Word: east
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Determinedly Apolitical. Rivaling West Germany's famed Wirtschaftswunder, East Germany has undergone an economic miracle of its own since the end of World War II, when the Soviets carted off nearly all the plants and machinery that had survived the heavy Allied bombing. Today East Germany is the world's ninth greatest industrial power. With a population of 17 million and an area roughly the same as Tennessee's, East Germany has a gross national product of $31.7 billion. Cameras from the Pentacon works at Dresden compete with Leicas from West Germany. TV sets from East Berlin...
Ulbricht's economic success rests in part on one of the monstrosities of modern times: the Wall. From 1945 until 1961, when the Communists erected the 28-mile barrier that seals off East Berlin from western parts of the city, 3,600,000 East Germans, including some of the most promising scientists and young workers, fled to the West. The Wall forced those penned behind it to acknowledge that they would be spending the rest of their lives in the East-so why not try to make the best of a bad situation? To encourage the changing mood, Ulbricht...
Prosperity has given the East Germans an overpowering feeling of pride -after all, they were creating a society that seemed to them more just, more German and more morally korrekt than the permissive, cosmopolitan atmosphere of the West. It is also more drab, despite all the new prosperity and the new buildings. Parts of East Germany have an oldfashioned, almost prewar look. Other parts have yet to be rebuilt. Women make up 46.9% of the working force, one of the highest ratios in the world. They are everywhere-directing traffic, working on construction sites and painting buildings...
Despite impressive economic progress, East Germany still lags far behind the Federal Republic; its living standard is estimated to be as much as one-third lower. Politically, it remains under tight Communist control. One of the last of Eastern Europe's doctrinaire Stalinists, Ulbricht is backed by 167,000 soldiers and security forces. Not since the riots of 1953 has he been forced to cope with a major disturbance. To be sure, there are some signs of disquiet. Some 1,135 East Germans last year managed to flee over the wall to the West. At one point during last...
Squeeze Play. In the midst of last week's celebrations, East Germany's leaders were preoccupied with the problem that has been uppermost since the regime was born-how to deal with West Germany. Ulbricht has always feared that closer ties with Bonn would weaken his grip on East Germany. Now Socialist Willy Brandt, who is scheduled to be installed as the West's new Chancellor next week, is calling for reduced tensions in Central Europe and for closer links between the two Germanys, just short of formal diplomatic recognition. Speaking in his high-pitched Saxon twang...