East Germany is about to disappear, to be swallowed up by its rich western neighbor, and the universal enthusiasm of a few months ago has waned. Polls say the vast majority of East Germans favor unification, which is barely a month away. But appearances don't always reinforce that conclusion. The ``We are one people'' banners that hung from trees, factories and homes during the pro-unity frenzy of early 1990 are gone. There are no cheering crowds and no convoys of motorists blasting their horns in anticipation of full unification on Oct. 3. Reality has set in, especially since the economic merger officially began in July. The issue foremost in the minds of East Germans is how to tackle the huge challenges facing them as their crumbling economy is absorbed by West Germany. Some show a decided lack of eagerness for unity, especially in Leipzig, birthplace of the uprising that ended 40 years of Stalinist rule less than a year ago. ``Maybe the GDR (East Germany) could have survived as a newly democratized country,'' said Maria Chudoba, who tends bar at the Cappuccino cafe in Leipzig. ``But now it's too late to turn back.'' Heinz Weisse, 74, and his 70-year-old wife, Gertrud, loading bales of hay onto a cart outside Weimar, said they wouldn't have minded seeing East Germany continue as a democracy. ``We're happy about unity, but it was not a necessary development,'' said Weisse, a retired hairdresser. ``There's a good side and bad side to everything.'' He said he and his wife had a relatively good life even under communism and, as pensioners, had been allowed to travel outside the country. ``We had our little house here, and we were born here, so we always came back,'' Weisse said. Most East Germans seem to see unification as their only salvation, but have come to realize it will not be an overnight cure for such problems as the high unemployment brought on by the July 1 economic union. ``We had our celebrations last year when the Berlin Wall came down,'' said Gisela Oswald, a 63-year-old retired opera singer in Weimar, an East German cultural center. ``We're glad unity is coming, but we've got to get to work now on some important problems, like putting the economy in order.'' East German cities are decaying, the bottom has dropped out of industrial production and unemployment is soaring. Most of East Germany's problems require money in huge amounts. Leipzig has a desperate housing shortage, crumbling public and commercial buildings and an antiquated sewerage system that has become a health hazard. Unification and the resulting West German funds undoubtedly will help solve the economic problems over the next few years, but also will introduce problems new to East Germany. ``Prostitution will come with the joblessness because people need money,'' said Peter Fernau, chief of detectives in Bitterfeld, an industrial city. ``We're also worried about heroin and the possible appearance of criminal gangs. There will be totally new dimensions to crime.'' Several aspects of life will change after unity. West Germany's legal system will be extended to the East, bringing in an entirely new code of laws. ``My officers are going to have to learn, learn, learn,'' Fernau said. Many East Germans fear West Germans will make all the decisions about their future. A recent poll by the West German magazine Stern indicated 88 percent of East Germans support unification, but 70 percent were disappointed by how it has been managed. The process has been largely orchestrated by Helmut Kohl, West Germany's chancellor. With the two Germanys united, East Germans will find themselves in stiff competition with West Germans jobs and business opportunities. They worry about coping. ``We never learned to persist in the face of adversity because, in the old system, that was of no use,'' said Ms. Oswald, the opera singer. ``This is something we must learn. ``But we also have many good qualities. We tend to be very close-knit and helpful to each other, and that's something we don't want to lose,'' she said. Peter Heyroth, Lutheran pastor in Bitterfeld, said the way unity has been managed is demoralizing many people. ``They see the trucks rumbling into town at 6 a.m. with goods from West Germany, while goods made in this country go unsold,'' he said. ``They see prices climbing, and they feel like their job training was worthless.'' In the small city of Saalfeld, on the eastern edge of the Thuringian forest, a former member of the disbanded Communist secret police pondered his future. He has a new job, but things aren't going well. ``People hoot at me behind my back,'' he said. ``It's really very difficult.'' ``I was never involved in any heavy intelligence, just checking passports and that kind of thing, but I'm ashamed of the corrupt government we supported,'' said the former agent, who asked that his name not be used. Then, seeming to speak for many East Germans, he said: ``Sure, mistakes were made during the Communist period, but should four decades of our past really be flushed down the sewer?''
