PM&M / Resources / Vocabulary :

Treuhandanstalt

is the name of an institution established by the former West German government shortly before German reunification; it existed between 1990 and 1994. Its purpose was to act as trustee for many former East German factories and businesses, either re-instating former (private) ownership or helping the former state-owned and then reprivatized facilities cope with the numerous starting problems they would encounter when dealing with a free market for the first time.