Twenty years on, (n)ostalgia for East Germany lingers (Feature)

By Helen Livingstone Oct 20, 2009, 5:08 GMT

Berlin - 'Sometimes women sit down and cry when they come in here,' says Frank Arndt, gesturing to shelves in his store, creaking under the weight of toys, school books, cleaning products, and crockery - all from a time when the German Democratic Republic (GDR) still existed.

'It's not because they want to have the Wall back, it's because afterwards times were so hard - they lost their jobs, then they got divorced - and the things in my shop remind them of a time when life was better,' says Arndt, 65, a retired engineer who runs the shop specializing in East German every day life merchandise.

Since German reunification in 1990, many east Germans have been diagnosed with 'Ostalgie', a word combining the German words for 'East' (Ost) and 'nostalgia' which refers to a longing for the former East Germany, or GDR.

After the initial euphoria created by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, many East Germans became disillusioned about the benefits of capitalism.

The East German way of doing things was replaced by what many considered to be a Western 'dog-eat-dog' culture. As factories and businesses were closed, jobs were lost in a country that had never experienced unemployment.

There was an exodus of young people as they moved to the West in search of work. Familiar products disappeared from shop shelves and Western global brands such as Coca-Cola took their place.

A recent survey by the Forsa institute suggested that one in 10 Germans from the East would prefer to go back to life behind the Wall.

But Arndt, whose small museum and shop is situated in Berlin's Friedrichshain district, says that this is not the case for most of his visitors.

'Those people don't really want to live in the GDR again. It's just that life in a united Germany isn't exactly how they imagined it.' Arndt says that in the GDR people had no real worries. 'There might have been a lack of bananas, but I didn't need a banana.'

Cornelia Rudat, a 49-year-old office manager who grew up in the East German state of Saxony-Anhalt, agrees. She says she does not miss the GDR, but says there were some good points to everyday life.

'Child care was free and it was much easier for women to combine children with work. It's hard for young people to find a job these days, they do endless internships.'

For Stefan Wolle, historical director of the GDR Museum in Berlin, 'Ostalgie' is a phenomenon that is linked with the increasingly virtual nature of the modern world, as people spend more time using computers and on the internet.

'People are not just looking for their roots but also for something real, that they can touch, and identify with.'

In recent years, an increasing number of businesses, shops and museums have opened to cater to the growing interest in life in the GDR. The 'Ostel' (a mashup of the German word Ost, for East, and hotel) allows guests to experience a hotel, East German style.

'We don't do comfort or luxury' says co-founder Daniel Helbig. Rooms have no telephones, fridges or televisions. But each of the 80 rooms has a different type of radio and a selection of East German books and decorations.

'We want to show that the GDR wasn't all grey, it was a colourful place and there was more choice of products than people think.'

In Dresden and Berlin, the 'Trabi Safari' offers city tours in a selection of Trabants, the most common make of East German car, which tourists can drive themselves.

'Many of our customers in Berlin are young people looking for a new, different way to learn about the GDR,' says Michaela Trepte, the acting manager of the company. 'But in Dresden, where tourists tend to be predominantly German, we often have older customers who want to remember what it was like to sit in a Trabi.'

The east German 'Ampelmann' or traffic light man - hatted and chubbier than his Western counterparts - has also become a popular emblem of the East, as many people consider him more attractive.

Products, including cork screws, T-shirts and vases - all featuring his distinctive figure - can be bought in the 'Ampelmann' shop. They have been selling well since the shop's West German founder Markus Heckhausen launched his first designs in 1999. Heckhausen has gone on to oversee the opening of four shops in Berlin.

It's not everyone's cup of tea.

'I don't like the term 'Ostalgie' and the way people make money out of it,' says Arndt, who says he makes no money out of his shop, but runs it to give people pleasure. He dislikes the way Heckhausen's shops have commercialized the Ampelmann.

'There's no question that the Eastern Ampelmann is better than the Western,' says Arndt. 'But it's significant that that's the only thing we have left from the East - a traffic light man.'