Eastern Germany

BERLIN -- More than a year of public debate over united Germany's orientation ended yesterday with a decision to move the German government from Bonn to Berlin.The vote followed an emotional 12-hour debate in the German lower house of parliament, or Bundestag, that split political parties down the middle and threatened to continue endlessly through the night.In the end, 337 parliamentarians voted for Berlin while 320 backed Bonn. There were two abstentions and one invalid ballot."The decision was for Berlin because only Berlin symbolizes our country's unification," Berlin Mayor Eberhard Diepgen said.

FRANKFURT, Germany - A day after far-right parties made striking gains in state elections in eastern Germany, political analysts cautioned against drawing parallels to the rise of nazism during the Weimar Republic. The spectacle of angry and dispossessed voters turning to the extreme right wing, as they did this past weekend, has an obvious historical echo for Germans. But most experts said these parties would find it difficult to replicate their success in western Germany or on a national level.

BERLIN -- Helmut Kohl took his place in history as the first chancellor of a reunited Germany last night, after the first free all-German elections since 1932 swept his conservative Christian Democratic Union party to victory.Mr. Kohl had staked his political career on an unwavering commitment to swift unification of eastern and western Germany, and last night, the beaming chancellor embraced the reward."This is a day of joy," said Mr. Kohl, speaking in Bonn. "This is a great result, and we may take pride in it."

BONN, Germany -- Economics Minister Guenter Rexrodt delivered a gloomy assessment of Germany's short-term economic prospects yesterday, predicting zero growth this year as the country struggles to overcome the effects of a global slowdown and the task of rebuilding the former communist east."

Berlin--For decades, Checkpoint Charlie was an enduring symbol of the Cold War. Today, it's the proposed site of an all-American office and retail center, and part of the "Billion-Mark Mile" -- symbols of a new era in Eastern Europe.Mark Palmer, a 52-year-old banker and developer who is a former U.S. ambassador to Hungary, heads one of the most ambitious projects along the bustling Friedrichstrasse. His New York-based company, the Central European Development Corp., plans a million-square-foot development featuring U.S. stores and corporate offices where Checkpoint Charlie's guardhouse once stood.

BERLIN -- Somebody has taken a shot at solving the contentious property ownership problem in eastern Germany: They set fire to the land records.Police reported that arsonists burned up about 1,300 feet of property files stored by the old Communist government of the German Democratic Republic in a castle near Barby, a small town 70 miles southwest of Berlin.Called the most important property files in East Germany, the records are crucial in determining who owns what in most of the old Communist part of Germany.

BERLIN -- When a television station announced recently that it would broadcast a special program that evening featuring Lutz Bertram, high ratings were all but guaranteed.The station, ORB, is one of the principal news sources in eastern Germany, and the acid-tongued Mr. Bertram is its most popular moderator.But instead of being treated to one of his biting interviews with the famous, fans were stunned by a rambling confession in which he acknowledged having been an informer for the East German secret police in the 1980s.

BERLIN -- Halfway through reciting her agency's successes in privatizing eastern Germany's once-communist economy, Birgit Breuel's unflappable calm suddenly turns to irritation at an impertinent suggestion."

So the Wessies got theirs. After months of seething resentment over the costs, the higher taxes, the influx of newcomers and the psycho-social disturbances set off through the reunification of Germany, public employees in western Germany have won what their leader calls a "political victory." After an 11-day strike that shut down transport and postal services and let garbage pile high, they secured the 5.4 percent wage hike a mediator said they should have had in the first place.So when will the Ossies get theirs?

HAMBURG, Germany -- Despite two years of radical political and economic changes in the former East Germany, Arno Meier gave up on his hometown and headed west to this bustling port city.Like up to 20,000 other eastern Germans who head west each month, Mr. Meier decided that change was not coming fast enough in the east and his best chance for a prosperous future lay in the west."If you look at the businesses over there, all the old bosses are the same. They're all in new political parties now, but they're the same people," said Mr. Meier, 48, who arrived in Hamburg last month.