1990. As part of the reunification process, the West takes charge of the harmonization project between the two territories. From the outset, all of East Germany's industrial assets were transferred to a public company, the "Treuhand," which operated for four years. This marked the beginning of a rapid privatization of the entire economy of the former GDR, comprising some 8,000 public companies employing around 4 million people who needed to be offered a new future. At the head of this gigantic public holding company, Birgit Breuel, a member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), was the subject of both praise and criticism.