No other Western European nation has experienced such a division and reunification of its peoples and lands within a single span of life. Five years after unification, we ask ourselves: what has been accomplished, what challenges remain, what problems have arisen? It is also now fifty years since Germans lived within one set of boundaries. To what extent have Germans come to terms with their past, both Nazi and communist? How do Europeans and North Americans view the newly unified Germany?

The purpose of this volume is to explore some of the social, political, economic, ethical, and cultural results of unification, maintaining a wider historical perspective, hence the reference to fifty years as well as five years.