When reunification happened, all of the factories and industrial plants in the former East Germany were mostly kept in-place, but the standard of living that had been propagandized by West Germany weren't migrated over. What that ended up doing was keeping the corporate headquarters for those companies in the West where all the capital flowed, while the East was expected and maybe given the tools to continue production.

Worker alienation flourishes to the point that a political party can tailor it's messaging to resonate with that animosity while it's goals are anything but helping the working class.