Good Bye Honecker !

The disappearance of the RDA and the Unification have brought about profound transformations of East German society. The public administration was particularly impacted by political selection measures aiming to move aside those who'd been too strongly compromised in the regime.

The obligation of loyalty to, and the necessary identification with values of, a State that was not theirs engaged these Germans from the East making choice to work in the administration of the unified Germany in a rapid but difficult journey of identity transformation. How did they react, faced with this new professional environment that at the same time combined the promise of sanction if an ’undisclosable’ past were discovered and the promises of integration for those who made the choice to adapt ?

The fruit of an inquiry on the subject of East Germans, ordinary men and women come servants of the unified German state, this book penetrates the backstage of this historic process of democratic transition that was the Unification.

Magali Gravier, Political Scholar, is Associate Professor at the International Center for Business and Politics at the Copenhagen Business School. Gravier’s research is conducted on the concept of public office in Germany and in the European Union.