The “Center for European Transformation and German Unity” is to be built in an East German city with a university connection, cost up to 200 million euros and, if possible, start work in six years.
Former Brandenburg Prime Minister Matthias Platzeck (SPD), who heads a task force for the establishment of the center, said on Wednesday in Berlin that the group had unanimously decided on the concept and construction of the institution;
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the Prime Ministers of the East German states reacted positively in their initial reactions.
Johannes Leithäuser
Political correspondent in Berlin.
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The center is to record and process the social and economic experiences and influences of East Germans from the time of reunification and the following years and also direct its gaze to the parallel developments in the neighboring countries of Central and Eastern Europe. It is intended to house an interdisciplinary exhibition, but also to function as a forum for dialogue and develop scientific studies on the “transformation skills” of East Germans.
The Federal Government's Eastern Commissioner, Marco Wanderwitz (CDU), Member of the Bundestag, said it was also about expressing "an East German identity that is not so positively assessed" with positive content. Platzeck said the goal was to "get away from defiance" and to strengthen a feeling that recognizes that "we have achieved something crazy and are not afraid of what is to come".