Germany: When the East met the West
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The date is 30 September 1989. On the balcony of the West German Embassy in Prague, Foreign Minister of the German Federal Republic Hans-Dietrich Genscher addresses a massed crowd of East German refugees: “We have come to inform you today that your departure…” The rest was swallowed up among the manic celebrations of the people below.
It is one of the most famous incomplete sentences in German history and one of the country’s greatest moments. It is also one of the milestones that eventually led to the reunification of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) on 3 October 1990 - the German Day of Unity. For the people of the latter, this would bring monumental change.
Football also experienced a huge shake-up as a consequence. Well-known players from the GDR suddenly found themselves testing their mettle against West Germany’s world-famous stars, men like Lothar Matthaus, Rudi Voller, Andreas Brehme and Jurgen Klinsmann. Moreover, the new Nationalmannschaft (national team), to be selected from all corners of reunited Germany under the stewardship of Franz Beckenbauer, was also generating great expectations. In reality, though, something very different transpired and the differences between the two sides were clear for all to see. The merging of East and West that began 26 years ago would not be achieved overnight.
Schneider: There were clear differences
One man whose career would be indelibly marked by the events of that period is Bernd Schneider, born in Jena, East Germany in 1973. “As players, we obviously talked about things amongst ourselves,” he recalled in an exclusive interview with FIFA.com. “There were definitely one or two of us who realised that the Bundesliga could suddenly be within our grasp.”
At that time, the man who would represent the reunified Germany at two FIFA World Cups™ was a 15-year-old playing for Carl Zeiss Jena. In 1998, Schneider left the club to sign for Eintracht Frankfurt, before spending a decade at Bayer 04 Leverkusen. He accumulated a total of 81 caps for Germany and was the team’s vice-captain, enjoying his greatest honour at international level in the opening game of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, when he led the hosts out as skipper.
"Early on I had coaches who came from the West and you could tell the differences even then."
Bernd Schneider, former Germany midfielder born in Jena, East Germany.
After being influenced by the game in the West, he earned the nickname ‘the white Brazilian’ after forging a reputation as an exceptionally gifted ball-playing midfielder, but Schneider is adamant the foundation of his long and successful career was the training he did back in the East. “Early on I had coaches who came from the West and you could tell the differences even then. They placed more emphasis on tactical and technical work. In the GDR, it was the opposite: physicality was really important, so we focused on training exercises that improved strength and stamina. Over the decades the two approaches had developed into two different styles of playing.”
Kirsten: It took some getting used to
Ulf Kirsten was even better placed to witness the historic few months between the end of 1989 and the beginning of 1990. The forward was in his mid-20s playing for Dynamo Dresden at the time, but would soon transfer to the West and go on to become one of the greatest German goalscorers of his generation. “It was a new experience to have so many agents and club directors visiting us and approaching us at matches or training. However, in the second half of the 1989/90 season, it went to another level, and we had scores of people contacting us,” said Kirsten in an exclusive interview with FIFA.com in which he discussed his memories of reunification.
“The media presence is huge today but at that time in the East it didn’t really exist. There was one camera and hardly any interviews to do. Then suddenly there were media people all over the place and journalists everywhere,” he continued. “It took some getting used to, but nothing made it any easier because none of us had expected a reception like that.”
The first signs that sweeping changes were afoot came a few weeks before the fall of the Berlin Wall (9 November 1989), when, for the first time, clubs from the GDR were requested to liquidate the contracts of all players in the country’s top two tiers – a footballing foretaste of the political change that was to come.
There were few differences between East and West, but as Kirsten explained, they were clear as day. “We definitely trained more in the East. We trained twice a day back then and you basically never had a day off. But in the Bundesliga, the day after a match was normally just light running, and the one after that was a day off. It’s still like that today but that was all new for us back then.”
Sammer and newfound fame in the West
Some months after the Berlin Wall was opened, Kirsten, whose idol growing up had been Gerd Muller, joined Leverkusen, following in the footsteps of his fellow striker Andreas Thom, the first player to make the move from East to West in 1989. In total, over 20 pros made the journey between 1989 and 1991 in an attempt to secure a deal with a club in the Bundesliga, among them players that would light up German football such as Thomas Doll, Matthias Sammer, Steffen Freund , as well as the aforementioned duo Kirsten and Thom.
"It’s with humility and gratitude that I reflect that I was able to follow that path, professionally and personally."
Matthias Sammer, born in Dresden, speaking of his career.
“Few people got to experience what I did, either on the pitch or the journeys they took in their personal lives,” Sammer once remarked in an interview with dpa. The Dresden native, now working as the sporting director at Bayern Munich, won three Bundesliga titles and the UEFA Champions League, and triumphed with Germany at UEFA EURO 1996.
“It wasn’t as if I’d never prepared myself for what might have happened if the Wall hadn’t come down,” Sammer continued. “But it’s with humility and gratitude that I reflect that I was able to follow that path, professionally and personally. It’s almost been a gift from above,” said the 47-year-old, who became the first player from the GDR to don the colours of the reunified German national team. It was a successful ‘debut’ too, as Germany beat Switzerland 4-0.
‘Ignorance is bliss’
If one considers the calibre of players that came from the East and forged successful careers in the Bundesliga, the German Democratic Republic would have been a strong team indeed after the fall of the Berlin Wall. East Germany participated at the FIFA U-20 World Cups in 1987 and 1989, even finishing third behind West Germany and winners Yugoslavia at the first of those tournaments in Chile. They also qualified for the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 1987.
“We would have had a very good team and would have definitely been able to compete internationally. How successful we would have been is another matter, but I do believe that if we’d been given the chance to qualify for another European Championship or World Cup, we would have made it to the tournament,” said Kirsten, who scored 34 times in exactly 100 international appearances, 49 for the GDR and 51 for Germany.
“The [reunified] German national team was organised much more professionally. We stayed in the best hotels and were looked after all the time, and that’s become even more extreme today. These days, every burden has been taken off the players’ shoulders. It wasn’t like that in the GDR, and again it’s a question of getting used to things. Ignorance is bliss. You were just happy if you became an international player. It was a similar story at club level: nobody ever thought about it. You had that carefree attitude only when you’d left for the West.”
Between differences and similarities
Some years ago, Eduard Geyer, the last man to coach the GDR national team, admitted in an interview with Austrian football magazine Ballesterer that he’d “wished the Wall had come down a few months later. I really wanted to go to the World Cup.” While the dream of the East German players to compete at the tournament disappeared – it would have been only their second participation since 1974 – the West German side under Beckenbauer travelled to Italy 1990 and ended up lifting the trophy. Geyer, meanwhile, later went on to spend many years coaching Energie Cottbus in the Bundesliga and had a short spell in charge of Al Nasr Sports Club in Dubai.
Even today, the differences between East and West persist. Of the 14 clubs that competed in the final edition of the East German Premier division in 1990/91, only two were included in the reformulated Bundesliga: champions Hansa Rostock and runners-up Dresden. Another six were admitted into the second division, but not one of these clubs remains in either league today.
"For clubs in the East, financial stability hasn’t been as pronounced and the management and boards of clubs have often had shaky foundations."
Ulf Kirsten, former East Germany and Germany forward.
Kirsten identified one particular reason for this. “There are lots of factors,” he said, “but the main cause is economic. For clubs in the East, financial stability hasn’t been as pronounced and the management and boards of clubs have often had shaky foundations. While Germany was divided, there was a big disparity between East and West and it’s proving difficult to close the gap.”
Kroos and Brazil: a full circle?
Kirsten therefore is not surprised that talented players from the newly incorporated federal states now make the move west at a very early age in order to establish themselves at one of the big clubs. “That’s normal in this business. When you consider the potential and the financial resources that Bundesliga clubs have, you can’t begrudge a young player wanting to move there. The conditions are just better. It’s a shame but there’s nothing that can be done to change it,” said the 49-year-old.
A grand total of 37 players that took their first footballing steps at clubs in the former GDR have turned out for the reunified Germany in the 26 years since the fall of the Wall. One of them – Toni Kroos – is a current FIFA World Cup champion. He himself, however, attaches little importance to the fact that he is the only man from that triumphant 2014 squad to have been born in what was the old East, since he has far less of a connection to the Germany of that era than his parents’ generation.
For 26 years and counting, the Wall is now part of history, but dismantling it in peoples’ minds has been a much lengthier process. In the intervening period, however, what belonged together has come together, and when all is said and done, that is what matters.