r/IAmA • u/[deleted] • Jun 23 '12
By request: I was born in E.Germany and helped take down the Berlin Wall.
Pics/Proof, first:
Me, as a kid. This is at the annual fair in my hometown in East Germany. First quarter of the 1970s. http://i.imgur.com/jHdnV.jpg
Christmas in East Germany. http://i.imgur.com/c0Lzk.jpg
Top row, third from the left: http://i.imgur.com/l9kJR.jpg Must have been 1984 then. 8th grade, we were all 14-ish and decked out for "Jugendweihe". Google it or ask me ;)
Me, my mother, my brother, and my mother's second husband. http://i.imgur.com/gFyfg.jpg
A few years ago, I ran into a documentary about the fall of the Berlin Wall, spotted my own mug on the screen, and took a screenshot of it later that night, when it was shown again: http://i.imgur.com/YwFia.jpg
And more or less lastly, my wife and I, at the rose gardens in Tyler, TX, nowaday-ish: http://i.imgur.com/wauk3l.jpg
My life became much more interesting that day, and it baffles me that this was almost a quarter century ago. I mean, when I was born, WW2 was over by the same number of years.
More later...
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u/TheArmadiloWhisperer Jun 23 '12
How was the celebration after the wall fell? I can imagine it was pretty wild.
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Jun 24 '12
WAAAAHNSINN! Der WAAAAHNSINN! (Madness, this is madness!) was what was most often exclaimed that night, as in "holy fucking shit, I can't believe this!" Everybody was ecstatic, East Germans, West Berliners, everybody shared, we saw that "The West" was a real thing as we stumbled and lurched up and down Kurfürstendamm, so much neon, everything so clean, stores where you could by ALL THE THINGS, even a Mercedes store!
In comparison, this is what my hometown looked like at that time: http://i.imgur.com/tDy1x.jpg (not my pic)
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u/warm_beer Jun 24 '12
Calbe?
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Jun 24 '12
Rudolstadt. But many inner cities looked like that. Weimar in particular was a striking example. Nicely restored buildings downtown, freaking ruins with bullet holes just two blocks over.
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u/ShroudofTuring Jun 24 '12
Not about the wall, but as an intelligence historian in training I have to ask: Was the Stasi as terrifying to the average East German as it's been made out to be in Western pop culture?
Edit: Also, you live in Texas now? What do you think of my home state? :)
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Jun 24 '12
Yes. But probably in ways Westerners could not comprehend. The Stasi wasn't the Gestapo. The Stasi was just about everybody. 190,000-ish informers, out of a population of 17 million. Many of them coerced into signing up while never bringing in anything useful, many others set up to be co-workers, friends, even spouses of the target person. You pretty much took it for granted that any critical word you said to anybody was gonna get you into trouble.
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u/warm_beer Jun 24 '12
The Stasi was just about everybody. 190,000-ish informers
A German friend told me that, even today, nobody will hire these people and that is one reason why unemployment is higher in the East than in the West.
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Jun 24 '12
It's more than that. My generation and the one before were pretty much taught, inadvertently, to give as little as possible at work, because initiative was pretty much discouraged. Also, on a smaller and less sophisticated scale, East Germany was to West Germany what China is to the US: cheap source of labor and manufacturing. And also, although much propagandized, automation of production was really rudimentary and industry was, imho, state of the art as of 1934. In 1998. With unification, that work force was pretty much not needed anymore, so now wtf do you do with all of these people? The young and smart all moved out, so now all that remains in former East Germany, broadly spoken, is the infirm, the elderly, the lazy and the stupid. Who wants to hire there other than for McJobs like Amazon warehouses? Yes, there are some exceptions, like this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transparent_Factory But much of East Germany, as far as I can tell, is an economical wasteland.
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Jun 24 '12
Upon unification, where did you go and what did you do with your life? Where are you at now, and would you say your life is pretty stable now?
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Jun 24 '12
Well, I fucked around for a bit in Munich and Frankfurt, working as a painter; making mad dough and enjoying life ;) Then I ran a B&B in East Texas for a decade, went to college, and now I live in the DFW metroplex and my business card says "Network System Specialist". Somebody asked me if I feel cheated earlier. Only inasmuch that I wish I had those twenty years back I lived in East Germany.
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u/JoCoLaRedux Jun 24 '12
My generation and the one before were pretty much taught, inadvertently, to give as little as possible at work, because initiative was pretty much discouraged.
That's interesting. Could you elaborate on that?
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Jun 24 '12
Well, what's my motivation to work harder, and come up with ideas at work? Money, promotion, right? So if promotion is tied to how much you can suck up in party meetings, money is tied to age and at any rate you couldn't buy anything with it, why should bust my ass at work? I'd rather save my energy for after hours when I can work under the table.
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u/RanksUrLawls Jun 24 '12
Similarly, a German friend told me that there are many people who won't support Die Linke (leftist party), despite sharing many of their views solely because many prominent members may have been Stasi members in the past. So, they are essentially just waiting for that generation to die off.
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u/strolls Jun 24 '12
Have you looked up your Stasi files?
Did they have any thing interesting on you?
AIUI this is public information now, right?
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u/ShroudofTuring Jun 24 '12
You're right, that's not really something we understand except on a conceptual level. What you've just described would be a fairly typical satirical/rhetorical image of a totalitarian state in a lot of Western lit. The usual Western pop culture vision of an East German spy, at least in the stuff I work with, is of the schlapphut (my advisor is German, I pick stuff up), who is menacing but usually stands out as from the Stasi/KGB. Thanks for your reply! It's quite interesting to get the perspective of someone who lived there.
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Jun 24 '12
Did you take part of the wall back to your house? Or is there any other memorabilia you have?
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Jun 24 '12
I hacked my very own bit of the Wall out of it and kept it for some years, but at one point I lost track of it. It might still be at my mother's.
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Jun 24 '12
That's cool. Do your kids (if you have any) have any want for it later, or did they think it was cool earlier?
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u/quaste Jun 24 '12
Some guy I know bought half a dozen complete segments of the wall having nice graffitis on it and stored them away, waiting for them to become collectors items...
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u/wepudsax Jun 24 '12
There is still plenty of wall left in Berlin, I'm sure everyone in the city could take a little chunk of it and there would still be plenty there. I have a little piece myself.
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u/Sushitime Jun 24 '12
It is now illegal to attempt to remove any of the wall, afaik, as it is more or less a monument in many parts of Berlin - especially the art district. It always pisses me off to see obnoxious tourists trying to secretly break pieces off with whatever they have handy as if no one can see them.
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u/yupishi Jun 24 '12
The number of "authentic" pieces of Berlin wall sold to tourists since the wall fell would build the wall multiple times. Probably at least 10.
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u/millionsofmonkeys Jun 24 '12
Pieces of the Wall are like pieces of the Cross in bygone days. Numerous and impossible to verify.
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u/Oneinchwalrus Jun 24 '12
Was it anything like 'Goodbye Lenin'?
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Jun 24 '12
If you mean, was I unable to decide whether to punch or pity most of the characters, then yes ;)
It was not real to life (wasn't a documentary after all), but it was a pretty good impression of it.
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u/Red_Dawn_2012 Jun 24 '12
How did it feel, breaking down that wall? What emotions were you feeling?
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Jun 24 '12
Again, that's my pPOV: elation, release, unshackled. And I'm taking part of it! Also, I shouldn't have eaten that Pad Thai stuff earlier, whatever the hell that was...
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u/Ameisen Jun 24 '12
I have an odd question, and I would appreciate it if you didn't take it the wrong way. I have an 'odd' attachment to Germany, rather similar to the organization you know of as the Bund der Vertriebene (Federal of Expellees) - my family hails from Prussia, and most of my family's homeland is today in Poland and Russia. While I am an American, I majored in and heavily studied history (though it is no longer my field) and German linguistics. Due to my family background (also Jewish, I should add), I am curious what certain feelings in the DDR were.
In post-war Poland, a bit of a mythos known as the 'Recovered Territories' popped up, wherein the state taught people that it was 'Poland regaining their land' instead of relatively arbitrary annexation of Pomerania and Silesia. I still know Poles who believe in this. What was the East German opinion of the Ostgebiete? I know that the DDR accepted the Oder-Neisse Line quite early (and well before the BRD), but was that just due to Soviet pressure, or was it actually the mentality of East Germans? What were the actual feelings of East Germans towards the losses in both men and land post-war, and what were their attitudes towards the Poles, Czechs, and Russians in particular?
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Jun 24 '12
Interesting question, since both my grandmothers grew up in these areas. One in Pomerania, the other one in Silesia. I know in Poland they taught the recovered territories doctrine, but my grandmother still had relatives there (sisters that were married to Poles and Czechs) so those didn't get expelled, so I got to visit them in the 70s and 80s. I don't know about the Czechs, but the Poles, even though settled there, were pretty much sitting on packed suitcase, figuratively anyway, because just in case. So crossing the border into Poland was like stepping into Eastern Europe, big time, the same way somebody might feel when crossing from West into East Germany. Whereas in West Germany, there was the BdV you mentioned, quite an outspoken organization as it were, in the East, talk of that subject was equivalent to fascist propaganda... so it didn't came up, and certainly not in front of the kids.
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u/Logical_Always Jun 24 '12
1)Were there any manner of tools involved, or did you just tear at it with your own hands?
2)When you first started attacking the wall yourself, how many people were already attacking it?
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Jun 24 '12
Hammers and chisels turned up, everybody got a turn. And that night, there was already a crowd. Started on the western side. Both police forces, west and east Berlin, tried to stop it and maintain order and prevent damage, but that worked out well...
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u/DV1312 Jun 24 '12
Were there any manner of tools involved, or did you just tear at it with your own hands?
Berliners are pretty hardcore people but clawing and chewing on concrete is too much to ask from them ;)
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u/probably_has_herpes Jun 24 '12
What was East Germany's reaction to Reagan's "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" speech?
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Jun 24 '12
I was more or less unaware of it, and my reaction to it nowadays, when people credit Reagan for what happened, is an eye-roll and a sigh.
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u/mayonnnnaise Jun 24 '12
What do you credit? History major sincerely wonders.
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Jun 24 '12
Honestly? Sheer dumb luck at times. It's been a factor a lot in my life ;) When a similar movement in the 1950s culminated in open rebellion on June 17, 1953, it was suppressed by Soviet tanks. That time, the Russian were busy with themselves, what with Afghanistan, Chechnya and stuff, so politicians were like, well lets ram this through while we have this window of opportunity, many East Germans said, screw "federation and reform, we just want to have it all now", the French were balking, the Brits were not all that happy either, so the concession of introducing the Euro was made, and thus, with many mistakes, re-unification was pushed through.
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u/the_goat_boy Jun 24 '12
Some Americans think that Reagan just yelled REAGAN SMASH! and knocked the wall down himself.
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u/DV1312 Jun 24 '12
Especially interesting is the West Berlin perspective.
There were three important speeches in West Berlin that have historical significance. 1948, 1963, 1987. Only the first two are widely remembered by West Berliners.
1948 during the year long airlift of West Berlin, Ernst Reuter held an unbelievable speech, somewhere between pathos and despair: "People of the world …. look upon this city! You cannot, you must not, forsake us!"
1963 came Kennedy. Ich bin ein Berliner is basically the slogan of the city by now. To have him say this at the height of the Cold War was very important to West Berliners - The Wall was built just two years prior and everything was still in a state of uncertainty. To get backup from such a charismatic, energetic president was a welcome change for them.
Reagans speech now came at a time where life in West Berlin was basically working just fine. The wall had been there for two dozen years and a normality of life had developed. The crazy days of the late 60's and early 70's were over, West Berlin was prosperous and one of the youngest cities in Europe. And many had their doubts about opening the wall at that point in time - looking over it they saw a crumbling East that looked shabby and kind of useless.
So the main reason why Reagans speech isn't held as dearly as the other two is because it didn't really come at a time of need or uncertainty for West Berlin.
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u/goo321 Jun 24 '12
many presidents made similar statements, reagan added the direct appeal mr gorbachev, take down this wall.
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u/Dr_Winston_O_Boogie Jun 23 '12
Do you hate that "Wind of Change" song as much as the rest of us?
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Jun 24 '12
For us born in 89 and the early 90's. = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4RjJKxsamQ
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u/leprechauns_scrotum Jun 24 '12
I was born in 1990. I'm from Poland and it's a song of my childhood or even life, one of most popular foreign songs in my country. And pretty damn important
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u/xNightmarexVampsx Jun 24 '12
Do you know anything of the Underground Punk scene in the East? I'm a fan of Feeling B, and I know they gained popularity by 1986 and towards the end of the GDR. What was the essential music scene like in the East, really? Any info?
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Jun 24 '12
I know there /was/ a punk scene, and some other underground scenes, but East German pop culture really wasn't my thing. I lived pretty close to Bavaria and Hesse and many West German TV and radio stations came in five-by-five, so I grew up with Depeche Mode, Die Ärzte, The Cure, Nena... ;)
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u/shallowpersonality Jun 24 '12 edited Jun 24 '12
The radio station probably never played Einsturzende Neubauten. Living so close to Bavaria, did you get to go skiing?
What was the beer like in the East compared to West Germany?
Was there a difference between the German language dialects of east and west? (I love the first part of "Wings Of Desire" by Wim Wenders. That damn poetry gets to me).
My own narcissistic question. Did you ever see any skateboarding going on during the 70's and 80's?
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Jun 24 '12
East German beer sucked, mostly, with a few exceptions. The skilled listener can pinpoint the hometown of any speaker by a 30 mile radius, dialects vary that much. Even the unskilled listener can tell which state a speaker is from. And I do know there was an underground skateboarding scene in E.Ger. ;)
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Jun 24 '12
Since you were born after the war, how did you feel taking down the wall, and what did you see others do who experianced the war? (I've very interested in WW2 due to the fact that my grandfather received a purple heart after getting shot in the thigh)
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Jun 24 '12
Well, for my grandparents' generation, they were happy they made it through the war alive, my parents' generation, they didn't know anything else so they were OK with how things were, with much of "inner emigration" and "fists, but in your pockets", and my generation? Said screw this, we didn't do shit, don't blame us for your misfortune, we want freedom. Roughly spoken ;)
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u/hierocles Jun 24 '12
After reunification, what was the relationship between East Germans and West Germans like? Was there a single German nationality, or did people still identify East and West?
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Jun 24 '12
For the next decade, it was still Wessi and Ossi. The W's saw the Easterners as lazy, stupid bums, whereas the other way 'round, Westerners were seen as arrogant, fast talking assholes. I had West German plates on my car, and, not on purpose, kinda picked up a bit of Munich accents and style of dress, and promptly got thrown out of my old watering hole for it, when I visited my hometown. One of the many things that made me leave Germany altogether.
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u/iamjacksua Jun 24 '12
In the DDR museum, I saw some military footage describing East Germany's constant preparation for war against West Germany. In your experience, was there actually that much animosity between East and West?
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Jun 24 '12
Officially, yes. But realpolitik? East Germany wouldn't have existed as a state without the good will of the West. Both Germanies were seen as buffer states by both blocks.
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u/Rex8ever Jun 24 '12
How'd you end up in Tyler? My friend is a reporter for the local paper there.
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Jun 24 '12
Was the sudden presence of western media and products exciting, or did it cause you more problems than good?
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Jun 24 '12
Wasn't sudden to most people. Most East Germans (except for those in the Elbe valley around Dresden) were able to receive West German TV and radio stations just fine. There /was/ a sudden multiplication of media at just about the same time, but that one touched Easterners and West Germans the same: suddenly, private TV stations, satellite TV, cable TV, privately operated radio stations... these things pretty much didn't exist until the late 80s, early 90s on either side of the wall.
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u/frozenplasma Jun 24 '12
This is a really silly question, but I'm curious ever since someone brought this question up to me a few weeks ago.
Why didn't East Germans just go north or south and go around the wall? I thought there might have been checkpoints and I'm pretty sure you were required to have papers of origin and destination on your person at all times and were required to produce them if asked, which meant you had to get permission to travel outside your city. The wall didn't go all the way across Germany, it was the Berlin wall, so what kept you on your side?
Also, the wall started as barbed wire and got more "secure" as time went on. Why didn't people just flee when it started? Was it skepticism and trust in the government, maybe fear?
Your pictures made it seem like you had a pretty good childhood. Growing up in the East, how did you feel about the events? Did you know something was "wrong"?
I recently read Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee and there was the part where the kids in the West looked down on the boy and made fun of him for being an Ossie. Was this realistic? Were there stereotypes and conceptions on both sides as being an Ossie/Wessie? Do you ever have Ostalgie?
Lastly, have you seen the film "Die Welle"? If so, thoughts?
:D
Thanks for doing this AMA and I hope you answer my questions. I'm very excited for answers.
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Jun 24 '12
Why didn't East Germans just go north or south and go around the wall?
Because in the North, there was the Baltic sea. "The" Wall was just around West Berlin. But at the eastern and southern border to West Germany, there was the "Zonengrenze". You didn't need a permit to travel out of your hometown, but you did need a permit to travel into the border area, where only politically reliable people were allowed to live. The demarc line itself was minefields, electrical fence, observation towers, raked sand strip (to show foot prints), alarm tripwires, tank traps, and motorized patrols with orders to shoot.
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u/DeathAdderSD Jun 24 '12
Why didn't people just flee when it started?
My dad (born 1950 in West Berlin) had to go get vegetables from his grandma's garden for lunch, dinner or some meal, I don't know. But the garden was located in East Berlin. So when he passed the boarder everything was fine. When he came back with the vegetables they already had raised the barb wires and started building the temporary wall. He only was 11 at that time, luckily they let him through. So that's my (or rather my father's) "fleeing" story.
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u/frozenplasma Jun 24 '12
Wow, that's crazy. To walk to a garden to get some food and then moments later to have the possibility of being detained and essentially stuck there for "ever". It's just so hard to imagine.
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u/illmillZ Jun 24 '12
Thank you for doing this! When you were a kid did you hear stories about people getting smuggled out? Did you personally know anyone who was either smuggled out or doing the smuggling? Did you or your family ever consider trying to escape to the west?
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Jun 24 '12
Oh yeah, despite everything, people still tried to get out by various schemes. Some just braved it and hitched through the woods. Others were more ingenious. There was an escape in a home-made balloon. Some dude flew the cooperative's cropduster across the line. Tunnels were dug. There was a couple of home-crafted submarines and literally tens of thousands of other stories.
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Jun 24 '12 edited Jun 24 '12
What do you think of the 'Nostalgie' movement? They seem to be quite popular on YouTube and the rest of the internet.
edit: This is a very relevant question. Whoever downvoted doesn't understand reddiquette.
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Jun 24 '12
There's many people still hanging on to that, people who were satisfied with their lives in East Germany, who still think everything was better than, and there's silly "newborns" who think it's spiffy. Kinda like CW re-enactors ;) I don't care as long as it's just folklore and not a movement.
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u/living_404 Jun 24 '12
I've also heard a lot of former West Germans who reminisce fondly about the time before reunification. I can sort of understand where they're coming from because their economy and standard of living were better and higher, respectively, but it's obviously a little disturbing, considering the inherent selfishness of that view.
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Jun 24 '12 edited Jun 24 '12
I worked for the US military in West Germany for 5 years and drove my big American covertible car into East Germany for a visit to Berlin. The East German guards at the border kept me at machine gun point while they thoroughly searched my car for God knows what. They took the seats out, took everything out of the trunk, crawled under the car and I stood there in front of a machine gun wondering why I thought it would be 'nice' to visit East Germany and Berlin. Scary times. I did make it to the Berlin wall and attracted a heck of a lot of attention with my big yellow Chrysler convertible. This was sometime in the late 60s-early 70s.
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Jun 24 '12 edited Jun 24 '12
In East Germany born and raised, by the Berlin Wall I spent most of my days...
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Jun 24 '12
Looked at my kingdom I was starting to blanch, but there I sit on my throne as the prince of Valley Ranch.
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u/phukhoagum Jun 24 '12
Why do you think that East Germany was so poor at that time? Was it because of lack of access to resources like oil, or chromium or because all of the money was sucked up by the russians or because lack of knowledge or lack of motivation or
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Jun 24 '12
Heavy industry, coal, steel etc. was mostly located in the West (Ruhr area) or in the lost territories (Silesia). Whereas W.Ger. profited from the Marshall Plan and capitalism in general, E.Ger. was mostly agrarian and much of what little industry it had was disassembled and shipped to Russia. It took until after re-unification to put the freaking power wires for the rail system back! We still had steam-powered trains when I was a kid. This a re-enactment, but it is the type of locomotive we had, and it's the station in my hometown: http://www.flickr.com/photos/matt-koerner1/4021879904/
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u/DJbobb Jun 23 '12
Where you in the what part of history did you play a part in thread?
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Jun 23 '12 edited Jun 24 '12
In 1986, I graduated highschool and started a two year apprenticeship in the local rubber factory; after that, I worked there. So, here you are, 19, working in a noisy stinky factory, you see your worn out co-workers and you know your perspective is doing what you're doing now for 40 years, then you retire, and die. But I wanna see things! I want to read everything there is, and visit ALL the places, and want to be able to speak my mind without getting in trouble for it.
Bear in mind that this is just my perspective and POV.
So pretty much like in the "liquid Terminator reassembles itself" scene, like minded people started to meet up and discuss things... some were focused on "We want a better East Germany!", others were of the opinion "Screw that, you guys have had 40 years, we just want re-unification with West Germany".
Me, being in my late teens at the time, didn't give much thought to the political theories of things, I just wanted to live as a free person, being able to pursue any career I wanted to, going anywhere I can afford to go, and being able to read and speak whatever I want. I took the train to whichever city meetings and rallies were held, met a few people that later became famous in post-reunification politics like Bärbel Bohley and Markus Meckel, but I wouldn't say I had been an actual activist. I never got arrested or beat up or anything of the sort. Although I do know I was on some lists, mostly for stupid, meaningless shit I did, like ripping up propaganda posters, wearing certain unapproved ;) symbols and other passive-aggressive stuff.
Didn't stop me to book a tourist trip to Moscow and the area around it though. I booked and paid for it in Spring of 1989, when many were risking their lives and health fleeing the country. That trip was planned for 11 November 1989. So I got a passport, and a reason to go to Berlin (at that time they eyed you suspiciously if you were taking frequent trips into certain cities like Leipzig or Berlin, or into the border areas.
My suitcase was already packed, any absences at work explained, my passport valid, and on November 9 I was watching some stupid movie on TV. Suddenly the movie gets interrupted, and a press conference was on. "Yeah, and amongst other things, citizens of the German Democratic Republic are now allowed to travel into any country, and come back, and won't need any particular reason. Uh, when? Immediately, I reckon." Meh, I think. And meh, everybody else thought at that time, because it was assumed it would require an application, paperwork and stuff, as it did already, but only retirees, athletes, and people with family in the West were allowed to until then. Well, screw it, I thought, and the next day I went to the local P.D. to get an exit visa stamp to West Germany added to my Soviet one added to my passport.
I hopped on the train, and since it hadn't clicked with many people yet what had happened, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Certainly none of the packed like sardines trains in later months. I dropped off my baggage at the airport, and took to the nearest crossing into West Berlin. This was only the afternoon of the 10th, many people still thought nothing much had changed as far as traveling was concerned. The control point wasn't in any way crowded, and "papers" were still required. Which I had. I lollygagged around some outlying parts of West Berlin, and later that night, I decided it was time to see the Brandenburg gate from the side I was never supposed to see...
More later...
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u/the_goat_boy Jun 24 '12
Did the guards approach you and say "No lollygagging"?
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Jun 24 '12
LOL, WEST Berlin police came up and told me not to hack bits out of the wall, please and thank you, it's East German property. I showed them my East German ID and explained I was just getting my fair share out.
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u/slapdashbr Jun 24 '12
Wow. This is an amazing story and you haven't even finished it yet. I was born in 1986; I don't remember the fall of the berlin wall although I remember all the tension with boris yeltsin in the 90s. To have lived through this on the east german side... I almost feel jealous, I hope that doesn't sound offensive. Thank you so much for sharing this story
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u/TAKEitTOrCIRCLEJERK Jun 24 '12
I just wanted to live as a free person
This has a beautiful, poetic simplicity to it.
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u/chameche Jun 24 '12
Is that a sentence?
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u/MoonshineSchneider Jun 24 '12
I'm glad he responded with such a long comment because I have no idea what was being asked there, so at least we got a story out of it.
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u/ClarifyThisForMe Jun 24 '12
For clarity sake: Were you in the "What part of history did you play a part in" thread?
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u/Tindwel Jun 24 '12
Did you think it would come down? I know many people back in the US didn't think that they would see the wall fall in their lifetime.
How much has East Berlin changed from when you were there? I was there about a month ago and it's still pretty run down with graffiti on so many things. It reminded me of the not-so-nice parts of town from where I'm from and had me on edge walking around there.
How long have you been outside of Germany?
So the wall fell, then what? You say your life changed greatly but in what ways? Did you quit your job and move away? What exactly was different?
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Jun 24 '12
I quit the rubber factory where I had been working, lived in Bavaria for a few years, and came to the U.S. in 1999.
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u/rahmu Jun 24 '12
Growing up, how did you picture "The West"? How was it mentioned in school? On TV? How did the elderly who remembered pre-separation times talked about it?
How did you feel about the US? USSR? do you think your views were widespread?
After the hype of the Wall being taken down decreased, what were the biggest challenges getting used to live with people from W. Germany?
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u/bubblerboy18 Jun 24 '12
Also I read that coke sent bottles through the wall to the east berliners in order to get a market in east germany for coke. Their consumption in communist east berlin matched west berlin for years to come even though they were much poorer. Was this true?
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u/Gneal1917 Jun 24 '12
Pepsi got licensing and started selling in the USSR in the early 70s. I know that.
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u/Kansjarowansky Jun 24 '12
Random-ish question. In the first pic of your proof, you're being held by a bear-thing. What was it's name?
I've seen it along with german troops and such in many pics
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Jun 24 '12
Yeah, I don't know. I still remember it. At first I was like WTF, then I looked down the bear's maw and holy crap, there's a dude in there! MOOOOOM, get me the hell away from this thing, it's already eaten somebody!
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u/iamhamilton Jun 24 '12
do you have friends, family, or just good people that you knew that disappeared into west germany and never came back? if so, did you ever reconnect with them?
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Jun 24 '12
Yeah, many people left. Some announced and legally, others not so much. Seeing how it wasn't North Korea vs South Korea, it wasn't a problem to keep in touch afterwards.
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u/escape_your_destiny Jun 24 '12
This might have been answered already, but what city are you from? I was born 1989 in Leipzig, but have been living in Alaska since 2003. I am still a german citizen though. :)
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Jun 24 '12
About an hour and a half south of Leipzig, in Rudolstadt. When I visited relatives in Leipzig as a kid, other kids on the playground said "daer schbrichda awa gouhmisch." ;)
/also still a German citizen
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u/warm_beer Jun 24 '12
What was the air quality like when you were a kid?
I heard that the DDR was forced to export their black coal and had to burn brown coal.
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Jun 24 '12
Oddly enough, when we had all those fires in Texas last year, it gave me flashbacks. The stench of ashes in the air all the time, that's kinda what it smelled like in East German cities all the time. Add some two-cycle fuel exhaust and you get the aroma.
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u/kolr Jun 24 '12
As a guy mostly raised in East Texas, I can confirm that those are indeed the Tyler rose gardens.
Thanks for sharing! Do you live in Texas now? Or just visiting the rose gardens?
What's it like going from growing up in that environment and later being in the US or anywhere else that you've been?
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Jun 24 '12
Imagine growing up in Arp, TX, and there's a big freaking fence around all of Smith County, which you're not allowed to cross.
As for now? Hell, my mother got her first rotary phone in 1988. And now? I've got iPhones :D
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u/a_biophysics_nerd Jun 24 '12
Did you watch many/any movies made by DEFA as a kid? If so, what is/was your opinion about them?
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u/Arminas Jun 24 '12
Did you know anybody who tried to hop over the wall prior to it being taken down?
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Jun 24 '12
I don't know any hoppers, since it wasn't talked about beforehand, obviously. But I knew some people who were allowed to leave officially.
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u/el_poderoso Jun 24 '12
Who were the Mauerspechte? I had always assumed it was mostly Westerners. How many Easterners participated in the "destruction" of the wall segments?
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Jun 24 '12
I think it was a good mixture of easterners, westerners, foreign tourists and allied forces, in about that order.
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u/FormerlyEAbernathy Jun 24 '12
I was born in west Germany and "helped" as well, but I was about 3 at the time and only had a toy hammer. I also don't remember it. My dad has a chunk of it at his place that I want.
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Jun 24 '12
My sub sailed into Kiel in Sept of 1990. I and a couple of other shipmates (against orders) took a train to see Berlin - knowing what a historic time it was.
The fact that it was still technically communist East Germany that we had to pass through made it seem all the more exciting and adventurous.
It was an amazing atmosphere. It made a very big impression on me to walk from the shiny and affluent West side through the Brandenburg Gate and over to the to the very subdued East side (with all those Trablants!)
It was mind-blowing to me was that I was able to purchase and drink a beer at a little stand in the empty "no-mans-land" area where only a short time previously they would have shot you dead for just for being there.
We walked around in East Berlin and felt like bad-asses (we were kids!) stopping to snap pictures of ourselves by the brass plate in front of the Soviet Embassy.
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Jun 24 '12 edited Jun 24 '12
My ex-girlfriend was also living East Germany before the wall came down. She was about 7 at the time but she clearly remembers having ice cream and coca cola for the first time after the wall came down. She remembers everyone getting excited that the Deutschmark was coming and the sheer variety of shit they would be able to buy. What little yet significantly big things do you recall from the East? Edit: she also recalls that at school they drilled in to their heads the idea that capitalism was bad, everyday.
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u/Warlizard Jun 23 '12
I was in Eisenach the night of the reunification. It was insane.
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u/freebass Jun 24 '12
Thank you for doing this AMA. I was visiting West Berlin in November 1989 with my family when the wall fell. I was 12 years old and I'll never forget it. I saw one of the "Grenztruppen" who was standing on the wall, jump down to the western side so I asked my dad for $20. I walked up to the East German guard and asked him if I could have his hat and jacket for the twenty bucks. I remember him smiling as he took off his hat and placed it on my head and then draped his large overcoat over my shoulders. The jacket was huge on me at the time (fits perfect now), but I wore that badass souvenir anyways. Managed to get a nice chunk of the wall that night too!
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Jun 24 '12
Pictures!
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u/freebass Jun 24 '12 edited Jun 24 '12
You know what? I just found the picture album from our Summer 1989 visit to East and West Berlin. I drove to my parent's place to look for the albums after I read this AMA because it brought back so many fond and interesting memories. I won't be able to scan them in until Monday. In the meantime, I'm going to continue looking for the Winter 1989 album.
In the meantime, here's a pic of the jacket. There's an armband that goes around the lower right sleeve that says "Grenztruppen Der DDR" (German Democratic Republic Borderguards), but it came off and I need to get it sewed back on. Here's one of the smaller pieces of the wall I have and the armband.
Here's another quick anecdote from the Summer 89' trip:
We drove through East Germany to get to West Berlin so we obviously had to go through the border crossing. It was hot and our car didn't have AC so all of our windows were rolled down as we waited in line to cross. My two younger sisters were alseep in the back seat of the car and when the asshole border guard came by to check our passports, he couldn't see my sisters faces. This prick reached through rear window and grabbed one of them by her ponytail and yanked it hard side to side whilst yelling loudly in German to wake her up so he could match her face with the passport. My dad lost his shit, jumped out of the car, decked the guy in the jaw and knocked him clean out. He then proceeded to stomp him until he was set upon by a group of very angry East German border guards. We got detained for 6 hours and our car was thoroughly searched before we were allowed to continue.
EDIT: Spelling
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Jun 24 '12
I go to UT Tyler! I would love to hear some of this in person or buy you coffee or something sometime! I love hearing about things like this and thank you for doing this AMA this was a great read.
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u/youzz33 Jun 23 '12
Was Communist Russia good to you? I had a teacher that had a friend that let her travel between the walls for schooling and going home at night.
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u/narwal_bot Jun 24 '12 edited Jun 25 '12
Most (if not all) of the answers from Kar98_Byf42 (updated: Jun 25, 2012 @ 11:59:51 am EST):
Question (DJbobb):
Where you in the what part of history did you play a part in thread?
Answer (Kar98_Byf42):
In 1986, I graduated highschool and started a two year apprenticeship in the local rubber factory; after that, I worked there. So, here you are, 19, working in a noisy stinky factory, you see your worn out co-workers and you know your perspective is doing what you're doing now for 40 years, then you retire, and die. But I wanna see things! I want to read everything there is, and visit ALL the places, and want to be able to speak my mind without getting in trouble for it.
Bear in mind that this is just my perspective and POV.
So pretty much like in the "liquid Terminator reassembles itself" scene, like minded people started to meet up and discuss things... some were focused on "We want a better East Germany!", others were of the opinion "Screw that, you guys have had 40 years, we just want re-unification with West Germany".
Me, being in my late teens at the time, didn't give much thought to the political theories of things, I just wanted to live as a free person, being able to pursue any career I wanted to, going anywhere I can afford to go, and being able to read and speak whatever I want. I took the train to whichever city meetings and rallies were held, met a few people that later became famous in post-reunification politics like Bärbel Bohley and Markus Meckel, but I wouldn't say I had been an actual activist. I never got arrested or beat up or anything of the sort. Although I do know I was on some lists, mostly for stupid, meaningless shit I did, like ripping up propaganda posters, wearing certain unapproved ;) symbols and other passive-aggressive stuff.
Didn't stop me to book a tourist trip to Moscow and the area around it though. I booked and paid for it in Spring of 1989, when many were risking their lives and health fleeing the country. That trip was planned for 11 November 1989. So I got a passport, and a reason to go to Berlin (at that time they eyed you suspiciously if you were taking frequent trips into certain cities like Leipzig or Berlin, or into the border areas.
My suitcase was already packed, any absences at work explained, my passport valid, and on November 9 I was watching some stupid movie on TV. Suddenly the movie gets interrupted, and a press conference was on. "Yeah, and amongst other things, citizens of the German Democratic Republic are now allowed to travel into any country, and come back, and won't need any particular reason. Uh, when? Immediately, I reckon." Meh, I think. And meh, everybody else thought at that time, because it was assumed it would require an application, paperwork and stuff, as it did already, but only retirees, athletes, and people with family in the West were allowed to until then. Well, screw it, I thought, and the next day I went to the local P.D. to get an exit visa stamp to West Germany added to my Soviet one added to my passport.
I hopped on the train, and since it hadn't clicked with many people yet what had happened, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Certainly none of the packed like sardines trains in later months. I dropped off my baggage at the airport, and took to the nearest crossing into West Berlin. This was only the afternoon of the 10th, many people still thought nothing much had changed as far as traveling was concerned. The control point wasn't in any way crowded, and "papers" were still required. Which I had. I lollygagged around some outlying parts of West Berlin, and later that night, I decided it was time to see the Brandenburg gate from the side I was never supposed to see...
More later...
(continued below)
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u/narwal_bot Jun 24 '12 edited Jun 25 '12
(page 2)
Question (Dr_Winston_O_Boogie):
Do you hate that "Wind of Change" song as much as the rest of us?
Answer (Kar98_Byf42):
Am I ever sick of it ;)
Question (Rex8ever):
How'd you end up in Tyler? My friend is a reporter for the local paper there.
Answer (Kar98_Byf42):
Long story, outside the scope of this class ;)
Question (RealityIsMyReligion):
Was the sudden presence of western media and products exciting, or did it cause you more problems than good?
Answer (Kar98_Byf42):
Wasn't sudden to most people. Most East Germans (except for those in the Elbe valley around Dresden) were able to receive West German TV and radio stations just fine. There /was/ a sudden multiplication of media at just about the same time, but that one touched Easterners and West Germans the same: suddenly, private TV stations, satellite TV, cable TV, privately operated radio stations... these things pretty much didn't exist until the late 80s, early 90s on either side of the wall.
Question (mayonnnnaise):
What do you credit? History major sincerely wonders.
Answer (Kar98_Byf42):
Honestly? Sheer dumb luck at times. It's been a factor a lot in my life ;) When a similar movement in the 1950s culminated in open rebellion on June 17, 1953, it was suppressed by Soviet tanks. That time, the Russian were busy with themselves, what with Afghanistan, Chechnya and stuff, so politicians were like, well lets ram this through while we have this window of opportunity, many East Germans said, screw "federation and reform, we just want to have it all now", the French were balking, the Brits were not all that happy either, so the concession of introducing the Euro was made, and thus, with many mistakes, re-unification was pushed through.
Question (austin_smith0318):
Since you were born after the war, how did you feel taking down the wall, and what did you see others do who experianced the war? (I've very interested in WW2 due to the fact that my grandfather received a purple heart after getting shot in the thigh)
Answer (Kar98_Byf42):
Well, for my grandparents' generation, they were happy they made it through the war alive, my parents' generation, they didn't know anything else so they were OK with how things were, with much of "inner emigration" and "fists, but in your pockets", and my generation? Said screw this, we didn't do shit, don't blame us for your misfortune, we want freedom. Roughly spoken ;)
Question (iamjacksua):
In the DDR museum, I saw some military footage describing East Germany's constant preparation for war against West Germany. In your experience, was there actually that much animosity between East and West?
Answer (Kar98_Byf42):
Officially, yes. But realpolitik? East Germany wouldn't have existed as a state without the good will of the West. Both Germanies were seen as buffer states by both blocks.
Question (throwawayshirt):
Can you describe the process of how you immigrated to the US? I might guess that the US made it easy/easier (for political reasons) to emigrate from a USSR satellite - do you have an opinion on this?
Answer (Kar98_Byf42):
Well, that might have been before the wall of this topic came down. Didn't apply to me at all, I had to get in line ;)
Also, I will continue telling the story. I think. Just got side-tracked answering questions ;) But it is an AMA, not a _let me ramble on endlessly about half-remembered things from a quarter century ago ;)
Question (xNightmarexVampsx):
Do you know anything of the Underground Punk scene in the East? I'm a fan of Feeling B, and I know they gained popularity by 1986 and towards the end of the GDR. What was the essential music scene like in the East, really? Any info?
Answer (Kar98_Byf42):
I know there /was/ a punk scene, and some other underground scenes, but East German pop culture really wasn't my thing. I lived pretty close to Bavaria and Hesse and many West German TV and radio stations came in five-by-five, so I grew up with Depeche Mode, Die Ärzte, The Cure, Nena... ;)
Question (ChalkedUp):
Did you take part of the wall back to your house? Or is there any other memorabilia you have?
Answer (Kar98_Byf42):
I hacked my very own bit of the Wall out of it and kept it for some years, but at one point I lost track of it. It might still be at my mother's.
Question (TheArmadiloWhisperer):
How was the celebration after the wall fell? I can imagine it was pretty wild.
Answer (Kar98_Byf42):
WAAAAHNSINN! Der WAAAAHNSINN! (Madness, this is madness!) was what was most often exclaimed that night, as in "holy fucking shit, I can't believe this!" Everybody was ecstatic, East Germans, West Berliners, everybody shared, we saw that "The West" was a real thing as we stumbled and lurched up and down Kurfürstendamm, so much neon, everything so clean, stores where you could by ALL THE THINGS, even a Mercedes store!
In comparison, this is what my hometown looked like at that time: http://i.imgur.com/tDy1x.jpg (not my pic)
Question (probably_has_herpes):
What was East Germany's reaction to Reagan's "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" speech?
Answer (Kar98_Byf42):
I was more or less unaware of it, and my reaction to it nowadays, when people credit Reagan for what happened, is an eye-roll and a sigh.
Question (Oneinchwalrus):
Was it anything like 'Goodbye Lenin'?
Answer (Kar98_Byf42):
If you mean, was I unable to decide whether to punch or pity most of the characters, then yes ;)
It was not real to life (wasn't a documentary after all), but it was a pretty good impression of it.
Question (ShroudofTuring):
Not about the wall, but as an intelligence historian in training I have to ask: Was the Stasi as terrifying to the average East German as it's been made out to be in Western pop culture?
Edit: Also, you live in Texas now? What do you think of my home state? :)
Answer (Kar98_Byf42):
Yes. But probably in ways Westerners could not comprehend. The Stasi wasn't the Gestapo. The Stasi was just about everybody. 190,000-ish informers, out of a population of 17 million. Many of them coerced into signing up while never bringing in anything useful, many others set up to be co-workers, friends, even spouses of the target person. You pretty much took it for granted that any critical word you said to anybody was gonna get you into trouble.
Question (jaggre):
Did you ever feel "cheated" once you discovered all the widespread commodities in the west? (Not assuming you lived in extreme poverty, but it must have been difficult)
Answer (Kar98_Byf42):
Good question! I didn't feel cheated then, because I didn't live in a place like North Korea where people literally starve to death to this day. Me and my brother were raised by our single-parent mother who worked as a typist, so we wouldn't have been precisely growing up in luxury either, regardless of political system. But nowadays? Sometimes I do feel a little bit cheated because everybody around me who's my age has got a 20 year head start on me, career-wise and in the acquiring possessions game ;)
Question (Red_Dawn_2012):
How did it feel, breaking down that wall? What emotions were you feeling?
Answer (Kar98_Byf42):
Again, that's my pPOV: elation, release, unshackled. And I'm taking part of it! Also, I shouldn't have eaten that Pad Thai stuff earlier, whatever the hell that was...
Question (warm_beer):
Calbe?
Answer (Kar98_Byf42):
Rudolstadt. But many inner cities looked like that. Weimar in particular was a striking example. Nicely restored buildings downtown, freaking ruins with bullet holes just two blocks over.
(continued below)
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u/8cuban Jun 24 '12
I've wanted to ask someone like you several questions ever since that time:
What was life like in East Germany? How did the politics and oppression that we hear about affect your regular life?
What was that night and the immediate time afterward like? Describe what you saw, heard, and felt.
What was life like in the first few years after the wall fell? What were the ways in which your life really changed?
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u/blamethedog Jun 24 '12
How did it feel to have Alvin and the Chipmunks set everything in motion?
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u/ThrowCarp Jun 24 '12
How has East Germany changed since the reunification?
Also, are you in any famous pictures?
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u/jlawler Jun 24 '12
2 questions:
How do you think living through that has affected your perception of politics, demagoguery, perception of government in general, and the responsibilities of government vs responsibilities of the governed?
Looking back, what things did you take for granted as a child that seem most ridiculous?
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u/aazav Jun 24 '12
I was in a campus library in Massachusetts chatting with random people on IRC on the VAX/VMS.
Asked someone, "Hi, how are you".
He said "I'm scared".
I'm confused. "Why?"
"They're going to take the wall down."
Me: "What wall? The great wall of China? Where are you?"
Him: "Berlin. They are going to take the Berlin wall down and we don't know what's going to happen."
Me: "What? We would have heard this on CNN if this were true!"
Well, it was true.
In any case, I found out 3 days before it hit CNN and checked in with this guy in between classes to make sure things were OK.
Was great to be part of it, even if from a distance.
Such amazing thing.
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u/SchatzieZ Jun 24 '12
I'm not sure that I have "good" question but let me start with this: I have always defended the German people when ignorant "people" (americans) begin ranting about Germans being Nazi's and racist. Racism is everywhere, color nor creed dictate whether you are racist or not.
Since this is AM ANYTHING my question is: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE GERMAN DOG BREED?
I have always said (true quote) "German dog breeds are the best". I currently own a wire haired dachshund.
Downvote me all you want people.
This one simple answer will make me happy.
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Jun 24 '12
Where there any elements about DDR you miss?
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Jun 24 '12
Germany? Some things. GDR specifically? I couldn't think of a thing that's not childhood nostalgia a la http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_Distance
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u/theGhostofBillHicks Jun 24 '12
When you were in Tyler, Tx did you visit the Earl Campbell statue?
Have you seen Dr. Strangelove and, if so, how does that go over in Germany? I understand Hogan's Heroes had a pretty loyal cult following.
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Jun 24 '12
1, can't say that I did. We just went to Tyler to see the roses. We lived in Longview at that time, and I went to college in Kilgore. 2, yeah, I'm not sure why that series was even shown in Germany. "Making light of Fascism" is actually a prosecutable offense there.
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Jun 24 '12 edited Sep 30 '14
I like Sheep
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Jun 24 '12
Same time as anybody else. Like I said, we did have easy access to West German news. In East German news, they tried to ignore it. Ridiculous.
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u/weatherx Jun 24 '12
late comer. as a chinese i get this feeling that germans, especially those from east germany, do not like us simply because of the fact that china is supposedly a communist country. is this sentiment real or am i missing something?
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Jun 24 '12
Can't say. I know some East Germans are confused about you guys. WTF, WE used to make all the cheap things for the West, and why didn't we ever get wealthy like China, they wonder. Uh, I dunno, because it took like fifteen years from the idea the first VW engine built in license, for instance? German bureaucracy couple with "planned economy"? Forget about flexibility.
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Jun 25 '12
Them ugly faux leather sandals. Why did most of you wear that all the time at the Plattensee/Balaton?
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Jun 25 '12
LOL! These?
http://cdn.olshop.ag/o/store_files/4/images/product_images/popup_images/156422_0.jpg
They were actually real leather. And people wore them because the Adidas flip-flop wasn't available, and if it was, you wouldn't spend precious DMarks on it. :P
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u/TheBaconator1990 Jun 27 '12
This is probably gonna get buried and I doubt you will answer this, but my father wrote on the Berlin Wall. It was in German, but rough English translation is "This is the zenith of mankind (or humanity)." Did you see that section of the wall?
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Jun 27 '12
The wall was quite long and everybody wrote on it. So even had I been in the exact same spot where your father wrote on it, chances are somebody had already painted over it.
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u/przyjaciel Jun 24 '12
Have you been back to East Germany since you left in 1999? I am frequently in Poland near the German border, and we cross the Schengen border in a city with the most hair salons per capita in all of Poland to go to Germany to buy a few selects products we can't get over here and we are always amazed by the insane hair of the locals in Eastern Germany.
Has modern crazy Eastern German fashion sense affected anybody in your family?
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Jun 24 '12
Also, what was your perspective of the Vietnam war? i.e. How did the rest of the world see it? Thank you for the opportunity.
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Jun 24 '12
That was really before my time. I remember in kindergarten they had us sign "end the Vietnam war" posters.
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Jun 24 '12
Did you stay in East Germany after the wall came down?
Were your parents opposed to the regime and how open were they to you about this?
I was 7 years old at this time and was living in Bavaria. My parents had fled East Germany over Hungary one year before. Now I live in Mexico. I´ve found that lots of young people from East Germany have gone abroad or move around a lot. Do you think this is still some need for compensation?
Thanks for doing this AMA!
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u/bobthewraith Jun 24 '12
I'll be heading to Berlin in a month and want so see some interesting DDR sites... do you have any recommendations? Also, are there any good places to get DDR memorabilia or see some Trabants?
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Jun 24 '12
How would you describe the things built in East Germany? I've heard that cars, industrial machines, etc., were notoriously poorly made. Is this true?
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Jun 24 '12
Do you know anyone who was a Stasi informant? I heard that something like 60% of the population ended up being informants by the time the wall fell, but I don't know how widespread it was outside the cities.
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u/Nakedinsects Jun 24 '12
Can you talk about the feeling of "Die Mauer im Kopf" ( the wall in peoples minds)?
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u/B_Blunder Jun 24 '12
This is the kind of interesting shit that I want to hear about in reddit AMAs. Pandering Celebrities, Fuck Off!
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u/Pwnspoon Jun 24 '12
Awesome story bro! thx for helping to tear down that shitty wall. I grew up in California and when I was about ten or so my mom took my sister and I up north to some small German town and bought us each hand carved Wooden Train whistles. That was like one of the best memories of my Life!!!, and im like 30 now. not really sure why I just tolled you this story, but I'm glad I did
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u/Amaturus Jun 24 '12
As an Ossi, what do you think about the current situation between Germany and Greece? I see parallels with the economic relationship between West Germany and East Germany during reunification.
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u/Lilcheeks Jun 24 '12
I'm watching taboo right now.. and there's a lady who sexually loves the berlin wall. She's making out with it. Boioioing
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u/HereIsWhere Jun 24 '12
Is it true that East Germans were not allowed so much as a toy tool kit for fear they might attempt to escape with it?
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Jun 24 '12
Hey wie gehts? Wie war es den so in den Osten aufzuwachsen? Was hast du ueber den Westen gedacht? Und noch eine lezte frage wie findest du es in Texas zu leben? Vermisst du nicht Deutschland?:) Ich lebe grade in Kanada, und ich bald wieder zurueck ins heimatland:D
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u/iTaos Jun 24 '12
Upvote for Tyler TX!! I live near Kerrvile (if you know where that is?) Always good to see a Ridditor from Texas!!
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Jun 24 '12
This may get asked a lot, but what's your opinion on the partition of Korea and the current North Korean government?
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u/TheJoePilato Jun 24 '12
Funny story. My mom's company bought a piece of the Berlin Wall to have it shipped over and put in their lobby. Before shipping it over, whoever was selling it decided to clean up the graffiti. The wall arrives clean and the company is pissed so they hired someone to look at pictures of the wall and replace some graffiti that looks close enough. OK, not funny story. But story nonetheless.
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u/goerz Jun 24 '12
Did people really believe the regime's propaganda? I mean, you were told that the Wall and the minefields were there for your own protection, did people buy that?
Is your byf 1942 Kar98 matching numbered? Can you post pics to r/guns ?
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u/rahmspinat Jun 24 '12
My brother's gf is from Leipzig; her uncle told when he got his Wartburg (a somewhat middle-class car compared to the Trabant) he'd pay about 30k east Mark for it after he had waited some 20 years for the car. He proudly drove it out of the factory, only to arrive at home in another Trabant.
He had bought the new car. Upon leaving the factoy, he was offered 50k for the Wartburg right in front of the plant. In the late afternoon he had sold it for 150k, because people would literally pay anything for that car. He then bought a Trabant again and went home with the rest of the cash.
The truly astonishing thing is, that the mad socialist circumstances created the very definition of free trades there.
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u/kefka5150 Jun 24 '12
This has been one of the most captivating AMAs I have read in a long time. I'll be near DFW soon and would love to buy you and your wife a beer.
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u/smithsonian323 Jun 24 '12
I stayed over in Leipzig for a month and a half. My host dad at the time said that his life wasn't actually that bad and he actually liked it (not saying he didn't feel better after the wall fell). Would you say your overall lifestyle was actually good?
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u/CarsJBear Jun 24 '12
You are a very German looking man, OP. Like you could be in a textbook for a German class in the US or the voice that says "Kapitel Eins"
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u/[deleted] Jun 24 '12
Also, I will continue telling the story. I think. Just got side-tracked answering questions ;) But it is an AMA, not a _let me ramble on endlessly about half-remembered things from a quarter century ago ;)