Very interesting perspective. I remember speaking to a (West) German Judge in 1995, and asking him what became of all the East German Judges, and receiving a shrug of the shoulders, and a flinty reply that "Well they all had to lose their jobs of course".
I stayed a night in Dresden after attending the Frankfurter Buchmesse in October 1990. My abiding memory of the trip is of walking into my hotel reception to check in; I suddenly realised that there was a rack behind the receptionist which displayed, rather than the usual free maps and guides, a stack of hardcore pornography for purchase. Porn caught on very quickly - I may or may not be correct in recalling that for a while there were special sex shops for Ossies only?
A fascinating glimpse of the demise of the DDR. I’ve read a few books about the DDR, including Beyond the Wall, and Gross hits many of the beats I encountered in those books. What manifesto did the SED run on during the election campaign I wonder? Few accomplishments to hark back to. It’s interesting that the protest parties did so poorly, believing that the DDR could be fixed not a winning policy. It’s unfortunate that many of the erstwhile citizens of the DDR became quickly disillusioned with the West. Dazzled by the glamorous allure of a shiny car, unprepared for the market. Thanks Katja, another book needing an English language edition.
Looks an interesting read , I’m currently on generation GDR , I’ve a query , I’ve read that there was approximately 12,000 small private businesses in the GDR at various times , what sort of businesses would they have been 🤔, thanks Katja
I think they were mainly small bars and cafes, there were also some passable restaurants in East Berlin which one could use as an Auslander to spend one's Ost-marks, although I think some of these were constituted as co-ops. Katja can tell us authoritatively. I was involved in an interesting provocation at one of these in Pankow with my American boss.
Was there much civil unrest after reunifcation ,was it a case of the people got what they wanted, but not in a way they'd even thought about beforehand and is there underlying resentment still in the East.
I think there is still underlying resentment in the east which so-called anti-system parties of the left and right make use of. I don't recall any civil unrest at the time, just East Geemans being ripped off.
A shame this isn't available in English, When the DDR still existed Channel had a really interesting set of programmes filmed in the east. Obviously the regime was very careful who was interviewed. One was an English art historian teaching in the DDR free of a 'bourgeois agenda'. I wonder what happened to him! Or all those people who taught Marxist theory? A German university professor I know was sent to the east to reorient a university. On the first evening they were interrupted by the janitor who asked when the 'cadres' would like to have dinner!
Why not call the East German government what it was? Stalinist. As far a cry from Socialism as one gets. Run by quisling apparatchiks who owed everything to the Soviets and nothing to their own people, who were oppressed by the stasi scum better than the Nazis could ever have done.
It was certainly a very unpleasant state apparatus. However, I think that people managed to create their own spaces just as they did in the USSR. Remember that in much of the country they could receive West German television, even if it was supposedly a black mark to watch it. One of my tasks in West Berlin was to watch any local output of DDR television and it was unbelievably bad, although a lot of the schedule was made up of American gangster films.
No doubt, but it's still heartbreaking to know how many regular citizens and GDR businesses got screwed. Because you live in the US, see if you can't watch this excellent PBS series called Berlin Wall. It's about those quisling apparatchiks you mentioned (it's a fictional series based on the history). https://www.pbs.org/show/wall-berlin-wall/
Very interesting perspective. I remember speaking to a (West) German Judge in 1995, and asking him what became of all the East German Judges, and receiving a shrug of the shoulders, and a flinty reply that "Well they all had to lose their jobs of course".
I stayed a night in Dresden after attending the Frankfurter Buchmesse in October 1990. My abiding memory of the trip is of walking into my hotel reception to check in; I suddenly realised that there was a rack behind the receptionist which displayed, rather than the usual free maps and guides, a stack of hardcore pornography for purchase. Porn caught on very quickly - I may or may not be correct in recalling that for a while there were special sex shops for Ossies only?
A fascinating glimpse of the demise of the DDR. I’ve read a few books about the DDR, including Beyond the Wall, and Gross hits many of the beats I encountered in those books. What manifesto did the SED run on during the election campaign I wonder? Few accomplishments to hark back to. It’s interesting that the protest parties did so poorly, believing that the DDR could be fixed not a winning policy. It’s unfortunate that many of the erstwhile citizens of the DDR became quickly disillusioned with the West. Dazzled by the glamorous allure of a shiny car, unprepared for the market. Thanks Katja, another book needing an English language edition.
Looks an interesting read , I’m currently on generation GDR , I’ve a query , I’ve read that there was approximately 12,000 small private businesses in the GDR at various times , what sort of businesses would they have been 🤔, thanks Katja
I think they were mainly small bars and cafes, there were also some passable restaurants in East Berlin which one could use as an Auslander to spend one's Ost-marks, although I think some of these were constituted as co-ops. Katja can tell us authoritatively. I was involved in an interesting provocation at one of these in Pankow with my American boss.
Thanks wyn 👍often wondered
Was there much civil unrest after reunifcation ,was it a case of the people got what they wanted, but not in a way they'd even thought about beforehand and is there underlying resentment still in the East.
I think there is still underlying resentment in the east which so-called anti-system parties of the left and right make use of. I don't recall any civil unrest at the time, just East Geemans being ripped off.
A shame this isn't available in English, When the DDR still existed Channel had a really interesting set of programmes filmed in the east. Obviously the regime was very careful who was interviewed. One was an English art historian teaching in the DDR free of a 'bourgeois agenda'. I wonder what happened to him! Or all those people who taught Marxist theory? A German university professor I know was sent to the east to reorient a university. On the first evening they were interrupted by the janitor who asked when the 'cadres' would like to have dinner!
Why not call the East German government what it was? Stalinist. As far a cry from Socialism as one gets. Run by quisling apparatchiks who owed everything to the Soviets and nothing to their own people, who were oppressed by the stasi scum better than the Nazis could ever have done.
It was certainly a very unpleasant state apparatus. However, I think that people managed to create their own spaces just as they did in the USSR. Remember that in much of the country they could receive West German television, even if it was supposedly a black mark to watch it. One of my tasks in West Berlin was to watch any local output of DDR television and it was unbelievably bad, although a lot of the schedule was made up of American gangster films.
No doubt, but it's still heartbreaking to know how many regular citizens and GDR businesses got screwed. Because you live in the US, see if you can't watch this excellent PBS series called Berlin Wall. It's about those quisling apparatchiks you mentioned (it's a fictional series based on the history). https://www.pbs.org/show/wall-berlin-wall/