T. W. Africa. And suddenly we were off and we had nothing to work with nothing. On the from i didnt really realize dont know if you wish that we only had a few phone lines so they were ringing nonstop if you were unlucky youd get one of these guys saying they were from whatever company and wanted 2000000 so what that was parked on the. Market and the market is a monster it sweeps aside everything that is weaker than itself. The fog of using. So how we treated the east germans i was ashamed of myself so often. December 1909 to berlin wall had fallen a month previously west german chancellor helmut kohl paid a visit to dresden in what was then still communist east germany the unimaginable suddenly seemed possible. When i see that my goal should history permit is the unity of our nation inside and out so. For us in the federal republic selfdetermination also means respecting your opinion. We do not want to nor will we impose our will on anybody we will respect whatever decision you make for the future of the country and this i. So much call was pledging a 2nd economic miracle this time in eastern germany. 30 years on his promise of a blooming landscape of Better Living conditions has become reality. Even if not as quickly as many had hoped. But some in the east still regard reunification as nothing but a takeover. Did german reunification leave a traumatic legacy. Because what if i asked a friend in prague why people there seemed more satisfied than people here for you to look he said we compare things with the old days and you compare yourselves with the west plus were changing ourselves whereas you have been changed by others or. People in eastern germany soon saw how the process of bridging the economic gap between east and west was above all organized by people in the west. The west german political and business elites got down to the task full of optimism and commitment. Overseeing the Economic Transformation in the early 1990 s. Was a Government Agency in berlin bigot boyle was on the board of the troy hunt from the outset and hose there was so much going on the place was buzzing with activity all day long and often the whole not long to. Foley. Bigot pro was appointed president of the tri hind in 1901 she would coordinate the radical privatization of the entire previously state run east german economy. Taking center stage in this historically unprecedented undertaking. Initially experts in the east and west based their projections on east germany having assets of one trillion marks which soon proved to be very wide of the mark. 8000 state owned companies employing 4000000 people faced an uncertain future. Youve been a bunch of blooming landscapes was the key phrase that motivated everyone back then people thought everything would get better fast we made big demands on people and they did suffer and we didnt have the time to properly look at their personal histories it was really tough in some cases theyd clearly suffered great hardship and must have hated us and me of course i represented what was happening and many hated me goes along. The overhaul of industry in eastern germany was accompanied by austerity measures on an enormous scale countless Companies Went under millions of people lost their jobs. They were a verb or asians were felt across society. People felt powerless and vulnerable. They all see the disparaging term yama aussie or whiny east german emerged to them alongside it was the best of se the arrogant west german who does the toy guns was at the heart of this clash often and not quite the 4 years in which the troy hind agency was active saw change at a breathtaking pace the flourishing of optimism in 1990 blossomed into a frenzy of privatisation that was followed by a season of scandals and finally an ugly harvest of anger and discontent and so the start of the toy basically went through a complete life cycle within just a few years 1st its foundation that its rapid expansion at its peak face and finally its highly controversial winding town in 1903 in 1904 thats what makes this organization so fascinating so much which also costs. In the former communist east germany nearly all property was state owned only a tiny fraction was privately owned. On february 12th 1990 the east German Council of ministers convened for a roundtable meeting. On the agenda was the forming of an agency to privatized state assets the share of those assets was to go to east german citizens. Their process would be administered by a new Holding Company the 20 hunt. The holding firm was founded on march 1st 1990 by the last communist led government of east germany. The idea behind the toy hind agency was for someone to take care of all the changes involved in the privatization process they needed to have a plan and it couldnt simply be done by a ministry a Trust Company had to be set up. The idea of securing National Assets soon became a secondary issue the immediate priority was the survival of east German Companies an early test of relations between east and west and he went out there didnt nobody gave east germany a chance it would have needed a lot more time and a lot more money in order to overhaul the economy so a states economy is likely huge tanka you cant simply turn it around in a new direction it takes time we werent given that time and east german citizens didnt give themselves the time either in the last east german elections they voted for the center right of christian democrats who had promised to do things like in west germany. East germans decided themselves that they wanted to live in a free market economy. And that meant privatization simply what is it that. The pressure was enormous the east was in danger of economic disintegration its companies were largely uncompetitive while their traditional export markets elsewhere in Eastern Europe or collapsing the solution was to bring in the west german deutschemark a contentious decision for some in the former east it was a sign of hope a reason to not leave for the west but when the door to mark was introduced east german industry suffered even more. Of i said to him what course in the run up to the Monetary Union. But if we do nothing to give people a reason to stay in the east then youd best send us some of your army to make sure theres still some want to drive the trams at christmas time people were leaving in dramatic numbers so the pressure for the introduction of the deutschmark was a mans he the the Deutsche Mark had an unintended side effect prices for east german products soared no one bought them companies that couldnt sell their products couldnt pay their workers. The try hunt had to provide billions in liquidity assistance. By now the east German Government had no more say in developments. By the time of Monetary Union in july in 1990 west german politicians were largely in control on july 3rd 1990 the chairman of the troy huns 1st board of directors was selected the east German Council of ministers agreed to the man tapped by the west German Government debt level of it or head of a steel making Company SocialDemocrat Party member and an executive with experience in streamlining ailing companies. On august 31st 1990 east and west germany signed the agreement for the political reunification of germany. For. The once and with the unification treaty called for ways to be found to give the population of eastern germany a share in their National Assets. Were tied by distributing securitized shares in the formerly state owned assets it was written into the agreement. By now though no one seemed inclined to find ways to give east germans a share in those state assets. West germany was pumping enormous sums of money into the east and they pushed for privatization on a mass scale. And this was the time seen by many toy and staff as the golden age it was their spring everything was blossoming and they were drawing up plans making decisions deciding what direction things would take and rules were few and far between the staff decided all themselves. Bigot broil former finance minister of the state of lower saxony became death therefore that is key ally on the trail and agencies management board. Of governors of and then suddenly we were off the bush front foot and we had nothing to work with nothing we had 0 documentation there were a lot of staff whod been recruited at short notice by the last communist government there were a few which germans trying to get their heads around it all it was stressful and fascinating you were standing in front of this mountain of work and somehow i had to figure out where to start with but there was this feeling of having a task that was really worth doing as best as possible the atmosphere at the beginning was amazing exhilaration desperation and hope the whole gamut of emotions. A list but for the 1st few days i was busy with headhunters who would bring along a new candidate every hour or so. The ones i liked would be given a tooth brush and a room in a hotel that weve rented and had to stay there. With a computer that was. So. Happiest. Which i was given a room with a desk similar i also got a Reception Room with a secretary and shed already been there 3 days. And i had this huge stack of postal to deal with i went to be a good boy and asked her what i was supposed to do with it and she said youll have to figure that out for yourself were all starting from scratch here. She is the boone family she was a patient when you were explaining important issues to her and she could get impatient when you explain something she already knew here. Bias that people just remember the story about her having a sign on her desk that said you dont need to tell me what not to do. The fact she said it. And if anyone started to waffle on that shed turn the sign around so that they could read it so this place sleeze. To try Hyundai Agency west germans quickly took over the helm and began to make decisions affecting thousands of former east German Company whose their job was to Rate Companies and find potential buyers east germans in the troy hunt who were largely restricted to jobs lower down in the hierarchy. Whose reason i had expertise but i didnt have access to a big network. The people from west germany who came to the toy hall and did have those networks that the auditors for example had contacts to lawyers and banks contacts that we simply didnt have. Who did i know a few staff and my former bosses but they had suddenly disappeared. Many companies in the former east were growing increasingly desperate they urgently needed money to at least be able to pay their staff film in the film we only had a few phone lines so they were ringing nonstop if you were unlucky youd get one of these guys saying they were from whatever company and wanted 2000000. And youre sitting there with 0 documentation from the company with no idea if the name is even right image and if the person calling has any kind of authority to be talking to you then youre supposed to do something so whatever. Despite the lack of reliable figures try home staff awarded loans totaling billions of dorchin marks of the act by the government the finance ministry subsequently set up an independent committee made up of Business Experts its job was to Rate Companies their Business Plans and their chances of survival. In effect they determine the future of each company and its workforce independently of the trade high and. Those forms of it basically awarded School Grades meant liquidation more or less liquidation the possible equivocation but no company ever got an at least that i saw. In 1990 close funder nonny former mayor of hamburg was appointed the 20 hands commissioner overseeing the privatisation of the former state owned coming out of business groups. Of your own government the government assumed that once the doors were open the market would be there. Which in addition to being powerful was also fair. And then set up whatever was needed in the east but the market is not fair the market is a monster. Its to east germans unemployment was something we knew from television i remember seeing people blocking the highways because of Steel Industry layoffs in the west but not here. People now had to beg for work people with good qualifications like myself were being sent off on courses but didnt know how to apply them we were suddenly being asked to say what we could do what were our skills just imagine being asked what is it that you can actually. Really do come. In the course of less than 2 years the number of jobs in eastern German Companies plunged by around 70 percent millions became unemployed and left in the spotlight of the crisis was the troy hunt. To. People organize protests and rallies across eastern germany they occupied Company Premises while the 1st major closures were extremely controversial. And into fluke and the east german Furniture Industry were to be shut down because there were mass layoffs which became a huge issue. At the trial Hyundai Agency many members of staff were feeling the strain was the agency pursuing the proper course should companies in the east be revamped or privatized and sold off to conflicting camps within the troika and emerged. Vater favored restructuring to get boil wanted to let the free market decide. Because we were constantly arguing if i wanted privatisation to play a big role as opposed to just modernization. I wanted all options open. Overall better and i were at loggerheads but we did then arrive at a solution and that resulted in this letter from rove ada which would become his legacy this coupled with. This is what became known as the easter letter issued in april 1901 the 21 management had settled on a course of action rapid privatization prudent restructuring and liquidating companies with care. But then the events came to a shocking turn on Easter Monday dec vater was shot dead through the living room window of his house and just. As we grieved in silence. Sad incredulous appalled and angry. The left wing terrorist group theory of claimed responsibility accusing the troy hind of driving his german industry into bankruptcy so that its assets could be pillaged. Call. Him or call it was looking perhaps somewhat desperately for a social democrat manager to succeed. But he didnt find anyone. And. Then you might have on google when someones been murdered you can imagine how many people are queuing up out there saying ill do it. Then you have to give credit to philip world who was a member of this board for being prepared to take on this task under such extreme conditions. Thats the bottom line is with us most of. Todays big broil makes few public appearances she comes from a well known hamburg based banking family after studying in oxford in geneva she married and had 3 sons. She later represented the center right christian democrats in hamburgs parliament then she caught the eye of lower saxony state premier who appointed her to his cabinet. Minister i was the 1st woman in germany to take on that post state minister for economics and transport taishan and then later finance minister so i had to acquire a sense of authority. In april 1991 boyle was the only person willing to assume the challenge of having the trial and. The trial hunt was now in full bloom this was the post that your post reagan era a capitalist west was celebrating its triumph. I had this absolute conviction and when i have a conviction i can get tenacious i was always very frank and not everybody liked that but i was fortunate enough to be independent so i could just go home if i didnt want to continue which most people couldnt. But she didnt go home boyle commuted between hamburg and berlin. Pushing up the pace of privatisation. Under the biggest oil the toy had became what it is now famous and infamous for a mass privatisation agency. The numbers rose rapidly and only 2 or 300 companies were privatized in the whole of 1990 and even then mostly following inquiries from west german investors but by 991 there were 100 privatizations of much more. Positive hours and this was the phase in which the toy had to completed the majority of its work the staff understood that the toy had just wanted to plough through at a breakneck pace and get it all over and done with that was what be a good boy wanted to do and. We have one single objective to become smaller and less important every day so that we can finally be able to shut up shop it gets on the coast and over to there was fierce competition between the different directorates creating incentives to maximize the pace of privatization to correct. The advocates of rapid privatisation believe this would provide urgently needed capital for eastern germany in bonn which was then the seat of the German Government government officials agreed. To fund this kind thought it clever for the government to focus on the big political issues while handing the troy hand responsibility for the difficult economic decisions which were often very unpopular. Initially the government in bonn had no idea of what we did we were left in limbo i was sometimes summoned to the cabinet in bonn to explain the state of affairs they were living in a different world they wanted to set up Technology Parks i said that was the last thing we needed what we needed was funding for the firms in question it was really odd. And for us. The government took a hands off approach in the east the troy managers were largely left to their own devices for the 1st 6 months to try to and was even exempt from any liability once youd come im fine in the beginning the toy hunt had a relatively free license with very little parliamentary oversight there was a subcommittee to the main finance committee and being so small it was in no position to deal with the scale of the toy hunts work in 1992. Today hes the talk of course the toy hand was subject to oversight via various channels there were privatisation manuals and t