On the day of the anniversary, I watched a Deutsche Welle newscast in which a university researcher described the results of a survey taken among students this year.

The survey found that most students in Berlin knew little to nothing about the old East Germany, but many tended to have romanticized notions about what it had been like. A certain vague nostalgia pervaded about everyone having a guaranteed job, food, and a place to live.

To be sure, it must have been a shock to find oneself thrown into free-market capitalism overnight, thereby dimming awareness of the fact that one had had no choice in the matters of what one's job was, what foods were available, or where one dwelled.