Editorial in Deutsche Welle: Panel Calls for End to Nostalgia About East Germany
Nearly 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a growing number of people are romanticising about what daily life was like in the former communist East Germany.
"Ostalgia," a pun combing "nostalgia and "Ost" (East), is on the rise and numerous businesses and individuals are cashing in on the trend.
Today, you can have your picture taken with a Soviet soldier look-alike at the former Checkpoint Charlie crossing in Berlin or rent a room in a sparsely furnished apartment that is a replica of a 1980s East German accommodation.
You can also take a tour of East Berlin in a plastic-body Trabi car that East Germans had to wait years to buy.
"Ask the people who run those businesses if they would still want to live in an old, small, box-like flat in a concrete high-rise," said Dagmar Schipanski, president of the parliament in the eastern German state of Thuringia. "Most of them now own expensive apartments and drive nice cars."
Missing the historical context
Schipanski makes no attempt to hide her anger when talking about what she regards as "a deliberate exclusion of the real historical context."
The 65-year-old former scientist, who grew up in the German Democratic Republic, the eastern part of divided Germany, heads a commission that drafted a position paper on eastern Germany's future.
The panel, which also reviewed successes and failures in the eastern region since the Wall came down in 1989, was set up by Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Party (CDU).
The document, which has been criticized by opposition parties for failing to examine the CDU's own role in East Germany, also suggests strategies for future development.
Call for better education
A central demand is directed at the education system. "We need to come to terms with the history of divided Germany in our schools, by reforming curricula and teaching practices alike," said Schipanski.
Her call is echoed by another recent study assessing the level of knowledge about East and West German history.
"Pupils know next to nothing," said Klaus Schroeder, the Berlin professor who headed the survey. "Fewer than one in two knows who built the Berlin Wall."..
Read entire article at Deutsche Welle
"Ostalgia," a pun combing "nostalgia and "Ost" (East), is on the rise and numerous businesses and individuals are cashing in on the trend.
Today, you can have your picture taken with a Soviet soldier look-alike at the former Checkpoint Charlie crossing in Berlin or rent a room in a sparsely furnished apartment that is a replica of a 1980s East German accommodation.
You can also take a tour of East Berlin in a plastic-body Trabi car that East Germans had to wait years to buy.
"Ask the people who run those businesses if they would still want to live in an old, small, box-like flat in a concrete high-rise," said Dagmar Schipanski, president of the parliament in the eastern German state of Thuringia. "Most of them now own expensive apartments and drive nice cars."
Missing the historical context
Schipanski makes no attempt to hide her anger when talking about what she regards as "a deliberate exclusion of the real historical context."
The 65-year-old former scientist, who grew up in the German Democratic Republic, the eastern part of divided Germany, heads a commission that drafted a position paper on eastern Germany's future.
The panel, which also reviewed successes and failures in the eastern region since the Wall came down in 1989, was set up by Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Party (CDU).
The document, which has been criticized by opposition parties for failing to examine the CDU's own role in East Germany, also suggests strategies for future development.
Call for better education
A central demand is directed at the education system. "We need to come to terms with the history of divided Germany in our schools, by reforming curricula and teaching practices alike," said Schipanski.
Her call is echoed by another recent study assessing the level of knowledge about East and West German history.
"Pupils know next to nothing," said Klaus Schroeder, the Berlin professor who headed the survey. "Fewer than one in two knows who built the Berlin Wall."..