Intense longing for dictatorship? – A wave of “Ostalgie” and its consequences

A FDJ-blouse as fashion accessories, the Stasi-sign on folding rules and cigarette lighters, coffee-cups with the crest of the GDR on it – the wave of “Ostalgie” threw a mass of products on the market. It is discussed, whether these articles are only harmless fun or dangerous ideology, by which the view upon the true character of the dictatorship gets blurred. These curiosities are far away from illustrating the actual life in the fallen SED-state, because they always neglect the political background. To have a complete image about GDR it is also important to look at the everyday life of those people, who had their own opinion and therefore were expelled from graduation and studies, who could not develop their personality in freedom or those who were for years in political imprisonment.