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Ostalgie
In German culture, ''Ostalgie'' () is nostalgia for aspects of life in Communist East Germany. It is a portmanteau of the German words '' Ost'' (east) and '' Nostalgie'' (nostalgia). Its anglicised equivalent, ostalgia (rhyming with "nostalgia"), is also sometimes used. Another term for the phenomenon is GDR nostalgia (). The term was coined by the East German standup comic in 1992. Social scientist Thomas Ahbe argues that the term "ostalgia" is often misunderstood as a lack of willingness to integrate, an attempt to reverse German reunification and reinstate the GDR. However, Ostalgia is rather an integration strategy used by East Germans who wanted to retain their own original experiences, memories and values incompatible with those of the West German majority. As with other cases of Communist nostalgia, there are various motivations, whether ideology, nationalism, wistfulness for a lost sense of social status or stability, or even aesthetics or irony. In 2023, a poll ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GDR Shirts
East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally viewed as a communist state and described itself as a socialist "workers' and peasants' state". The economy of the country was centrally planned and state-owned. Although the GDR had to pay substantial war reparations to the Soviets, its economy became the most successful in the Eastern Bloc. Before its establishment, the country's territory was administered and occupied by Soviet forces following the Berlin Declaration abolishing German sovereignty in World War II. The Potsdam Agreement established the Soviet-occupied zone, bounded on the east by the Oder–Neiße line. The GDR was dominated by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), a communist party, before being democratized and liberalized in 1989 as a result of the pressure ag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Germany
East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally viewed as a communist state and described itself as a Socialist state, socialist "workers' and peasants' state". The Economy of East Germany, economy of the country was Central planning, centrally planned and government-owned corporation, state-owned. Although the GDR had to pay substantial war reparations to the Soviets, its economy became the most successful in the Eastern Bloc. Before its establishment, the country's territory was administered and occupied by Soviet forces following the Berlin Declaration (1945), Berlin Declaration abolishing German sovereignty in World War II. The Potsdam Agreement established the Soviet occupation zone in Germany, Soviet-occupied zone, bounded on the east b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Communist Nostalgia
Communist nostalgia, also called communism nostalgia or socialist nostalgia, is the nostalgia in various post-communist states of Central and Eastern Europe and Russia for the prior communist states.Bartmanski, DominikSuccessful icons of failed time: rethinking post-communist nostalgia ''Acta sociologica'', vol. 54. № 3. 2011, pp. 213—231, . Examples of such nostalgia can be observed in East Germany, Poland, the former Soviet Union, former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic, Albania, and Slovakia. Businesses have commercialized and commodified communist nostalgia in the form of communist chic and other commodities and products reminiscent of the former era. Insight Dominik Bartmanski notes that after the anti-communist revolutions of 1989, the specific perspectives of the development remained unclear for some time, they were expressed in generic terms such as "return to Europe", "to Western values" and the like. This resulted in utopian expecta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Reunification
German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the integration of its re-established constituent federated states into the West Germany, Federal Republic of Germany to form Germany, present-day Germany. This date was chosen as the customary German Unity Day, and has thereafter been celebrated each year as a national day, national holiday. On the same date, East Berlin, East and West Berlin, West Berlin were also reunified into a single city, which eventually Decision on the Capital of Germany, became the capital of Germany. The East German government, controlled by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), started to falter on 2 May 1989, when the removal of Hungary's border fence with Austria opened a hole in the Iron Curtain. The border was still closely guarded, but the Pan-European Picn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sonnenallee
''Sonnenallee'' (''Sun Avenue'' or ''Sun Alley'') is a 1999 German comedy film about life in East Berlin in the early 1970s. The movie was directed by Leander Haußmann. The film was released shortly before the corresponding novel, '' Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee'' (''At the Shorter End of Sonnenallee''). Both the book and the screenplay were written by Thomas Brussig and while they are based on the same characters and setting, differ in storyline significantly. Both the movie and the book emphasize the importance of pop-art and in particular, pop music, for the youth of East Berlin. The Sonnenallee is an actual street in Berlin that was intersected by the border between East and West during the time of the Berlin Wall, although it bears little resemblance to the film set. ''Sonnenallee'' was broadcast in the Czech Republic under the title ''Eastie Boys''. Cast * Alexander Scheer as Michael "Micha" Ehrenreich * Alexander Beyer as Mario Naujoks * Robert Stadlober as Wuschel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nostalgia
Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word ''nostalgia'' is a neoclassical compound derived from Greek language, Greek, consisting of (''nóstos''), a Homeric word meaning "homecoming", and (''álgos''), meaning "pain"; the word was coined by a 17th-century medical student to describe the anxieties displayed by Swiss mercenaries fighting away from home. Described as a medical condition—a form of Depression (mood), melancholy—in the early modern period, it became an important Trope (literature), trope in Romanticism. Nostalgia is associated with a longing for the past, its personalities, possibilities, and events, especially the "good old days" or a "warm childhood". There is a predisposition, caused by cognitive biases such as rosy retrospection, for people to view the past more positively and the future more negatively. When applied to one's beliefs about a society or institution, this is called ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ampelmännchen
(; literally 'little traffic light man', diminutive of ) is the symbol shown on pedestrian crossing, pedestrian traffic light, signals in Germany. Prior to German reunification in 1990, the two German states had different forms of the pedestrian traffic lights, with a generic human figure in West Germany, and a generally "male" figure wearing a hat in the East Germany, East. The is a beloved symbol in new states of Germany, former East Germany, "enjoy[ing] the privileged status of being one of the few features of East Germany to have survived the end of the Iron Curtain with his popularity unscathed". After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the acquired cult status and became a popular souvenir item in the tourism business. Concept and design The first traffic lights at pedestrian crossings were erected in the 1950s, and many countries developed different designs (which were eventually standardised). At that time, traffic lights were the same for cars, bicycles and pedestrians. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trabant
Trabant () is a series of B-segment, small cars produced from 1957 until 1991 by former East Germany, East German car manufacturer HQM Sachsenring GmbH, VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau. Four models were made: the Trabant P 50, Trabant 500, Trabant 600, Trabant 601, and the Trabant 1.1. The first model, the 500, was a relatively modern car when it was introduced. It featured detachable duroplast body panels on a galvanised steel unibody chassis, front-wheel drive, a transverse two-stroke engine, and independent suspension. Because this 1950s design remained largely unchanged until the introduction of the last model, the Trabant 1.1 in 1990, the Trabant became symbolic of the former East Germany's stagnant economy and the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in general. Called "a spark plug with a roof", 3,096,999 Trabants were produced. Older models have been sought by collectors in the United States due to their low cost and fewer restrictions on the importation of antique cars. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government of the GDR on 13 August 1961. It included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area (later known as the "death strip") that contained anti-vehicle trenches, beds of nails and other defenses. The primary intention for the Wall's construction was to prevent East Germany, East German citizens from Emigration from the Eastern Bloc, fleeing to the West. The Eastern Bloc, Soviet Bloc propaganda portrayed the Wall as protecting its population from "Fascist (insult), fascist elements conspiring to prevent the will of the people" from building a Communism, communist state in the GDR. The authorities officially referred to the Berlin Wall as the ''Anti-Fascist Protection Ram ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erich Honecker
Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the posts of General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and National Defence Council of East Germany, Chairman of the National Defence Council; in 1976, he replaced Willi Stoph as State Council of East Germany, Chairman of the State Council, the official head of state. As the leader of East Germany, Honecker was viewed as a dictator. During his leadership, the country had close ties to the Soviet Union, which maintained Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, a large army in the country. Honecker's political career began in the 1930s when he became an official of the Communist Party of Germany, a position for which he was imprisoned by the Nazi Germany, Nazis. Following World War II, he was freed by the Soviet army and relaunched h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Petit Bourgeois
''Petite bourgeoisie'' (, ; also anglicised as petty bourgeoisie) is a term that refers to a social class composed of small business owners, shopkeepers, small-scale merchants, semi-autonomous peasants, and artisans. They are named as such because their politico-economic ideological stance in times of stability is reflective of the proper ''haute bourgeoisie'' (high bourgeoisie or upper class). In ordinary times, the ''petite bourgeoisie'' seek to identify themselves with the ''haute bourgeoisie'', whose bourgeois morality, conduct and lifestyle they aspire and strive to imitate. The term, which goes as far back as the Revolutionary period in France, if not earlier, is politico-economic and addresses historical materialism. It originally denoted a sub-stratum of the middle classes in the 18th and early-19th centuries of western Europe. In the mid-19th century, the German economist Karl Marx and other Marxist theorists used the term ''petite bourgeoisie'' to academically id ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
