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Soon after the hated Berlin Wall was opened by the East German
government on November 9, 1989, citizens of the two parts of
Germany could for the first time in decades freely travel
around their homeland. This 1990 map issued by Minol, the
petroleum monopoly owned by the East German government, shows
both the DDR (East Germany) and the Bundesrepublik (West
Germany). Earlier maps issued in the DDR would not have shown
West Germany since DDR citizens were not permitted to travel
across the heavily-fortified boundary between the two parts of
Germany. This map even lists border crossings in Berlin; the
wall had been opened in many spots but had not yet been
completely obliterated. This 1990 map was drawn by the West
German firm of Busche, which is notable for their excellent
maps drawn for Aral. Later in 1990, the DDR would cease to
exist at all, as Germany became a unified nation for the first
time since the end of World War II in 1945. With the change to
a free-market economy in Germany's repatriated eastern
provinces, most of Minol's assets (including the refinery at
Leuna) were sold to the French firm Elf. Other Minol assets in
the east went to Aral.
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Caption pending
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