Interest in the former German Democratic Republic is nothing new. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, foreign visitors to die neue Bundesländer ('the new federal states', the somewhat euphemistic name for the former GDR) have snapped up relics of communist kitsch at flea markets. Cold War nostalgia is understandable in those raised on the espionage-fetish novels of Len Deighton and John Le Carré, but the recent outbreak of 'Ostalgie' (GDR nostalgia) among the former citizens of East Germany is harder to fathom.

Fittingly for a cultural trend in the brave new capitalist world, ostalgia is manifested primarily through consumerism. In a development which is somewhat ironic considering the socialist state's notorious lack of consumer durables, the GDR has become a best-selling brand.

From Schlager Süsstafel chocolate bars to Rottkäpchen sparkling wine to Mondo condoms, Ostprodukte are enjoying a new lease of life, showing that born-again socialist wares can compete with the best of 'em in the cutthroat capitalist marketplace.

Meanwhile, formerly potent symbols of the GDR have been appropriated as fashion logos, with trendy clothes shops peddling t-shirts featuring the (admittedly rather stylish) Trabant trademark or the GDR's hammer-and-compasses coat of arms.

The ever-struggling German film industry has also benefited from renewed interest in the GDR. Two of the most successful home-grown productions of recent years, 'Sonnenallee' and 'Good Bye Lenin!', were both unashamed ostalgiafests. Both films were full of GDR references that acted as a cultural shibboleth, distinguishing East German cinemagoers--who got the jokes--from the uncomprehending West Germans in the audience.

Similarly, a young generation of East German writers are enjoying success with a crop of affectionate GDR memoirs, such as Jana Hensel's 'Zonenkinder' ('Children of the Zone').

Somewhat surprisingly, Germany's clubbers, a group whose collective memory is normally measured in days at best, are also prone to a spot of ostalgia. Berlin's soon-to-be-demolished Palast der Republik, the former seat of the GDR puppet parliament and a literally shining example of socialist architecture, last year played host to a series of club events whose success was partly due to the location's ostalgic attraction.

So why the sudden interest in all things Ost? Considering the understandable reluctance of most Germans to dwell on their country's recent history, the current enthusiasm for revisiting the past comes as something as a surprise.

However it is not hard to understand why East Germans might look wistfully back. The dismantling of the generous GDR welfare system (not that the current one is anything to be sniffed at), coupled with the shock of the harsh new capitalist conditions, makes many East Germans yearn for the old days when life was simpler and more secure.

A perceived West German sense of superiority towards the East doesn't help matters either. And with human nature being what it is, pangs of nostalgia have grown with the passing of years, as the GDR's (suitably socialist) rosy aura gets ever stronger.

As an expat, spare a thought for your East German comrade, as much an exile as you are. Imagine the rootlessness that comes with knowing every value you grew up with is now rejected, and that the entire manufacturing output of your former homeland is now considered kitsch.

You may pine for the bosom of your absent family as you slave away in your adopted country, or yearn for your nation's idiosyncratic industrial food products as you trudge around the aisles of your local Lidl supermarket. But console yourself with the thought that, while you can never step again into the same river you left behind, at least that river still exists.

April 2005

[Copyright Expatica 2005]

Subject: Inside Track, Ostalgia