Posted on 10/03/2008 9:50:08 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
A wave of nostalgia for the former GDR is sweeping parts of Berlin. Eighteen years after reunification, knowledge of the communist regime is fading, and its most unpleasant aspects are beginning to be glossed over.
18 years after German reunification, the Wall that once divided the country in two has all but vanished. In Eastern Berlin, memories of the former communist state remain vivid – as evidenced in one local pub.
The bar's sign, which reads "come to us or we will come to you," is a slogan once used by the East German secret police. The interior is decorated with East German uniforms, documents and souvenirs. Wolle Schmelz, owner of the bar "Zur Firma", has a somewhat unconventional point of view: "We tend to associate East Germany with the Berlin Wall, barbed wire and the Stasi. But socially the state had a lot of positive aspects that we should try to keep - such as health care or the education system.”
Some parts of the state are still alive and well in Berlin, such as the Free German Youth (FDJ), scout groups that were loyal to the regime. They have now launched an information campaign to restore the reputation of the country they grew up in.
Ringo Ehlert, spokesman of the FDJ, says that “East Germany was a democratic state which allowed its citizens to live without fear for the future. No-one had to worry about not having enough to eat.” Eva Gerlach, a passer-by, is less enthusiastic. “A schoolchild seeing this exhibition would think that East Germany was a completely normal democratic state. That is the message here, and I think it’s crazy.”
According to one study of 5000 schoolchildren from all over Germany, the majority of those from the East view the former communist country positively, and don't see it as a dictatorship. Professor Klaus Schröder, director of the centre of research of communist East Germany, admits that there is a lack of objectivity. “Knowledge about East Germany is slowly fading and the subject is not seen objectively. The reality of life back then is idealized or simply forgotten. Very few people are interested in finding out what exactly happened.”
Klaus Schröder says schools hardly deal with this period of history and people usually think of cool kitsch rather than the regime's brutal reality. Indeed, one tourist attraction in Berlin is a city safari in an authentic trabant. And at the end of September an exhibition of official East German art was opened – including works commissioned by communist leader Erich Honecker.
“Ostalgie”, or Nostalgia for the East, appears to be thriving in the German capital. Guido Sand, curator of the exhibition "Art in the GDR", certainly thinks so. “This sort of nostalgia is a fashion, which like all fashions will eventually fade. But it will certainly be around for the next decade or two, particularly here in Berlin.” Whether it's a passing trend or not, the wave of nostalgia for East Germany appears to have swept away some of the regime's more unpleasant aspects.
> Some parts of the state are still alive and well in Berlin, such as the Free German Youth (FDJ), scout groups that were loyal to the regime. They have now launched an information campaign to restore the reputation of the country they grew up in.
*****
No wonder Obama went to campaign there. He felt right at home...
A lot of Russians still mourn for Stalin, too. There have been a couple of Poles on FR who claimed they missed communism. Nostalgia for a dictatorship is a strange thing.
(But socially the state had a lot of positive aspects that we should try to keep - such as health care or the education system.”)
Yes, education is very important when there are no jobs after you’re done with school. Sounds like the Cuban regime (coincidence?).
(Ringo Ehlert, spokesman of the FDJ, says that “East Germany was a democratic state which allowed its citizens to live without fear for the future.)
Sounds like Bonnie Frank talking about Fannie Mae a few years ago. Apart from people getting shot and killed if they tried to escape the prison...euh...GDR, everything was great!
Brain-dead nostalgia for revolutionary Marxist states isn’t limited to Germany, is it?
Beaten wife syndrome.
George Santayana you magnificent bastard!
I don’t know what to make of an article like this. Is this just some crackpot writer commenting on some stupid eccentrics? Are there a substantial number of Germans who long for the GDR? I’m sure there are a few but crackpots exist everywhere. We have Michael Moore types in the United States as well. Germans are legend for their character faults. They are a strange lot despite their brilliance in some areas. Many are very melancholy. I’m glad my German ancestors got on a boat in the 1870’s and came to US. Thank God!
Fine. Let them go back to the Stasi thug regime. Let them go to the Stasi x 10,000. Let them go back to beatings, kidnappings, state sponsored torture, political slavery, poverty, paranoia and hunger. They want it, let them have it in spades and more, for at least another 50 years.
it’s the only way they’ll actually learn their lesson. Maybe they’ll think like rational human beings after enough punishment for being alive.
Santayana did hit the nail on the head, didn’t he?
)
Well remember, Winston did finally come to love Big Brother.
Excellent idea, but I don’t think it would make a molecule of difference. Until they relive the physical suffering they’ll view Stasi oppression as ‘art’.
When I talk to my cousins in the Czech Republic, they admit to a bit of nostalgia for it too. Apart from the normal nostalgia of our youth, for many people these were simpler times. Under socialism, the ordinary worker really couldn't get ahead by working harder or smarter, so most of them took it easy. With the advent of capitalism, energetic workers, especially the young and educated, could improve their lot in life and applied themselves to the task. For people who preferred to work just enough to get by, the new, faster pace has been a more difficult adjustment. For pensioners, increases in the cost of living have not always been offset by increases in their government-paid pensions. My aunts and uncles, for example, worked their entire adult lives under socialism, and then dealt with the price increases of capitalism when they were too old to build up an earnings stream.
I think also that the cultural shifts have been dramatic. It's great to see shabby old buildings being fixed up and new restaurants and businesses thriving. However, this also means that familiar old storefronts have disappeared or changed after decades of existence. There are many foreigners and foreign influences in societies which were closed off for more than a generation. Foreigners buy up properties which locals can't afford . . . the list goes on.
Here in the US, we struggle with deep divisions in our political sphere and world views. Under a dictatorship, you knew that most people in your circle were united in their dislike of the regime, even though it was only expressed to the most trustworthy of relatives or friends. Nonetheless, there was a great deal of political humor, literature and theater which drew upon this opposition. Most of the nation was participating or observing the games of cat and mouse, as the playwrights and authors tested the boundaries of permissible dissent, and as they shared the latest political jokes. When the oppressive regime fell, this unity and political dance lost its impetus. I can understand how one could be nostalgic for these things without actually wishing to live with the oppression again.
Just like the Carter Administration here at home...
You got it. When I, as a soldier, went through Checkpoint Charlie in mandatory Class A uniform in 1985 I was surprised that my visit was delayed a half hour while the East Germans scrounged up an additional agent to follow me. The only logical explanation for that was they already had intel on my function while, in reality, I was really only in East Berlin to see how the Other Half had to live.
I saw nervous merchants falling all over themselves to offer me great deals the locals didn’t get. I saw citizens nervously altering their paths in order not to encounter me. I got to buy some nice yak-leather shoes for the equivalent of eight American dollars when the vinyl issue dress ones cut my heels up pretty badly.
I got the pleasure of cornering one of my watchdogs and asking him if he could be a little more professional and a little less obvious. He was ecstatic over the packs of Marlboros I pushed on him on the condition that they back off a bit. He set me up a free dinner in the Needle (which was outstanding).
Good times indeed considering our current enemies who live to blow themselves up among our children. With no logical points for reason or negotiation they force us to kill them for self-defense. God bless our men and woman in service.
After Communism failed them they turned to Christ. I want to say to late, but with HIM it is never to late, so I hold my tongue. LADA joke: why is there a heater in the rear window? To keep your hands warm when you push it!
That was an interesting recitation, NRT. Looking back on the Russians during the Cold War (the one we won, not the possible new one) the Soviets did leave women and children out of things, for the most part. They were an honorable opponent in that way, or at least feared the backlash and bad public relations from involving innocents. (And I speak as a descendant of three men imprisoned, or starved, or shot, in concentration camps and gulags. I am not making light of what the USSR was, not by any means. But, unlike the Islamofascists, the Communists did not push women and children and the infirm out in front of them.)
The unique multi-layered lacquered boxes whole villages from the former Soviet Union produce are incredible. They were out of my price range at the time and I’ve rued that ever since. Much like seeing Van Gogh’s work’s in their real depth up close in Amsterdam one sees the attention to detail on several levels in a way no recordable medium can duplicate.
My heart goes out to you for those tragedies of “political expedience”. We respected the power of the Soviets but never forgot what they did to their own. I thought I was unpopular telling this history to my fellow non-commissioned while awaiting the big push through the Fulda Gap. Near the end of my service most of my company threw me, a mere Spec 4 (corporal), a grand surprise party and gave me a plaque that totally flabbergasted me and made me cry publicly for one of the few times in my life.
Part of that outburst was knowing my unit lost two great people caught trying to suss East German strengths and defenses while their families couldn’t know the truth at the time. The Cold War wasn’t as cold as the public was led to believe.
This current conflict against against radical Muslims will no doubt have similar casualties leaving their loved ones in the dark or misled. I tell you all that none of these warriors go into these missions misled or deceived in any way. Sometimes, despite the best training, equipment, support and intel bad luck will rule out. The cowardly tactics of IUDs and strapping bombs on the brainwashed should tell you all you need to know about the honor of our opponents.
For those Germans still yearning for the glory-days of the G.D.R. I say: There are still plenty of openings in North Korea and Cuba. Go there!
Regards,
CHORUS:
Germany was having trouble
What a sad, sad story
Needed a new leader to restore
Its former glory
Where, oh, where was he?
Where could that man be?
We looked around and then we found
The man for you and me
LEAD TENOR STORMTROOPER:
And now it’s...
Springtime for Hitler and Germany
Deutschland is happy and gay!
We’re marching to a faster pace
Look out, here comes the master race!
Springtime for Hitler and Germany
Rhineland’s a fine land once more!
Springtime for Hitler and Germany
Watch out, Europe
We’re going on tour!
Springtime for Hitler and Germany...
CHORUS:
Look, it’s springtime
LEAD TENOR STORMTROOPER:
Winter for Poland and France
CHORUS AND STORMTROOPER:
Springtime for Hitler and Germany!
CHORUS:
Springtime! Springtime!
Springtime! Springtime!
Springtime! Springtime!
Springtime! Springtime!
STORMTROOPER:
Come on, Germans
Go into your dance!
STORMTROOPER “ROLF”:
I was born in Dusseldorf und that is why they call me Rolf.
STORMTROOPER “MEL”:
Don’t be stupid, be a smarty, come and join the Nazi party!
ULLA:
The Fuhrer is coming, the Fuhrer is coming, the Fuhrer is coming!
STORMTROOPER #1:
Heil Hitler!
STORMTROOPER #2:
Heil Hitler!
LEAD TENOR STORMTROOPER:
Heil Hitler!
Springtime for Hitler and Germany
ALL:
Heil Hitler!
ROGER:
Heil myself
Heil to me
I’m the kraut
Who’s out to change our history
Heil myself
Raise your hand
There’s no greater
Dictator in the land!
Everything I do, I do for you!
CHORUS:
Yes, you do!
ROGER:
If you’re looking for a war, here’s World War Two!
Heil myself
Raise your beer
CHORUS:
Jawohl!
ROGER:
Ev’ry hotsy-totsy Nazi stand and cheer
CHORUS:
Hooray!
Ev’ry hotsy-totsy Nazi...
ROGER:
Heil myself!
CHORUS:
Ev’ry hotsy-totsy Nazi...
ROGER:
Heil myself!
CHORUS:
Ev’ry hotsy-totsy Nazi...
ROGER:
...stand and cheer!
THE HEIL-LOs:
The Fuhrer is causing a furor!
He’s got those Russians on the run
You gotta love that wacky hun!
The Fuhrer is causing a furor
They can’t say “no” to his demands
They’re freaking out in foreign lands
He’s got the whole world in his hands
The Fuhrer is causing a furor!
ROGER:
I was just a paper hanger
No one more obscurer
Got a phone call from the Reichstag
Told me I was Fuhrer
Germany was blue
What, oh, what to do?
Hitched up my pants
And conquered France
Now Deutschland’s smiling through!
But it wasn’t always so easy...
It was 1932. Hindenburg was working the Big Room and I...
I was playing the lounge. And then I got my big break.
Somebody burned down the Reichstag. And, would you believe it?
They made me Chancellor. Chancellor!
It ain’t no myst’ry
If it’s politics or hist’ry
The thing you gotta know is
Ev’rything is show biz
Heil myself
Watch my show
I’m the German Ethel Merman
Dontcha know
We are crossing borders
The new world order is here
Make a great big smile
Ev’ryone sieg heil to me
Wonderful me!
And now it’s...
CHORUS:
Springtime for Hitler and Germany
Goose-step’s the new step today
ROGER:
Springtime!
Goose-steps!
CHORUS MEN:
Bombs falling from the skies again
CHORUS:
Deutschland is on the rise again
ROGER & CHORUS:
Springtime for Hitler and Germany
U-boats are sailing once more
Springtime for Hitler and Germany
ROGER:
Means that...
CHORUS:
Soon we’ll be going...
ROGER:
We’ve got to be going...
CHORUS:
You know we’ll be going....
ROGER:
You bet we’ll be going...
ROGER & CHORUS:
You know we’ll be going to war!!
This guy is beyond moron. Yeah, everybody loved the healthcare and education systems so much that the government had to put up the Wall and the wire to keep them IN. Not even one generation later, he can't see this. Communism is just wonderful, except for the secret police; and they just can't grasp that Communism is not possible without secret police.
From 1984-1988 I was stationed with the USAF at Tempelhof in West Berlin. I worked with several West Berliners and at times we would discuss what life was like in East Berlin. Most of them had relatives in the East and they stayed in contact with them. Some of the relatives, especially the elderly, could visit their family in West Berlin. I remember one conversation about difficulties East Berliners had in adjusting to life in West Berlin. The greatest problem they had was learning how to make decisions for themselves. Everyday decisions we would take for granted, like where to live and what job to have, were made for them by the State. Some escaping East Berliners were simply overwhelmed by all the life decisions they now had to make in West Berlin. In fact, some, not many, decided to return.
With that in mind, its not surprising that some former residents of the DDR look back to the “good old days.” All their decisions were already made from them by the State. All they had to do was comply with what was decided for them. It will take at least a generation or two to overcome this type of thinking.
What was interesting is that the GDR hung banners and flags everywhere and the obligatory crowds lined the parade route. But lurking just off the side streets were a number of water cannon trucks.
Wasn’t Berlin a great assignment!!
I was a USAF air traffic controller working in the Berlin Air Route Control Center. We worked the aircraft flying in and out of the 3 corridors linking West Berlin to Germany. Most unusual air traffic environment I ever worked in. Not known to many people but there were 13 East German and Soviet air bases located within the corridors. It was a little unnerving at first to have East Bloc aircraft flying so close to our traffic and not under our control. It took a little while to get used to but after that you would just issue the traffic and not worry about it. Did see some pretty close calls, though.
I also worked in Tempelhof Tower with some German civilian controllers. Had two East Bloc hijaced or stolen aircraft land at Tempelhof when I was on duty.
What the old GDR (and other eastern bloc countries) was like is exactly what a state created by our wonderul lib Americans would be like to create if the country ever split up. Even if we don’t split up. I’m sure the idea of “free” health care and “free” education and the assurance that a person would never have to worry about the future again would connect very positively with a majority of Dems. Obama would have fit in very well as a commie autocrat in the old eastern bloc days. In fact his commie-like orders to shut down criticism of him with threatened arrests and prosecutions would have been applauded by the old-style commie bosses. I bet todays libs dream about having a state like that.
I've read similar stories about Jewish immigrants to Israel and America having the same problems. In fact I read one story about Russian immigrants to Israel having more problems adjusting than ones from any other country. They simply didn't know how to cope with a western, free-market country where there was a myriad of choices about everything. That is one of the worst things about socialism. Somebody else "lives" your life for you.
Great pictures capturing some of a world-altering event. Thank you very much. And thank you for your service (in whatever cpacity) and your motivation to do so.
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