Beyond the Wall: Part 1 - The Rise of Germany's Far Right; Part 2: From Germany to Bulgaria, What Happened to Hope? | People & Power

Last East German Leader Still a Convinced Socialist
THE LOCAL: Communist East Germany's last leader Egon Krenz said this week he still believes socialism will triumph over capitalism in the end, almost 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

"I am still optimistic and cannot believe that capitalism, with all the crises it generates, can be history's very last word," Krenz, still sprightly at the age of 72, told reporters on Thursday.

Krenz took over from long-term communist leader Erich Honecker on October 18, 1989, as the regime vainly sought to regain control of a country engulfed in a peaceful revolution that brought down the hated Berlin Wall just three weeks later.

Eleven months on, communist East Germany, also known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a thing of the past as it merged with West Germany to form a single country.

But inequalities remain between the two halves of the country.

Just ahead of the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Wall, unemployment is twice as high in the east, and eastern German towns are losing their youngest citizens as they seek work elsewhere.

"We've achieved quite a few things in reunified Germany, like building roads, motorways, and renovating town centres," Krenz said. "But at what price? Freedom without work isn't freedom," he added. "Today's walls in Germany are those separating the poor from the rich."

He also had some sharp words for Germany's current Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in the GDR, saying she has been "bad" for the country.

But he took pleasure in pointing out that she once belonged to the communist youth organisation (FDJ) when she was growing up behind the Iron Curtain.

In Sunday's general election, which is expected to give Merkel a second term, he said he would vote for socialist party The Left, a party made of former GDR communists and defectors from the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).

"I back its programme, so you know how I'll be voting," Krenz said. >>> AFP | Friday, September 25, 2009