the political party they wanted to. They never got to express their views and ideas. Only theviews of the State was accepted. Almost everyone living in this system, had as much as 50 yearsexperience of living under this dictatorship and knew democracy only from the media [ChristophSingelnstein]. After reunification, the people were finally able to experience what it was like tovote for their country, and to express their own views. The people from the East had a choice intheir future and that of their country.When the press was run by the State, there was no freedom of speech. Everything that was on theradio, T.V., or in the newspapers had to be censored so not to contain any politically incorrectmaterial. Now, after reunification, there is freedom of speech, the people are allowed to expresstheir opinions without the danger of being arrested or even thrown into jail without any legalhelp. When East Germany was a socialist state, there was no concept of privatised enterprises.All factories and businesses were state owned, therefore all profit made from the variousenterprises went directly back to the State in order for the State to invest in its economy. TheState used it to create free health care and subsidized housing. As well, they invested largeamounts of money in their military in order to defend themselves against the enemy in the?West?. Not much money was put into the country?s infrastructure, which therefore, was gettingvery out-of-date and in need of major repair. After reunification, never before in Europeanhistory had a region?s infrastructure undergone such a degree of modernization: roads all overEast Germany were in disrepair, the phone system was ancient, the railways were falling apart inplaces, factories were using machines from the 50's and many houses were still showing theeffects of the war. The conversion of a very marginal economy into competitive businessstructures and the modernization of societal infrastructur...
