Homepage 3: Adolph N. Hofmann

WWW-site on German Unification

Lyonel Feininger, Sketch of two sailboats in a stiff wind

Two Presentations on German Unification

During the period 1990 to 1996, I gave two lectures at Santa Rosa Junior College, the basis for the following two web presentations on German Unification. These presentations were hosted by the college on their servers until recently, and have now been refurbished in terms of formatting. Otherwise they reflect the period of their origin, when German Unification was a true topic of the day.

They are Berlin and the Two Germanies and German Unification, Five Years After. Both presentations are appended with questions for students.

Berlin and the Two Germanies is more general in its scope (1945-1990) and focuses on the divergence of the two Germanies and the difference between West and East Germany. It ends with the opening of the Berlin Wall in November of 1989.

German Unification: Five Years After focuses on work and housing in Germany, East and West, and the legacy of the Holocaust. It argues that after WWII, the West Germans were successful at establishing a state that combined a strong economy with a socialized state based on the values of work, family and human dignity. This model now includes East Germany. It is intended to cover the period 1989 to 1994.

While many of the images are from my own photos, some are the work of excellent photographers, like Ilka Hartmann of San Francisco, and Michael Ruetz of Berlin. The image of the boys carrying the picture of Honecker by the latter photographer is displayed through the courtesy of the Deutsch Historisches Museum in Berlin.

Adolph N. Hofmann art@sonic.net

The parts of "Berlin and the Two Germanies" are as follows:

  • 1. Berlin at the End of WWII
  • 2: The First Postwar Decade
  • 3. The Raising of the Wall
  • 4. West Berlin thrives
  • 5. East Berlin, a tourist attraction
  • 6. East Germany during the Wall
  • 7. Bringing down the Wall from within
  • 8. East meets West
  • 9. East German Problems
  • 10. The Road to Unification
  • 11. Student exercises to "German Unification, Five Years After"
  • The parts of "German Unification, Five years after" are as follows:
  • 1. Berlin and Environs
  • 2: Freiburg: Living the Good Life
  • 3. Jena and Environs: Work in East Germany
  • 4. The Klemms: an East German family
  • 5. Building, Housing and Work in Jena
  • 6. Kahla, an East German Success Story
  • 7. Buchenwald and Beyond: The legacy of the Holocaust
  • 8. Duisburg: The East-West Unification Blues
  • 9. Student exercises to "German Unification, Five Years After"