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In the 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Doreen Mohaupt has experienced the downsides and the upsides of German reunification.Born in the coal-rich Lusatia Lake District close to the Polish border, the 43-year-old was raised in an area that was once the pride of the socialist East German economy, employing about 80,000 workers.

When the old economic order collapsed, so did the local coal industry. Her father, a construction manager, was one of the 90% of the workforce who found themselves without a job.

For Mohaupt, however, the structural upheaval that followed the cold war was a challenge she came to relish. An urban planner employed by the city of Cottbus, she now leads a team of 37 civil servants focused on regenerating the area.

“Of course, everyone’s natural instinct is that they don’t like change,” she said. “But I think the attitudes of my generation of East Germans are different, especially among women. I sometimes feel we are like these amoeba that can always adjust to their surroundings.”

Many women like Mohaupt have managed to adapt to a changing economy, so much so that women in Cottbus buck the national trend and earn 17% more than men.

 

Source: https://www.theguardian.com.