The Berlin Wall fell 35 years ago. Young east Germans fall for relics of the time.
| Dresden and Bautzen, Germany
For most people, a fork is just a fork.
But when Olivia Schneider spears a stalk of asparagus, she prefers the plastic-handled type dating back to the communist German Democratic Republic (GDR).
It鈥檚 the kind of cutlery her East German grandparents eagerly trashed back in 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall, 35 years ago this weekend. Finally decades of austerity fell away, and Grandpa and Grandma Schneider set their hearts on filling their house with 鈥渞eally nice West German stuff,鈥� explains Ms. Schneider.
Why We Wrote This
The East-West identity divide did not fall with the Berlin Wall. Young east Germans today take a nostalgic pride in possessing Soviet-era items their parents and grandparents used.
That鈥檚 how her grandparents found themselves at one of many impromptu parking lot markets that had popped up, only to be cheated by a West German salesman into paying three times the going rate for cutlery.
鈥淧eople were just happy they could finally buy things, but they had no idea how much things should cost,鈥� says Ms. Schneider, recounting the tale 35 years later in a caf茅 in Dresden, a regional center of the former East Germany.
That silverware scam lives on in three generations of Schneider lore. Ms. Schneider鈥檚 brow wrinkles at the story of family indignity as if she鈥檇 been personally mistreated. 鈥淧eople just took advantage during the reunification years. It makes me so mad.鈥�
Today, a 28-year-old consumer, Ms. Schneider can buy whatever her budget allows, yet she finds herself choosing the stuff of the now-defunct GDR: that bright-orange bread-slicer, pastel-colored melamine bowls, a stark black veneer dining table.
鈥淚 just have this feeling that I want to bring back things that were seen as negative. It鈥檚 empowerment to revive them in a better context,鈥� says Ms. Schneider, a social worker and influencer around all things East German with a 30,000-strong Instagram following.
The Berlin Wall fell and landfills swelled with Soviet junk
Thirty-five years after millions of East Germans tossed their Soviet-era stuff as quickly as dump trucks could haul it, young people who were not born when communist rule ended are finding joy in certain GDR collectibles.
They鈥檙e reveling in the pedestrian crossing symbols 础尘辫别濒尘盲苍苍肠丑别苍 鈥� the plump little traffic-light men 鈥� boxy Trabant cars, sleek Simson motorbikes, and the bright-blue clothing of GDR-era youth clubs. This gravitation toward symbols of a defunct state exposes cracks in German unity that were supposed to have disappeared along with the Berlin Wall; it鈥檚 also a celebration of an East German identity that young people connect with.
鈥淚鈥檓 not surprised at all that young people are consuming and presenting East German things. They鈥檙e pursuing a collective identity that鈥檚 different from the West, and also a critique of the way reunification was pursued,鈥� says historian Justinian Jampol, author of 鈥淧roblematic Things: East German Materials After 1989.鈥�
鈥淓ast German things have gone from being derided to collected to thrown away to exhibited. That ongoing process is a mirror and reflects just how much the history of East Germany is still conflicted,鈥� Dr. Jampol adds.
East German goods were built to last
German youth might not use the word Ostalgie 鈥� constructed from the German words for 鈥渆ast鈥� and 鈥渘ostalgia鈥� 鈥� yet many hesitate to discard an East German identity the West tried to crush during reunification, says Dr. Jampol.
Their devotion to East German things is exuberant, but also respectful of clean design and construction that was 鈥渂uilt to last,鈥� says Benno Auras, 35, a social worker born in 1989.
鈥淓ast Germany was a country where there was nothing or very little 鈥� obviously it was about making products that wouldn鈥檛 break the day after tomorrow,鈥� says Mr. Auras. He still tinkers with his Simson using 鈥�50-year-old GDR power tools that still work,鈥� he says. 鈥淩espect. Nowadays you see only junk which costs a fortune.鈥�
People who collect GDR artifacts certainly aren鈥檛 longing for the wall, the Stasi secret police, or the communist regime, explains Katja Hoyer, a historian and author raised in east Germany. 鈥淢ore than that, there鈥檚 a personal history, and a family history that鈥檚 connected to these items. It鈥檚 your cultural product, something that gives you identity and roots especially in times of uncertainty.鈥�
A persistent economic divide certainly feeds Ostalgie, as well as a sense, for some, that 鈥淭he past has been better, or should be revived in some ways,鈥� says Johannes Kie脽, a political sociologist at the University of Leipzig.
East Germans still lag behind west Germans in disposable income and inherit only half as much wealth. Nearly two-thirds of east Germans say they still feel like second-class citizens.
East German, and proud of it
Back in Dresden, Ms. Schneider sips a cappuccino as she recounts her parents鈥� post-Berlin Wall life paths. Her mother became a chef鈥檚 apprentice, and her father landed a job as a Wrigley chewing gum salesman.
They had jobs, yet on a student trip to Hamburg, Ms. Schneider still noticed a gap. Her west German peers got monthly allowances, their mothers didn鈥檛 work, and they could travel abroad on a moment鈥檚 notice with family funds.
鈥淚 was a bit jealous that they had rich parents,鈥� says Ms. Schneider. 鈥淣o one funded my lifestyle. I always had side jobs, working at the Christmas market, or as a barista or nurse.鈥�
Soon after, she began reading what she dubs the 鈥淓ast German bible鈥� for youth, 鈥淥stbewusstsein.鈥� The full title translates to 鈥淓astern Consciousness: Why Postreunification Children Fight for the East and What This Means for German Unity.鈥�
Today, Ms. Schneider is a social worker and an Instagram influencer whose buoyant missives about East German identity have a defiant undertone. One post about the East German mustard Bautz鈥檔er Senf clocked , and she has attracted brand sponsorships from companies such as , the 鈥渙riginal GDR crispbread.鈥�
Her parents find it ironic that she is celebrating stuff from the GDR scrap heap; in 1990, East Germans tossed out an average of per person.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a pity. My parents always told me they threw everything out because they just couldn鈥檛 bear to see it anymore in their house,鈥� says Ms. Schneider.
鈥淭hey had this dream of a unified Germany.鈥�
Editor鈥檚 note: This article, originally published Nov. 8, was updated to correct the spelling of the German word 础尘辫别濒尘盲苍苍肠丑别苍.
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