The fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany marked the end of the repressive, communist regime of East Germany (hereafter German Democratic Republic, GDR) and offered prospects for a more hopeful future for its former citizens. Former East German citizens could now take advantage of a variety of personal and civic freedoms. Integration into the larger, more dynamic West German economy and its substantial welfare state seemed likely to foster greater economic opportunity and raise living standards. Throughout the 1990s, the German government poured billions of marks into the former GDR to help transform and modernize its economy and promote social development.