Ghosts of Berlin: The Resurgent PDS

Most German political parties used the commemoration ceremonies to launch their campaigns for the October 21 mayoral elections in Berlin. Earlier in 2001, Berlin's city government, a coalition of Germany's two major parties, the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) and the SPD (Social Democratic Party), broke down because of the city's financial crisis. Investment expenditure within the last decade, made in the hope of transforming Berlin into a modern capital, far exceeded the city's revenues. While the CDU and the SPD were busy blaming each other for the city's problems and foreswearing future cooperation, Germany's PDS (Party of Democratic Socialism), the successor to the German SED (Socialist United Party) that had governed East Germany, loudly proclaimed its readiness to fill the power vacuum. A Berlin city government run partly by the PDS, however, would put a serious strain on the continuing efforts to reunite Germany socially and culturally. To the rest of the country and the international community, the symbolic message of a coalition in Berlin that includes the PDS could make the integration of east and west more difficult.