Word: germanic
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Even sobersided economists accept that there is something odd about the Italian experience. A recent scholarly study, The Italian Miracle, does smack of the supernatural compared with the German miracle, which was 99% hard work. But there are rational elements. Italians are great savers, squirreling away 15% of income, much of it in government securities. Fully 97% of the national debt is funded domestically, and nearly two-thirds of the negotiable state debt is in the hands of individuals. This mode of saving doubtless owes something to exchange controls and preferential tax treatment, but Italians have been willing buyers...
...fighting together for socialism." He made a strong show of solidarity with Honecker, standing shoulder to shoulder with him as they reviewed a torchlight parade. When he alluded to the current crisis in a televised address, Gorbachev took pains to be circumspect. "We know our German friends well," he said. "We know their ability to think creatively, to learn from life and to make changes when necessary...
...those measured words came too late for the East Germans who had already opted to make a run for a better life in the West. Last week alone some 8,200 fled, raising the total number of refugees over the past five months to 50,000. Some jumped at the opportunity without a moment's hesitation, others agonized over it. "We talked about it way into the night for days on end," said Christiane Weinbauer of Halle, who joined the exodus with her husband last week. "One minute we had decided to go, and the next we were staying...
...enough other young men, women and children to turn a trickle of refugees into a torrent, pouring out of every crack they could find in the crumbling Iron Curtain. The first route, through Hungary, has largely shut down since East German officials cut back on exit permits to that country a month ago. Next, East Germans by the thousands planted themselves in the West German embassy in Prague, as Czechoslovakia was the only country to which they were allowed to travel without an exit permit. Those who could slip into Poland converged on Bonn's compound in Warsaw. And when...
...posed the hard questions for East Germany so immediately -- as the swarm of tents packed with would-be emigres overflowing the embassy compound in Prague. Last Tuesday, after the first freedom trains had rolled out of Prague, Honecker sealed off the country's border to Czechoslovakia, leaving East Germans isolated and caged once more. There were signs late in the week, however, that restrictions on emigration might be eased, according to West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher...