Former GDR today. Cinema about the GDR: why Stalinstadt schoolchildren were deprived of their future
I don’t remember the GDR at all, although as my mother told me, I was born in a military town north of Berlin, where my father, a Soviet officer, served at that time.
I became an independent person quite early and, having left my parents, I never took long heart-to-heart conversations seriously, considering them dense conservatives.
Now, of course, I understand that I was wrong and now, of course, I have a lot of questions for them, but alas... I can’t get an answer.
What do I remember about the GDR?
I don’t remember the GDR at all, although I spent some time there. But not being an independent traveler, but a baby doll with a pussy in the foreground - judging by b/w old photos
Already at a thinking age, “from how old to school,” I remember a beautiful accordion - dark red and with mother-of-pearl.
I remember German songs from a reel-to-reel tape recorder (Chord?), which my father loved to listen to and therefore I suspected him of sympathizing with the Nazis and shared my suspicions with my mother.
There was also a Madonna set, which my parents were very proud of.
Seeing no reason to be proud, I simply looked with curiosity at the fleshy half-naked women depicted on the cups and saucers
By the way, I now remembered that my baby tooth was kept in a milk jug (it was not used in the family). Some of...
And there was also a store in Leipzig on Leninsky, where the most beautiful toys were sold and there was a toy railway- the ultimate dream of that time
And there was a TV program on the box “Mom, Dad and I are a sports family”
In general, it is clear that I did not know about the GDR and was not there
Therefore, I was interested in visiting those places where I might have been carried in a stroller
Where do the accordion songs I heard as a child come from?
And it turned out very well and almost according to tradition: on my birthday I went to travel along lakes and canals in Europe. This time to the land of a thousand lakes - Mecklenburg, Vorpommern
It is north of Berlin, no more than 100 km
Why did you write this?
I wrote a review, and in fact an online report, during our journey:
And in this note I want to write about my impressions of the people in this part of Germany. We are traveling more and more in Bavaria, since from there it is closer to the Alps, to the skiing area
Well, now, while checking key phrases for search engines, I came across some nonsense written in the Russian media about how poorly former GDR members live and how they want to live again behind the Iron Curtain with their brotherly people in an embrace.
What surprised and touched
The first thing that surprised me about people was their complete, almost complete lack of knowledge of the English language.
As well as he is known in the villages and towns of Bavaria, he is not known and does not want to be known in Vorpommern
How to communicate with the Germans here?
And here is the second surprise: many people remember Russian. Many - almost all
Remember does not mean they speak fluently. No. But they are trying - it’s clear that they are delving into the closets of their memory and proudly saying: Hello! Please!
And they understand even better
I don’t know what it was like in the GDR before reunification, but now I don’t see the difference between a village in eastern Germany and western Germany
The same houses, beautiful flowers in pots and small fences
The Soviet “Khrushchev buildings” look somewhat dissonant against the backdrop of the pastoral picture of calm and serenity, but even they are shown in complete order: neatly painted, windows replaced with double-glazed windows, flowers, flower beds, flowers in front of the entrances
East Germans dress the same as West Germans or Poles or Lithuanians
Cars... ordinary German, Korean, French cars - globalization... Wait a minute though:
It’s a pity - I didn’t have a camera with me - in one of the towns where we stopped I saw a cherry-colored Zhiguli 2103 in the parking lot near a house.
Treshka, as it was called. With chrome radiator grille.
Clean, well-groomed, without any flashing lights or red mudguards... Well, these are the Germans! - I said
How do they treat Russians?
How do they treat Russians?
Friendly and a little naive: in one place I ordered beer. The owner learned from a mixture of English, Polish, Russian and Hyundai that I was from Russia and immediately took a bottle of Putinoff vodka from the refrigerator and poured a stopar of vodka for my beer.
Those who barely remember the Russian language enjoy practicing its reproduction
And in one small town, in the very center of it, I discovered a cemetery - it was a long-standing (from World War 1) burial place of German soldiers, local residents and then there are the graves Soviet soldiers and a monument with Russian inscriptions.
Clean and well-kept graves, although the tombstones themselves have already faded and it is difficult to make out what is written on them
The euphoria is over: the slight crack that separated West and East Germans has finally turned into an abyss. Surprisingly, many now want... to return the wall back
When Rolf goes out for a walk, he puts on a T-shirt: a yellow-red coat of arms of ears of corn, a hammer and a compass, with the signature at the bottom - “Born in the GDR.” When Rolf was born 14 years ago, there was no trace of the GDR, and he hometown Karl-Marx-Stadt was renamed Chemnitz.
“So what,” says Rolf stubbornly. “My father and mother were born in the GDR, which means I am also a GDR member.” He hardly sees his parents: both went to work in West Germany, like half of the residents of the former Karl-Marx-Stadt - the teenager is being raised by his grandmother Greta. Main industrial center East Germany turned into a cemetery of empty factories: glass is broken in the windows, the walls are covered with graffiti, crows build nests on the roof. In 1989, 250,000 people lived in Chemnitz, now half that number - not finding work, people move to the West.
When it gets dark, the city looks like a ghost: the streets are empty, without a single person - only at the monument to Karl Marx, which is called “Bashka” (it is made in the form of a bronze head), a group of young people listens to “Rammstein”. “I hate West Germans,” says Rolf, lighting a cigarette like an adult. “They don’t know anything about life.” “I was so euphoric when the Berlin Wall collapsed,” grandmother Greta sighs in tune with her grandson. - I thought that heaven would come. In the evenings I walk through a dead city, watching how the wind sweeps away scraps of newspapers and beer cans... Oh, how naive I was. No, I'm glad Germany united. But this is not heaven at all - this is an apocalypse.”
Banana Revolution In the 20 years since the fall Berlin Wall, the fissure between West and East Germans became an abyss. There was even a special term “ostalgia” - a derivative of Ost (east) and “nostalgia”: a symbol of the GDR members’ longing for their lost homeland.
According to the latest survey conducted by the Berliner Zeitung newspaper, 49% of “Easterners” believe that life was “very good” in the GDR, and 8 percent are completely sure that socialism is “much better.” West Germans, of course, are infuriated by this opinion. The federal authorities spend 120 billion euros a year on the improvement of the GDR cities, but in the East they insist that they owe nothing to anyone - “Westerners destroyed our economy, the best among socialist countries!” “On November 9, 1989, we believed that from now on we are a single people,” laments Professor Heinrich Mittel from Düsseldorf. - Everyone expected that there would be a little friction, but then, over time, everything would be forgotten.
However, nothing happened. East Germans tell their children legends about a well-fed life under the rule of Honecker, as a result, for the generation that did not see the GDR, this country also became a “promised land.” West Germans are not liked in the East, and they reciprocate.
“The GDR people hate working,” says taxi driver Michel, originally from West Berlin. - They should just receive benefits for free! I think they even destroyed the Berlin Wall because they wanted to have bananas in stores; everything else in the GDR suited them anyway.” “When you receive bills for gas and water,” Grandma Greta complains, “you inevitably begin to feel nostalgic: under Honecker, everything cost a penny, and everyone had a job. The Berlin Wall collapsed, but did not disappear - it moved into people's heads." This is not so fantastic, considering the data of another survey - as many as 25% of Western and 12% of East Germans were in favor of ... “rebuilding the wall again”!
“Honecker is a great guy!”
In Berlin itself, the remains of the formidable Berlin Wall have long been transformed from a gloomy symbol of totalitarianism into an object of tourist attraction. Now the Berliners themselves don’t believe it - was it really possible that everything was different 20 years ago? And barbed wire and electric current, and the neutral zone at the Brandenburg Gate, and towers with snipers? Arab migrant workers dressed in the uniform of GDR border guards are posing near the ruins of the wall near Potsdamer Platz, and there is a GDR Trabant car (something in the style of our Zaporozhets) - those who wish can take a photo for 1 euro. In any souvenir shop at Checkpoint Charlie (the checkpoint for diplomats where spies were exchanged) there are stones from the wall with a certificate (they say they are stamped with all their might in China). The more substantial pieces were taken to the West - now they stand at the headquarters of the Microsoft Corporation and the CIA headquarters in Langley. “We have fewer people going to the Pergamon Museum to see the Gates of Ishtar from Babylon,” laughs Berlin historian Alex Kell. “Now the symbols of a ghost country - the GDR - bring the city impressive income from tourists.”
Friedrich (or, as he calls himself, Freddy) Heinzel owns a gift shop on the site where the wall was. His home is in West Berlin, two meters from the border: he remembers how, throwing a rope through a nearby window, people escaped to the West. “The Germans expected the fall of the Berlin Wall to be their ticket to nirvana,” he explains. - Not getting what they want, they are disappointed. In the East they say: “Honecker was a great guy!” In the West: “We had nowhere to spend money without you!” It’s funny, but 20 years ago we understood each other better.” The door slams - Heinzel is distracted, apologizing. Customers came in and looked at “Born in the GDR” T-shirts. Lately they have become more and more popular...
Did we do the right thing by giving away the GDR without any benefit for ourselves? What could Russia gain from the fall of the Berlin Wall? Read the continuation of the report in the next issue of Arguments and Facts.
Historical background
The construction of the wall dividing Berlin began on August 13, 1961 at the initiative of the GDR: with the goal of “protecting citizens from Western influence.” The Berlin Wall stretched for 155 km and included 302 towers, earthen ditches and an electric fence. Over 28 years, trying to escape to the West, according to various sources, from 192 to 1245 people died. On November 9, 1989, after massive street demonstrations that led to the fall of Erich Honecker's regime, the GDR authorities ordered the issuance of visas to those wishing to visit the West. That same night, a triumphant crowd destroyed the wall - standing in the gaps, East Germans fraternized with West Germans. TV broadcast this “picture” to the whole world. On October 3, 1990, the GDR ceased to exist.
VEB (people's enterprise) "Carl Zeiss". In the late 80s, the production of computer microchips was mastered there.
As an Ordung lover, Germanophile and latent militarist, I am, of course, a fierce fan of the deformed workers' state of the GDR. DEFA films, the legalization of homosexuality (earlier than in Germany), a multi-party system, assistance to revolutionary movements of the third world, the goose step of the People's Army dressed in authentic Prussian uniforms... Well, and most importantly - at the time of Stalin’s “revolution from above”, of all the states of the socialist camp, East Germany was the only advanced capitalist country (albeit in ruins).
We write little about the GDR, and even then only in the context of the Stasi, and every information about this country is a small holiday for me. Yesterday I came across something interesting on an English-language forum...
It is generally accepted that by the end of the 80s, the planned economy demonstrated its ineffectiveness in all Eastern European countries, brought them to financial and economic collapse, after which the people rebelled against the bloody Gebnya and chose freedom. The most remarkable thing is that there was no economic collapse in the GDR.
In the 1970s, the GDR faced a labor shortage. The country is cultural, the birth rate is low, homosexuality, as written above, is legalized... The East Germans began to solve the problem in two ways. Firstly, guest workers from Vietnam, Angola, Cuba and other developing socialist countries began to be imported to the GDR. By the way, according to rumors they were treated quite poorly. So from the point of view of proletarian internationalism, the Gederaites fail. And secondly, in the GDR they began to actively develop IT technologies, primarily in the field of robotics, in order to replace the living proletarians with mechanical arbeiters.
In the field of microelectronics, the GDR already had good developments in the 60s. Specialists such as Werner Harmann, one of the fathers, worked there nuclear bomb. An East German “Silicon Valley” was created in Dresden, well funded by the state. As a result, it seems that the GDR was able to do what the USSR could not do - carry out the second industrialization that they went through developed countries world in the 70s after the oil crisis.
This led to the fact that, unlike many other socialist countries that suffered from falling oil prices and found themselves in a debt trap, in the 1980s the economy of the GDR grew steadily. Even faster than the German economy. From 1980 to 1989, the economy of Germany grew by 117.7%, the economy of the GDR - by 127.7%. If in 1984 the country's GDP was $164 billion, then by 1988 it reached $207.2 billion ($12,500 per capita). It is noteworthy that, unlike many other countries of the socialist camp, East Germany abandoned the market experiments that the Poles, Hungarians and Yugoslavs loved to indulge in.
Of course, compared to some of the Netherlands with their 223.3. billions of dollars ($15,170 per capita) the GDRites were simply begging. It was only by 1998 that East Germans achieved Western prosperity - $144 billion in GDP.
But in any case, it becomes clear why when the marked Mishka galloped up to Honecker screaming “Chief, everything is gone! We must introduce capitalism using American and German loans!” the leader of the GDR remarked to Gorbachev that he was both Dumkopf and Rotznase. (Literally, Honecker’s phrase sounded like this: “We carried out our own perestroika, we have nothing to rebuild.”)
However, the white polar fox did not escape the GDR. The fact is that the economy of East Germany was still focused on the CMEA countries. 70% of East German exports went there. When effective market reforms began in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and the USSR and their economies began to collapse one after another, the GDR began to lose its markets. If in 1988 East German exports amounted to $30,672 million, in 1989 they fell to $22,200 million, and in 1990 they fell as much as $10,876 million. (By the way, something similar happened after the collapse of the USSR with Finland) The economic crisis was followed by political collapse, and then Anschluss 2.0.
But maybe there is truth in this world. If now Germany, to please its financial capital, pushes through the ruin of the countries of Southern Europe, then German industrial capital will lose its sales markets, with all the ensuing consequences. Maybe Merkel, as a secret Komsomol member, wants to avenge her homeland, and is leading Germany to collapse with an iron hand?
The German Democratic Republic did not found a new state after itself and did not leave a legacy for future generations. It simply quietly dissolved into the united Federal Republic of Germany, and along with it its symbols, concepts, brands dissolved, and its atmosphere dissipated.
But many still remember life in the GDR, and some are nostalgic, which is why “GDR museums” have sprung up privately in many cities, and the largest of them is in Dresden. Let's visit it and see how the Germans lived for " Iron Curtain" It’s not for nothing that the museum is called Zeitreise – “Journey to the Past”.
The GDR was formed in 1949 on the site of the Soviet zone of occupation of Germany. This is a relatively small piece of the Warsaw Pact, even smaller than Poland or Czechoslovakia, but the most important thing is that this is where the shock and most combat-ready group was stationed Soviet Army(GSVG), which was supposed to go on the offensive in the event of a conflict with NATO countries. 
The GDR included five states: Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The largest cities were Berlin, Leipzig and Dresden. The most densely populated and industrialized areas went to the Federal Republic of Germany. 
But on the map of the GDR, throughout the entire period of its existence, there was a gaping hole in the very heart. 
West Berlin existed as a self-contained, barbed-wire enclave of the Western way of life. A monstrous, if you think about it, situation for its residents. 
And this is what Dresden was like in those years: vacant lots, construction sites and faceless boxes of new buildings. 
The museum is also housed in the same anonymous 1970s industrial building that formerly housed VEB Kraftwerksanlagenbau. 
Photo technolirik
In the middle there is a corridor running through the entire building, and in the rooms to the right and left there are exhibition rooms. 
Old posters hang on the walls, and here and there you can see portraits of Honecker. 
The museum's exposition includes about 40,000 exhibits; it is truly the world's largest collection of East German goods. 
There are televisions from all eras - from the 1940s to the 1980s. 
Yunost TVs were produced by the Moscow Radio Engineering Plant. 
Old radios are all alike. 
Like Soviet children, the Germans listened to fairy tales on record players. The older ones took out records of fashionable Western bands. 
For many people, tape recorders and radios have become constant companions at home, at work and on vacation. 
In their spare time, the Germans could play musical instruments. 
Go to the cinema. 
Take up amateur photography. 
And then return to work again under the caring eye of old Erich. 
Before the invention of printers, documents were typed on typewriters; in the museum, their collection occupies an entire room. 
And they drew with the help of drawing boards like these. 
And if the boss calls us to a meeting, then we can get to it, because the museum has recreated the entire office of the Soviet leader. Only those people are no longer there, it’s empty. 
And those who were not lucky enough to engage in highly paid intellectual work worked in such workshops. 
Or they delivered mail on yellow bicycles. 
Or served in the People's Army or the police. 
Or maybe they treated people. All professions of the GDR are represented in the museum. 
Meanwhile, my wife will prepare dinner. Note that most stoves are electric. In the USSR, they began to refuse gas in houses only under the late Brezhnev. 
Did such “delights of Western life” as mechanical slicers reach Soviet stores? 
The wife is rubbing and hanging the laundry. 
Will do the cleaning. 
Having finished her housework, she will allow herself to go to the hairdresser in order to be beautiful when her German husband comes home from work. 
Although the ancient barber's tools look more like instruments of torture. 
And he’ll stop by the store for five minutes on the way to buy something for tea with stamps. 
She suspects her husband of adultery with a young saleswoman. 
And just for a minute he will drop into a cafe to drink a cup of coffee for 70 pfennigs. 
Where are the pioneer children in blue ties? 
At school. 
And toys are waiting for them at home. 
As you know, things have always been much better with children's goods in the GDR than in the USSR. 
On the ground floor of the museum there are about 140 vehicles, produced in the GDR and other countries of the socialist camp. 
If necessary, you can take the car for maintenance. 
Some East German cars continued to be tuned after German reunification, including for motor rallies and rallies. 
Poorer and younger people could go on vacation on bicycles and mopeds. 
But the “hero” of our story will take the whole family out of town in his own car for the weekend. They will pitch a tent, set up tables, swim in the river, the children will run to play badminton, the wife will sunbathe on a cot, and he himself will fry meat on a gas burner and listen to a cassette recorder. 
And in the summer they will rent a trailer-house and go to Bulgaria to relax as “savages”. This camper trailer was popularly called Dübener Ei (Duben Egg), and was produced in small series from 1955 to 1990. 
But our “hero” is a simple employee, and his boss (the owner of the office we saw) has a country house and a red sofa on his terrace. 
But the most interesting thing in the museum is the completely recreated interiors of apartments in the GDR analogues of “Khrushchev” and “Brezhnevka”. 
There are lace tablecloths and glass shelves with crystal sets. 
The exhibition is made in such a way that you can go inside this interior, walk on the carpets, listen to the sounds of the old apartment.
Rich living room with two TVs, sofas and armchairs. 
Living room combined with study. 
And of course, lush floor lamps and bottles with glasses on the tables. 
Of course, the museum presents not only living rooms and living rooms, but also all others. Here's the kitchen. 
Even then, the Germans had two sinks in the kitchen, which they could fill with dirty dishes. 
Bathroom equipped with a folding dryer. 
And, of course, a shared bathroom. 
Read more about the museum in the following posts:
How the Germans lived during the Berlin Wall (part 4)
Part 4 (conclusion)
Why did the population try to leave the GDR? This question interested me most. I wanted to hear an answer from someone who lived here at the time. And Uwe answered me quite clearly without giving examples of statistics, income of the population of that time, and other facts already described quite a lot on the pages of books and the Internet.
Why did the Germans leave the GDR?
First of all, it was, of course, the standard of living. West Germany (FRG) was distinguished by the abundance of food products in stores. Household appliances (refrigerators, televisions, etc.) were available for free sale. At that time, the population of East Germany experienced a shortage of household appliances.
The difference in the average salary, for example, of an ordinary school teacher was significant. A teacher in the Federal Republic of Germany received several times more than a specialist with similar education and experience in the Republic of the GDR. GDR enterprises operated at full capacity, but workers received the bare minimum. Everything that was produced in the GDR was exported to the former republics of the USSR.
Shopping in Moscow
At that time, a large factory producing electric water pumps was operating in the city of Oschersleben. Half of the city's working population worked at the plant. But it was impossible to buy a pump for your own needs; they were not sold in the GDR. Residents of the young republic purchased pumps of their own production in stores in Moscow.
USSR ruble
Most people went shopping to major cities Soviet Union. Once a year it was allowed for any resident to register necessary documents go to the USSR. But there was a problem with the export and exchange of money, (GDR) marks for rubles. The maximum amount for exchange was limited to 30 Soviet rubles. The exchange rate of the Soviet ruble at that time was equal to about 2.5 marks (GDR).
Stamps of the GDR
Positive moments of the GDR times
After the story, my interlocutor suddenly fell silent for several minutes. He looked at me, smiled and after a short pause said quietly, and you know, we lived worse than now, but it was a wonderful time. It may not have been what it is now, but there was an atmosphere of friendship.
The East Germans were more friendly, which cannot be said about West Germans. They knew their neighbors well, spent holidays together and communicated. For residents of Germany, on the contrary, communication with a neighbor is nothing more than a short greeting.
And in conclusion, I would like to add that most Germans speak very well of Russian people. The Germans who left the territory of the GDR return back after the construction of the Berlin Wall.
