My dentist is very good, way above average, yet she earns less than many mediocre colleagues because she was born, raised and lives in east -- not west -- Berlin. She is not the only one. East pensioners get less money than do westerners. Same for people in most professions. Even garbage collectors and janitors in the east are forced to get by on less per hour than do those in the west. Twenty years after the Berlin Wall opened, discriminatory pay is legal. In fact, it is mandated under German law.
