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This case study deals with the change in living circumstances of women in the former East Germany based on nine biographical interviews since the reunification. For comparison, a man was also interviewed to show the effects of the working structure in a workplace with predominantly West Germans.
The interviews were carried out with the goal of better understanding the experiences and opinions of women from the former East Germany and gaining insight into the radical social changes. Contradictions between the expectations or hopes for a better future and the present reality were expected.
For this case study, qualitative methods were applied in the interviews and their analysis. This should be complemented by quantitative-based methods having the goal of establishing average values for the indicators of social change.
All of the interviewed women indicated fundamental changes in their living circumstances and that these changes were continuing. All of them emphasized that contact between people before the reunification was much closer than today. This is seen as a question of the available time then, and also the need for exchange with other like-minded people. The solidary community also formed a kind of bastion against the control and arbitrariness from above. Almost all people had work and material security even though the choice of work and the possibilities for a free lifestyle were limited.
In the new society, the close connection of social relationships has dissolved and all of the interviewees are more concerned with themselves. With the change in values, opinions have differed. Two-thirds of the women have changed their jobs since the reunification, and all felt an increasing intensity of work and competitive pressure. Many of the interviewed women work in a place where West Germans are dominant in terms of hierarchy, number of employees, mode of working, etc. The women who could use their own previous knowledge were able to build on these strengths. A t the time of the former East Germany, the state provided and directed vocational education. Many people, especially the young who are unemployed and untrained, are rightly having problems coping with the self-responsibility expected today.
Both the positive and negative experiences from the German reunification can be valuable for the unification of Korea. Choices and dangers become clear by this, therefore each person is challenged to prepare themselves both mentally and culturally.

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