Interview with Kohl's Top Aide on German Reunification: 'It Was Practically a Miracle'

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SPIEGEL ONLINE: What surprised you most back then?

Seiters: In the autumn and winter of 1989, I was surprised by the helplessness of the GDR leadership and its rapid loss of authority. The SED was helpless when it came to the issue of refugees. It was helpless when the Berlin Wall came down, which was not even meant to happen when it did. And it was also helpless in Dresden. Everything happened amazingly fast. When I became head of the Chancellory in Bonn in April 1989, no one knew or even suspected that, in a few months, the Wall would fall and that Germany would be reunified one and a half years later. That was more than surprising; that was practically a miracle.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Helmut Kohl is often criticized for having promised "blossoming landscapes" to East German citizens while not doing enough to overcome the more difficult aspects of reunification. In the midst of these fast-moving events, were you not critical enough of the imminent economic difficulties?

Seiters: At that time, we underestimated the catastrophic ecological and economic legacy of the SED. That applies to all of us -- the Americans, the British, the intelligence agencies and the banks. Officially, at least, the GDR was on the list of the world's 10 leading economic powers. It only later became apparent just how run-down the system really was. And then the Eastern markets crumbled, especially the shipyards on the Baltic Coast and heavy industry in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Bitterfeld.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Was the German mark brought in too early?

Seiters: We had to negotiate on that. The GDR's population wanted monetary union as soon as possible. "If the deutschmark doesn't come to us, we'll come to it" was the demand we heard, and an unambiguous one at that. There were many problems. But today, to use the Chancellor's words, there is an abundance of blossoming landscapes. There are so many beautiful cities in the east. I hope that all Germans from what was once the west will get to see them at least once.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: But the economic productivity in the east remains miles behind that of the western part of the country.

Seiters: German unity is a success story, but we can't turn a blind eye to the important tasks we still have to overcome together. But any remaining problems are not due to German reunification. Instead, they are the rather remnants of a divided Germany. Had we known the extent of the pending bankruptcy of the GDR, we might not haved ruled out the possibility of raising taxes.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Looking back, many east Germans romanticize life in the GDR. Why do you think that's the case?

Seiters: For people in the GDR, everything changed in 1989/90. On the one hand, there was a new sense of freedom and the removal of the dictatorship. On the other hand, there were completely new challenges when it came to the market economy. Bearing responsibility for their personal finances was something that people were simply not used to. I can clearly remember a conversation with Pope John Paul II in which he asked how people who had lived in a dictatorship for decades managed to cope with their rapidly granted freedom. Of course, there is impatience and some disappointment -- which is perhaps partly due to overly elevated expectations. But there is no good reason for nostalgia. The GDR was an unjust state -- and it was bankrupt.

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• Part 1: 'It Was Practically a Miracle'
• Part 2: 'Everything happened amazingly fast'