Engineer with Zeiss Optik

You are a 42-year-old optical engineer working for Zeiss Optik, a world famous company formerly funded and subsidized by the communist government in Jena. Shortly after unification the company was bought by a West German company, but retained its name. In the course of the ensuing reorganization, you were offered new training. You now hold a position with more prestige and a higher salary than your former position. You enjoy being part of the new management team.

You live with your wife and your two young children in the lower apartment of a two-unit building. Your elderly parents live above you. A couple of months ago a letter arrived telling all of you that a man living in Nürnberg has filed a claim with the authorities that the house you live in actually belongs to him. He says he had to leave his property when he decided to leave the GDR in 1952.

You and your father disagree strongly on the benefits of unification. Your father doesn't understand why it had to happen. The GDR wasn't such a bad place. Sure, there were lots of unpleasant things like the secret police and not being able to travel, but at least 68-year-old pensioners like himself didn't have to worry about whether they would have a roof over their heads. Even though you share his worries about the looming eviction, looking at all the new possibilities that have opened up for you at work, you feel that your father judges too quickly and doesn't consider the long-term benefits. Sure, some people might be inconvenienced at this point in the process, but people should put the common good above their personal situation. Just look at all the crumbling buildings now being renovated! The efficiency and speed of these renovations would have been unthinkable under the old regime! How quickly have these naysayers forgotten the endless standing in line for basic necessities and the long waiting periods for so called luxury items like cars with two-stroke motors. You yourself had to wait 12 years for a 'Trabi' which you have since replaced with a Ford.

Your goal is to maximize the money invested in modernizing and upgrading the infrastructure and the industries of the East. It is imperative that Eastern industries become competitive, and the sooner the better. Change and belt-tightening are inevitable in order to revive the failing economy in the East. Money not spent on economic rebuilding will prolong dependency on Western subsidies.

On a personal level, you want to stay where you are living. The house you live in has been your home for as long as you can remember (see return of property). Despite your raise in salary, you will not be able to pay higher rent for you and your parents. You have one card up your sleeve, but you might want to be careful about when you play it. When this matter came up, you found out from a few people who have always lived in your neighborhood that the man who previously owned your house was a known sympathizer during the Nazi regime, maybe even a party member of some rank. And what's more, these same people have told you that this family didn't always live there, that the house had been confiscated from a Jewish family sometime around 1938. (For appropriation of Jewish assets, under National Socialist Rule, see Decree for the Reporting of Jewish Owned Property of 26 April 1938) and Regulations Concerning Jewish Housing and Property, 28 December 1938).

For further information on this issue, go to the index page under 'P' for Property Expropriation of Jewish Germans under the NS Government.

*Additional on/off-site links -

Jena

• Housing in East Germany, (pictures with brief descriptions)
  
• Building, Housing and Work in Jena, (pictures with brief descriptions)
  
• The Klemms, A Family in Jena, (pictures with brief descriptions)
  

Return of Property

• Restitution Laws
• Housing

Property Issues

• Jewish Property Claims
• Landreform Claims

Economic Effects of Unification

• Economic model for unification
• Economic impact, unemployment, includes Solidarity tax
• Economic impact

*All off-site links will be displayed in new pages