Treuhandanstalt

On the day of reunification, 3 October 1990, it took over the property of the political parties and the mass organisations of the German Democratic Republic.

[2][3] Its operations drew criticism for unnecessarily closing allegedly profitable businesses, misuse and waste of funds and layoffs that were claimed to be unnecessary.

[4] Supporters argued that not placing the former state-owned enterprises into private hands would have caused the loss of many more jobs and slowed economic recovery.

[5] On 1 April 1991, chairman of the Treuhand Detlev Karsten Rohwedder was shot dead by an unknown assassin (possibly the Red Army Faction).

In 2000, TLG was reoriented from focussing on privatisation of its assets to "active portfolio management" with a view to making profits for the German federal government.

Treuhandanstalt headquarters at Alexanderplatz , Berlin
Steel workers protest in Berlin in front of the Treuhand, December 1990.
Total land sales by the BVVG amounted to around half the area of the state of Saxony-Anhalt