What Brexit Britain can learn from German Reunification

Obscured by the hubbub of rolling news and the cacophony of Twitter, an important anniversary has passed by virtually unnoticed. The Berlin Wall has now been down for longer than it was up. Berlin’s ‘Anti-Fascist Protection Barrier’ (as the Communists used to call it) stood for 28 years and three months, from August 1961 to November 1989. It’s now been down for 28 years and four months. Its fall reunited the two Germanies, and changed the course of history. So, 28 years on, what can Brits learn from German Reunification? What lessons does the Wiedervereinigung hold for us today?

I filed my first report from Berlin in the first year of Reunification. Since then, I’ve returned to eastern Germany more times than I can count. My first visit provided me with conclusive proof (as if any further proof were needed) that state socialism was a truly terrible idea. West Berlin was thriving – East Berlin was a ghost town.