The Berlin wall came down and East Germany was annexed

Twenty years ago the Wall separating East and West Germany came down in what was supposed to be a reunited country. In reality, the West side simply annexed the East. German Democratic Republic (official name of East Germany) industries fell into the hands of Western corporations. Members of the old regime were put on trial and then imprisoned. Property and funds owned by the old communist regime were confiscated by West German officials..
The political party of the East, Socialist Unity Party of Germany, changed its name to the Party of Democratic Socialism. In the Eastern part of the country, it is a major party that gets as much as half the votes in post wall elections. Since West Germany was twice and large as the East, the PDS looks like a minor party after national elections. The party only gets a tiny fraction of West German votes.
Today, the people who live on what was East Germany are paid less and still live in poverty. The country may be unified, but people still refer to the East as if it were still a different country. Even though East Germany didn’t have a very popular government, many institutions and much of the culture developed differently from the West, so it is different in many ways, including cultural attitudes.
If Western capitalism won the cold war, it has treated East Germany as a conquest. The Western side took all resources and kept wages low. It was not a victory for the people of East Germany.