On 21 June 1990, the parliaments of both the Federal Republic of Germany (West) and the German Democratic Republic (East) approved a treaty the merge the economies of the two countries ("Germany Unites Economically," 1990). The treaty becomes effective on 2 July 1990, on which date, a single Ger man economy will be created, and de facto unification will occur. Major issues must still be settled, before full, de jure unification can occur. To be decided are political unifi cation, including the question of the future military alliance of a united Germany, and social unification, including diffi cult issues such as abortion rights severely restricted in West Germany, and available on demand in East Germany.
The thesis of this research is that, as a rejection of monetary union was used to preclude full German unification in the mid to late 1940s, economic unification in the early to mid 1990s will be the used to facilitate the full unification of Germany. Economic union is a de facto unification which will lead to de jure unification.
Currency reform for Berlin in the late 1940s was a part of a wider currency reform for all of Germany both East and West.
1 2In turn, currency reform for Germany was but a part of the broader political struggle of the day between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union.
Currency reform for Berlin assumed an exaggerated signi ficance in 1948, because it served as the formal pretext for the imposition of the Berlin Blockade by the Soviet Union (Kennan, 1967). Sight must be lost of the fact, however, that German (and Berlin) currency reform was not the major issue. The major issue was the political confrontation between east and west over the future of Germany (Binder, 1981). The poli tical issue was brought to a head in the winter and spring of 1947 1948 through a volatile combination of Soviet fears, an erroneous perception and analysis of events by the American commander in Ber...