German reunification has generated major unanticipated problems, not least for criminal justice in the former German Democratic Republic. Tess Falkowski-Tucker, of Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutsche Bewährungshilfer Innen (the National Association of German Probation Officers) and formerly with Greater Manchester Probation Service, describes the current state of flux and the challenge to create a Probation Service in the Eastern Länder quickly but without compromising values.