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!
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