The history of German reunification is inextricably linked with the history of the Soviet Union and Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika. In the celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of the founding of East Germany, in addition to the magnificent military parade in front of Gorbachev, there were also protests. The “peaceful revolution” had begun. This was followed by the Fall of the Wall on 9 November 1989, the first and last democratic elections in East Germany in 1990, the signing of the 2 plus 4 Treaty and the incorporation of East Germany into the scope of the Constitution on 3 October 1990.

Putin’s anti-Western narrative

“From the point of view of Putin and the falsifiers of history, Unification was an act of colonization,” comments Ute Frevert, director of the Max Planck Institute for Educational Research, on the Russian interpretation of historical events. “The strong imperialist West subjugates the weak East. However, this does not in any way correspond to the historical facts, but fits with Putin’s anti-Western narrative.” But what about teaching the shocking event of German Reunification in Russian schools? By 2021 the school textbook was talking about a peaceful revolution and a dire need to change the political system that arose during a deep political crisis in East Germany. From September 1, however, a new history book is being taught.

In it there is a chapter that calls the withdrawal of Soviet military forces from Eastern Bloc countries a “reckless decision”, which led to the weakening of the Soviet Union’s military presence by its allied countries and a sharp rise in anti-Soviet sentiment. But it doesn’t stop there. . “The German Democratic Republic was annexed by Federal Germany” reads the relevant chapter illustrated with a historical photo from 1990 of a poster reading “West and East, together for Germany and Europe”.

“It is based on false facts»

“This is a classic case of falsifying history, President Putin has been doing it for the last 20 years in various areas,” says Nico Lambrecht, president of the Federal Association of History Teachers. “He has messed everything up. He has rewritten history. According to his opinion the ‘Russian Empire’ has every right to take back whatever he wants. The whole thing has nothing to do with history based on facts or international law.” Nico Lambrecht becomes even clearer. “As long as the Reunification process lasted there were different opinions and positions,” he recalls. “In German politics there was also this unpleasant feeling of the forced nature of reunification. Putin simply misinterprets Reunification, which was democratically legitimized, uses this then minority position and takes it even further, to annexation. If you ask me, I say yes, this is a misrepresentation of history based on false facts and has a political background.”

Authors of the history book Vladimir Medinsky, former Minister of Education and Putin confidant, and Anatoly Torkunov, rector of the Institute of International Relations. Today in Russian schools both books are taught in parallel. How long this will last is not yet clear. The 2021 edition mentions both the 1990 federal election and the Christian Democratic party’s victory in four of the five new federal states. From the writings it becomes clear to the Russian students that, in addition to the common will for Reunification, the desire of the Germans to no longer live under socialism was also the driving force behind the unification process. In the new book of 2023 there is no longer a single word about it.