer to the historical events by which West and East Germany were rejoined are “unification,” “reunification,” “membership” and “expansion of the federal system.” The term “absorption” is not used.
The following are remarks that German President Joachim Gauck made last year during a speech commemorating the 25th anniversary of Germany’s unification: “Unification took place through a peaceful revolution. The people of East Germany overcame their fears to achieve the victory over their oppressors through a powerful popular movement. This was the first glorious example in German history when the desires of the oppressed were actually achieved.”
What is worth noting here is that the German president officially recognized that Germany’s unification was the result of a peaceful revolution and that the main actors in this revolution were the people of East Germany.
This peaceful revolution occurred in the city of Leipzig on Oct. 9, 1989. Erich Honecker, general secretary of East Germany‘s Socialist Unity Party, threatened to mobilize the army to put down the planned Monday demonstrations by force, but civic groups declared that they would go ahead with the demonstrations.
Given the seeming inevitability of a bloody showdown, reporters from around the world congregated in Leipzig. The outcome was surprising. Defying expectations, 70,000 protestors (twice the normal number) risked their lives to take to the streets. The stunned military and political authorities refused to fire at the crucial moment and backed down. This was the historic moment when the East German people toppled the Stalinist regime.
This was a “bloodless revolution” that brought the dictatorship to its knees without shedding a drop of blood, and it was an “East German revolution” achieved by the people of East Germany. It was also the first successful revolution in the history of Germany.
The events that followed were little more than formalities. Honecker stepped down, the East German Round Table was set up, largely composed of figures who had been excluded from politics, and a democratic election was held for the East German Parliament in Mar. 1990.
The parliamentary election revolved around the issue of unification. The main questions were whether or not to proceed with unification and, if so, how quickly. The Alliance for Germany (associated with the Christian Democratic Union) advocated speedy reunification according to Article 23 of West Germany’s Basic Law); the Social Democrats called for gradual unification according to Article 146 of the Basic Law; and Alliance 90, an election coalition of civic groups that were out of power, supported reforms and the continuance of the East German state.
The outcome of the election came as a shock. The Alliance for Germany won 48% of the vote, trouncing the Social Democrats (21.9%) and Alliance 90 (2.9%). Thus, the rapid unification of Germany was not decided by pressure from West Germany; instead, it was the democratic choice of the East German people.

Kim Nu-ri

The problem is that German Chancellor Helmut Kohl did not acknowledge the East German Revolution and attempted to claim for himself all the credit for the entire process of unification. If West Germany had enthusiastically recognized the historical significance of the East German Revolution and had accepted the East German people as the rightful architects of unification, unified Germany would have emerged as a new republic overflowing with energy.

West German politicians claimed for themselves the fruits of unification that East Germans had risked their lives to achieve. This is the fundamental reason why conflict between East and West Germany worsened after unification and why that conflict still continues today.

As the unification of Germany shows, unification in the end is the work of the people. You have to win the hearts of the other side. I have grave doubts whether President Park Geun-hye can win the hearts of the North Korean people with her arrogant attitude and her saber-rattling.

By Kim Nu-ri, professor of German studies at Chungang University

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