German reunification 25 years on: how different are east and west really
After two and a half decades of growing back together, huge gaps remain between the two former halves. We take a look at how they compare
East German border guards look through a hole in the Berlin Wall in November 1989. Photograph: Lionel Cironneau/AP
Celebrations in November 2014 for the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
When East and West Germany reunited 25 years ago this weekend, the country was drunk on euphoria and a sense of heightened optimism. While reigning chancellor Helmut Kohl promised “flourishing landscapes”, his predecessor Willy Brandt produced the now legendary sentence: “What belongs together, will grow together”. But how united is Germany a generation on?