On Nov. 9, 1989, East German leaders decided to open their borders -- promptly consigning themselves to the dustbin of history. By discarding their dysfunctional totalitarian system, easterners, or "Ossis" as they are often disparagingly called, essentially then placed their fate in the hands of their democratic western cousins for the better part of a decade.

But as of last week, the "Wessis" finally threw in the towel -- at least in the highest echelons of national politics. As Germany's popular sensationalist newspaper Bild put it: "Ossis are now the Bossis."

In a watershed moment in Germany's post-reunification politics, Eastern Germans now lead both of the country's largest and most powerful political parties. Franz Müntefering, the outgoing head of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), said last week he would step down after losing an internal power struggle. An easterner -- Brandenburg state governor Matthias Platzeck --   was nominated to replace him.

Platzeck will join fellow easterner Angela Merkel -- Germany's designated chancellor and head of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) -- at the helm of the proposed grand coalition between their two parties. The government's success and whether Germany can overhaul its bloated welfare system now rests with two leaders who only entered politics after the Wall fell.

Not too long ago, the rise of Merkel and Platzeck to head Germany's most powerful political parties might have been unthinkable. But a stagnant economy and massive unemployment has spurred tremendous soul searching here. Wolfgang Thierse, the outgoing Social Democratic president of Germany's parliament believes that the triumph of Merkel and Platzeck is emblematic of the collective exhaustion in the old school political establishment. Indeed, Germany in autumn 2005 is a country where massive layoffs and reports about debts that are reaching into the billions fill the news. It says a lot about the country's political situation that a woman who has always had to fight for her political survival is now being seriously viewed as a stabilizing factor. The idea that a man who until now has been at the political periphery has now been pushed to the center is also telling. Indeed, nobody expected Platzeck's rise -- it's almost as surprising as Merkel's rapid ascent to the top of the CDU after Helmut Kohl's era ended.

This is one of the biggest political experiments Germany has ever undertaken, but most seem prepared for it. In public opinion polls taken over the weekend, both Merkel and Platzeck have shot up in popularity.

Experts at change

There are surely plenty of western Germans who are cringing at the thought of two easterners in the saddle, but the development could actually bode very well for the world's third-largest economy. Why? Because Merkel and Platzeck have first-hand expertise at managing the kind of difficult political transformation that only reunification could bring. And if Germany is to get itself back on track, its next government will have to continue to push through painful and often unpopular changes.

Though neither was at the forefront of the peaceful struggle within East Germany in 1989, Merkel and Platzeck are both part of generation of young adults who had to completely reinvent themselves after the state collapsed. They had little choice -- they could either surf the wave of massive social change or they faced becoming irrelevent in the post-reunification world. Pundits have dubbed them part of the east's "Generation Zero" and "Generation Second Chance" -- referring to how they had to start from scratch 16 years ago.

"Eastern Germans are connected by the experience that nothing lasts forever," Platzeck explained to Spiegel. "Everything that guided our lives was brought into question after a single day."

You could call it the "Ossi factor," and Merkel and Platzeck are the vanguard. Though they belong to parties at opposite ends of the political spectrum, Merkel and Platzeck have a remarkably similar approach to politics. Both shun ideology in favor of seeking pragmatic solutions to problems. Thierse calls this the "anti-ideological effect." They also come off as remarkably reserved in a media-saturated western political arena that favors flash and sound bites. And unlike careerist western German politicians, they both have backgrounds in the natural sciences.

Eastern heritage

Yet, as much as they have in common, Merkel and Platzeck, in many ways, couldn't be more different. As the nationwide head of the conservatives, Merkel has long played down her eastern heritage, preferring to call herself a product of German reunification. Platzeck, on the other hand, ran his last regional election in Brandenburg with the campaign slogan "One of Us" specifically to highlight his local roots.

And although it's been 16 years in the coming, western commentators still seemed truly shocked that Germany will now be led by two politicians from the east. Besides conducting a postmortem on where western leadership failed, some observers have also begun to reassess their view of the east. Apparently not all easterners are malcontents who tend to vote for the extreme left post-communist Party of Democratic Socialism or neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD).

Nevertheless, there are plenty of disenchanted easterners worn down by years of upheaval and cutbacks who might be in for an unpleasant surprise if they were expecting to have two advocates for their region in government. Merkel and Platzeck are both strong advocates for further reform.

There are already plans to restructure the massive amounts of financial aid pumped into eastern Germany each year. Instead distinguishing between the east and west, in the future funds will be directed to regions based on fixed criteria such the unemployment rate and income level. The incoming coalition also plans to be more critical of how it uses EU and German aid. Subsidizes will not be doled out to firms unless they are likely to create new jobs.

"They are likely to show less consideration for the east exactly because they come from the east," said Andreas Hoppe, a mineral and gem merchant in the eastern state of Saxony.

Calling the shots