East Germany: Living Experiences

Figure 1.--Here we see three East German toddlers during the 1950s. Notice the one boy holding a rather coopertive tabby cat. We do not yet have details about pet keeping in the DDR. But generally food shortages in Communist countrues generally mittigated against having pets. East Germany f course was the most economically successful of the Communnist countries, but wages and libing stanfards were still far below Western standards.

One interesting topic that is oftern poorly covered by historians are invididua; life experiences. Here we will collect the exoerienceds thst we have been able to collect. Interestingly, many East Germans have rather affectionaste memories if life in the DDR as long as they steered away from criticising the Government. It is also clear that living comditions were much less affluent than in West Germany. One problen was Government restrictions on personal development. While the Government supported a fine educatiinal system, access to a quality education was affected by political factors. We hope that former East German residents will provide more information that we can add to this section.

Berlin

One source writes, "I also remember a conversation I once had with a brother and sister (from the former West Germany) who recalled that on their way home from visiting their uncle in West Berlin with their family, police officers would have dogs check under the train to make sure there was no one hiding underneath, trying to escape."

Cars

One of the manufactured items most associated with East Germany was the Trabant, often affectiionally called the Trabi. The East German auto manufacturer Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau (VEB) produced the Trabant. It was the product of East German central planning. VEB produced nearly 3.1 million Trabbis over 30 years with very limited changes. It is commonly high on the list of the world's worst cars. And East Germans normally had to wait an increduible 15 years for delivery. As a result the Trabbi is virtually the only car ever made that was worth more used. (East Germans buying used Trabbis did not have to wait 15 years. Besides the plain styling, the most destibctive fratyre was the smoke belching, jarring two-stroke engine. Countless joles swirled around the Trabbi. (Example: How do you doublecthe value of a Trabbi? Abswer: Fill it with gas.) The Trabbi is perhaps the best know exaple of the failings of cebtral planning. Despite the Trabbis multiple failings, the Trabbi had some advantages. The simplicity if the vehicle meant that many owners could repair it an keep it running. The average Trabbi had an amazing life of 28 years. A thousands of East Germans pscked up their Trabbis and headed to the West when Czechoslovakia opened its border. East Germans were some of the few people in the East Bloc and especially the Soviet Union who were able to obtain their own cars. But it was not easy. One acoount explains. "If you wanted to buy a car — most likely the ubiquitous Trabant — you had to wait years. Like, 10-12 years. So people who turned 16 (although you had to be 18 to drive) would put their orders in to get their mitts on a car when they were in their late 20s." [Alcos] Once they had a car, operating it was expensive. Gas in particular which was almost all imported was costly.

Community Activities

One source writes, "I’d like to add that both the recycling system and neighborhood aid concept were very good. Any glass jars, old paper, tin cans etc. you would take along to school where the janitor collected it and noted the value of your ‘donation’ which would then be added to your class’ cash box (to be used for class activities). Once or twice a month, we’d go around and visit elderly citizens in the school’s neighborhood to see whether they needed assistance with chores, shopping, etc. (at the same time relieving them of their tin cans, glass jars and newspapers, which we then gave to the school janitor in return for the money for our class cash box). This was an officially government sanctioned class activity. On a side note, I was only 13 years old at the time the wall came down, so I can’t say for sure what happened to our recycle items after we gave them in." This may have been organized by the Young Pioneers.

Consumer Goods

Basic necesities like standard food items and housing was very binexpensive. Popular consumer goods were a very different matter. Items like televisions, VCRs, and appliances were very expensive, especially when priced in terms of a portion of their salary required to purchase the items. A stanbdard black and white TV could cost 10 times a person’s monthly salary.

Education

One problem was Government restrictions on personal development. While the Government supported a fine educational system, but the finer schools were not available to all. Access to a quality education was affected by political factors. One account recalls the beginning of the school day. "When you first arrived to school, all the students would stand at attention and salute the teacher. The teacher would say, 'Be prepared!', and the students would reply, 'Always prepared!' before giving the salute, and then the day began."

Employment

Food

People's basic necesities were met. The diet was, however, rather boring. Particular hard to get was food items not produced in East Germany or elsewhere in the East Bloc. One observer remembers, "There were no bananas. You could only get them once or twice a year, and you’d only be notified of their availability by word of mouth. So you’d have to rush to the veggie store (not a veggie store as we know it — just cabbages, potatoes…anything grown locally) and stand in line to get your one banana per person in your household. To stretch the rations, Yvonne’s mum would quarter the banana, slice it thinly and serve it on bread to her and her sister." [Alcos] Even items produced in Germany were hard to get for a variety of reasons. "You couldn’t buy strawberries from a store. If you wanted them you had to go and work in the fields picking them for hours. You were allowed to buy a certain portion of the ones you picked. Yvonne remembers her mum telling her, 'Don’t worry about picking, just eat as many as you can!'" [Alcos] We are not entirely sure why could not be sold in the stores. We suspect it was something related to the operation state farms. Imported foods were also very expensive. A 200g (about a half pound) bag of coffee would cost around $20. This would be very expensive to Americans in the 1980s, but rember that East German salaries were a fraction of American salaries. One writer tells us, "I had a German history professor in college who had been attending university in a West German border town in the 80s, and he had mentioned that by that time, the border would be open briefly on the weekends for East Germans to come over and purchase goods they couldn’t get in the East, like walkmans and bananas (which you’d mentioned weren’t widely available)."

Housing

Hosing was a major problem in the DDR because of the destruction resulting from the War. The DDR's approach to this problem was building massive estates of apartment blocks--the same approach as in the Soviet Union. Of course before the War, most German workers lived in small aparments. Most did not have bathrooms. Quite a number did not even have running water. One source provides a description, "Yvonne’s home had no bathtub or shower, only a sink and a toilet. She was fortunate enough to have a grandma with a bath, so once a week they would make their way there. Hot water didn’t just flow out of the taps though. The water was heated by charcoal stove. A big water tank sat next to the tub with a little stove underneath where charcoal had to be shoveled in. The charcoal was delivered a few times per year by a big truck. They would leave a big pile of it and the residents had to shovel their portion of the coal into their allotted space in the basement. Even at her own house without tub or shower, they needed to heat the water this way. They lived on the fifth floor, so Yvonne remembers having to walk all the way down to the basement with a couple of buckets and back up with them topped full of charcoal." [Alcos] Another onserver writes, "Also, if you happened to live in a so-called ‘Neubauwohnung’ (concrete jungles, tower blocks), your monthly rent was 20 – 40 East German Marks (average salary 400 – 600 East German Marks), with electricity and water at no extra charge. The central heating was supplied by a district (tele) heating system with minimal access to individually regulating the heat in your apartment, so ripping open the windows in the middle of winter wasn’t uncommon. I grew up in a family house at the outskirts of a town, and just like Yvonne, I remember shoveling coal and lighting up a fire in the oven. It was very normal for us." The DDR museum in Dresden is like stepping into a time machine back to East Germany. There are separate and fully furnished rooms of typical houses and offices from the DDR.

Movies

A fascinating look at life in the DDR is available in the film "Goodbye Lenin!".

Pets

We do not yet have details about pets in East Germany. We do know that keeping pets before the War was very popular in Germany. This was especially the case with middle-class Germans. It was more difficult for working-class Germans living in apartments. Keeping pets became more difficult as the War went bad for the Germans abnd food became hard to get. Interestingly, the Wehrmacht conducted a huge dog training progam. The Germans trained more war dogs than allm other combatant countries combined. We are not sure what happened to these dogs after the War. As soon as the German Economic Miracle remade West Germny, we see large numbers of Germans keeping pets. We are not entirely sure what happened in the DDR. We have noted references to pets in the years immediately after the War. We are not sure about the later years. We do not even know if pet food was available in the DDR. Food shortages, low incomes, and apartment restrictiona allmsuggest that keeping pets was limited in the DDR, but we have few actual accounts. Interestingly, an internet search on the DDR/East Germany and pets leads next to nothing except links on police dogs.

Political Repression

We note one American desribing her pen pall in East Germany right after the War. They corresponded for some time. Eventually he quit writing when he realized that the Stasi was monitoring communicatiions and hecould get into trouble and be denied access to higher education. "Then came the letter with a fabricated return address. Conditions were deteriorating in East Germany, he wrote. The Stasi was reading mail and bugging phones. The letters stopped." ["The pen ..."] We now know that the Stasi had a vast system of invividuals spying on their work mates, even their family members. Political repression included taking people's children away. And ecucational opportunity was affected by famiky background. I recall a mother reunited with her son adfter many years. He had been denied an educatiin bedcause of his family background. She was a very eduvated person, but theu had trouble communicating because he had no interest in art, music, or liy\terature.

Propaganda

One account reads, "This reminds me a bit of some of my mom’s stories, though her family got out right after the wall was built (there were a few years there where you could still sneak out relatively easily). The most interesting – and profound – perspective to me was when she and I were in Prague a couple of years ago, and went to the Communist museum. With almost all of the propaganda “PSAs” they had there, ones most people would think were crazy, my mom would say, 'I remember that!' My favorite was the American bug (or something like that)…an insect supposedly dropped on the farms of the East by those awful Americans. The kids would go during school to pick the bugs off of the plants. And yep, they had a poster of it at that museum. Classic. Of course, America had propaganda just as bad!" The writwr does not provide any actual examples of such false American propaganda. Amnother wri\ter commented on the n\bug poster. "Christine, I saw that poster and thought it outrageous. But then my friend said she remembered it from when it was in circulation. She said they were told that’s how the season’s harvest (mostly potatoes, if I’m not mistaken – the bug was even called the American Bug) was being destroyed by the West. I think I have a picture of that poster somewhere."

Radio and Television

One acoount describes the situation with broadcast media. "You could only watch one of a few state channels, but radio waves know no walls (well, except maybe lead ones), so those close to the border were able to pick up signals from the West. Luckily, Yvonne’s family was able to, so they had some access to the West’s news. Obviously, this was all very hush hush." [Alcos]

Young Pioneers

The Free German Youth (Freie Deutsche Jugend--FDJ), were founded after World War II in March 1946, withi the Soviet occupation zone of Germany. Young people between the ages of 14 and 25 were to be indoctrinated as members of a new socialist society. Together with its suborganization for youngsters from 6-14 years of age, the Young Pioneers--later called the Pioneer Organization "Ernst Thalmann," in memory of the chief of the Communist Party (KPD) during the Weimar Republic and was killed by the NAZIs in a concentration camp. The FDJ became an instrument for influencing the coming generations. An important part of its influence was that membership in the FDJ soon determined access to institutions of higher learning, recreation and sports facilities, and ultimately career opportunities. East German children were part of the YoungPioneers: Grades 1-4 were Blue Pioneers, 5-7 were Red Pioneers, and grades 8-10 graduated to the Free German Youth (FDJ). One account repoorts, "Every 7 October, Yvonne — along with all the other Pioneers — would join in the parade commemorating the birth of the GDR. They dressed up in their Pioneer outfits, waved flags and flowers, and cheered." [Alcos]

Vacations

We do not know much about family vacations in East Hermany. One account tells us, "Yvonne remembers visiting the East [Baltic] Sea twice in her childhood for vacation. They didn’t have much choice of where they could go. Holiday homes were usually linked and subsidized through work and you could obtain use of them once in a while." [Alcos] Another observer writes, We also went to the Baltic Sea. "Typically a camp ground on the Rügen or Usedom islands, with either sturdy tents or cabins, community bathrooms & outhouse toilets, community kitchen & eating areas, and generally a very short walk to the beach."

Positive Memories

Despite all of the negative aspects of life in the DDR. Quite a number of forner DDR citizens recall positive features of life there. "It wasn’t all trying though. Everyone had a job, school lunches were free, after-school care was free, people were generally happy, necessities were extremely cheap, and there was more community spirit than there is nowadays. In those times, there were no Joneses to keep up with." [Alcos]

Sources

Alcos, Carlos. "Growing up in East Germany: Reflections 20 years later". Alcos writes about his wife's chilhood memories. He explains, "I always love hearing my wife’s stories about childhood life in East Germany. Yvonne was 10 years old when she left for the West before the wall came down." Several internet readers added their comments.

"The pen is mightier than the Wall: Woman reunites with East German pen pal of childhood," Chicago Tribune (December 9, 2010).

Created: 6:54 AM 1/22/2011
Last updated: 6:54 AM 1/22/2011