During the course of four decades, the public health service—the system of walk in medical clinics (Polikliniks) and free health care services in the former German DemocraticRepublic (GDR)—had been favorably regarded. Only after reunification with the Federal Republic was it revealed with startling clarity that a myth had been cultivated by the West. Indeed, the equipment in the clinics, the educational level of physicians, and the health of the population put the public health service in a different light.