Stasi State or Socialist Paradise? Quotes

“What followed was the largest and most rapid privatisation ever seen in any country in the world (except perhaps in the Soviet Union under Yeltsin). Never in the history of civilisation has a state's total assets and infrastructure been disposed of so rapidly and in such a criminal fashion. Its machinations make Al Capone look like a paragon of capitalist virtue.”
― Bruni de la Motte, Stasi State or Socialist Paradise?: The German Democratic Republic and What Became of It

“What in essence happened under the Treuhand was a complete transfer without compensation of property and assets accumulated over forty years through hard work and effort by GDR citizens, as well as the land they owned (which in the GDR had no monetary value as such) to, in the main, West German owners. This transfer of a country's assets — unprecedented anywhere in the world during peacetime — amounted to billions of Euros: a robbing of ordinary people for the enrichment of a few. Of those companies and individuals who bought GDR property, 80 per cent were West Germans, only 10 per cent were from other countries, and a mere 5 per cent went to GDR citizens.”
― Bruni de la Motte, Stasi State or Socialist Paradise?: The German Democratic Republic and What Became of It

“The socialist experience did offer a different narrative: most individuals
within society felt they had more control over their own destinies because of
a guaranteed social stability: the GDR did not go through comparable
economic crises, but demonstrated a continuing rise in living standards and
individual wellbeing.”
― Bruni de la Motte, Stasi State or Socialist Paradise?: The German Democratic Republic and What Became of It

“The central office in Ludwigsburg for the investigation of crimes committed by the Nazi regime had, at the height of its activity, five full-time employees. In comparison, the statutory authority examining the Stasi files has more than 3,000 employees and by 1998 had already cost German taxpayers around 1.39 billion Deutsch Marks.[85]”
― Bruni de la Motte, Stasi State or Socialist Paradise?: The German Democratic Republic and What Became of It

“The message is: it was not ignoble to have served the Nazis but it was the communists.”
― Bruni de la Motte, Stasi State or Socialist Paradise?: The German Democratic Republic and What Became of It