Abstract

Germany no Longer

This article takes a closer look at the identity of East Germany. A state now almost twenty years old; East Germany the German Democratic Republic-is little known, little understood and little liked. Two, important reasons contribute to this: the skillful and expensive press-agenting by West Germany, and the clumsy, rigid and unskillful East German presentation of themselves. While West Germany has been marketed and sold like a product, East Germany, deliberately isolated, is best known for the escape attempts of its citizens. West Germany, rebuilt after the war as a "bulwark against Bolshevism," is America's best friend in Europe, perhaps in the world. United States foreign policy requires "a dangerous, belligerent, sword-rattling East Germany" to justify the maintenance of troops in Europe.