One pleasant legacy of the DDR and the communist expectation for women to work - almost every elderly woman in Wittenberge has built up a tidy contributions-based pension (compared to her traditional West German "Hausfrau" counterpart).
In Hamburg last week several big food producers including Monsanto, an American agricultural group, drew up an action plan which includes leaflets, websites, materials for schools and telephone hotlines including one dedicated to Germany's formidable Hausfrau association.