West Germany by World War II to become the world's third-largest economy. The first chancellor Konrad Adenauer, who remained in office until 1963, had worked for a full alignment with NATO rather than neutrality. He not only secured a membership in NATO but was also a proponent of agreements that developed into the present-day European Union. When the G6 was established in 1975, there was no question whether the Federal Republic of Germany would be a member as well. Following the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989, symbolised by the opening of the Berlin Wall, there was a
West Germany of ways, not least through West German television and radio, whose broadcasts reached many parts of the country. For the majority of Germans in present-day Germany who lived in pre-reunification West Germany, there has been minimal change in daily life stemming from German reunification as the reunified country is essentially West Germany incorporating East Germany on a West German base. In contrast, for East Germans the scale of change has been sweeping in all aspects of life from that before . Although movements like exist attempting to celebrate and preserve parts of the GDR culture, since reunification the former East