United in Division – Generation Z: Persisting Differences Between East and West
Generation Z includes those of us born between 1995 and 2012. They were born after the fall of the Berlin Wall, yet they feel that the system of their parents’ and grandparents’ generation (the GDR) still has an impact on them. At the same time, it is Generation Z that wants to use the passage of time to engage more deeply with Germany’s post-reunification history. Not least, the continuing differences between East and West provide cause for a closer—yet nuanced—examination. The lecture focuses on equal opportunity and democratic engagement, through which the younger generation aims to bridge existing divides and achieve full social unity in Germany.
Speaker: Nora Zabel was born in 1996 in Hagenow, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. She worked there in the CDU state parliamentary group and later at the CDU party headquarters. Today, she is a research assistant to Member of the Bundestag Serap Güler (CDU). Zabel is a co-host of the podcast “Womensplaining” and a guest columnist for various newspapers, including *ZEIT*, *taz*, and *Cicero*.
