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Generation 25: Living in unity, learning boundaries

Stefanie Suren / kbmSeptember 20, 2015

Germany celebrates 25 years of reunification on October 3. But even those born in 1989 and 1990, with freedom instead of walls, still feel a division. Here is a look at Germany's Generation 25 - the country's future.

https://p.dw.com/p/1GYdZ

Generation 25 - those born in 1989 and 1990 in Germany - never experienced the contrast between East and West, capitalism and socialism, democracy and dictatorship.

For these children of German unity, traveling, getting involved in politics, openly engaging in discourse and holding public demonstrations are things they take for granted.

Fall of the Wall opened the door to the future

The Germany these young people know is playing an ever-growing role in Europe and the world. There are some 1.8 million people among Germany's Generation 25. How do these 25-year-olds think? That is revealed in our multi-media feature, "Generation 25: Children of German Reunification." Twenty-five portraits of Germans born in 1989 and 1990 are complemented by statistical data and a specially commissioned representative poll.

We get to the heart of how they tick. What do they dream of? What does "home" mean to digital natives? Was connects them and which inner walls do they still want to tear down?

One trend is clear: Generation 25 has liberated itself from prevalent East-West clichés. The constantly complaining East German and the know-it-all West German no longer exist as stereotypes.

According to the FORSA survey commissioned by DW, Generation 25 doesn't pay attention to these outdated prejudices. Nevertheless, half (46 percent) still say there are differences in mentality between those in the eastern and western parts of Germany.

At the same time, understanding of history is also evolving. Half of the 25-year-olds polled said that communist East Germany was not an unjust political system. The memory on the dark side of the East German dictatorship is paling among the younger generation - more so than in the population in general.

Get to know Generation 25 yourself and take a look at the future of Germany on the 25th anniversary of German reunification.

Conceptualization: Christine Bayer, Patricia Szilagyi

Authors: Christine Bayer, Antje Binder, Anne-Sophie Brändlin, Jan Bruck, Sarah Hofmann, Heike Mund, Patricia Szilagyi, Silke Wünsch

Projekt manager: Stefanie Suren

Editors: Stefanie Suren, Samira Schellhaaß, Sarah Hofmann, Silke Wünsch

Director: Rolf Rische