THE TRUST'S LEGACY
PART 1. DEPARTURE AND SALE
PART 2. ANGER AND REALITY
In 1990, the reality of the free market economy caught up with the GDR citizens: 8,500 state-owned enterprises had to be privatised. The Treuhandanstalt is founded for this huge, historically unique task. Revenues in the billions are expected, but in the end 250 billion DM remain in debt. Thousands of companies are liquidated in only five years, and scandals and bribery scandals accumulate. Two and a half million people lose their jobs.
"We were sold out and cheated, offended and humiliated", is still the verdict of the majority of East Germans when it comes to the Treuhand Authority. A study by the Federal Ministry of Economics from 2017 draws the connection between the Treuhand and the success of the AfD in the East.
Almost 30 years after the fall of the Wall, this documentary reveals the work of the Treuhand and the consequences for the relationship between East and West. It tells moving stories of winners, losers and cheats. And it explores the questions: Were the East Germans really ripped off? Would there have been an alternative to Treuhand? (February film)