How the GDR was dismantled - and who profited from it. Dirk Laabs tells the story of the Treuhand, that "super authority" which was originally tasked with saving the GDR's public assets from being sold off, but ultimately was responsible for three million layoffs. It is a story that unfolded in the shadow of reunification. Laabs offers us a new perspective on the turning point, his book is both an economic thriller and a history book in one. The Treuhand is the central symbol of a partially failed reunification. "Europe's largest slaughterhouse," they called it in 1994 after its own dissolution. Never before in history has there been such a large corporation. The Treuhand was responsible for 10,000 companies and four million employees. In the East, there was a spirit of optimism in 1989, while in the West, there was a gold rush mentality. This is how the race ended.