I had everything in the GDR and yet I just wanted to get away from there. My parents belonged to the upper class, if there was even such a thing in the GDR, or if one was allowed to call it that. They built a house (1976-78), took out a loan for 70,000 marks for it, and paid it off by 1988. The house was then debt-free. Additionally, my family received a Wartburg 353 as a gift in 1978 from an uncle in Munich through GENEX. It cost a little over 10,000 DM at the time. So there was more in the family than with the average GDR citizen, and yet I was completely fed up. Why? Well, on one hand, I was annoyed by this scarcity economy, where you had to wait for hours for everything, only to not get it anyway. Wasted and squandered life time. On the other hand, there was this constant, unbearable propaganda. Everywhere were stupid left-wing slogans, at work cash bonuses were distributed since the plan was always exceeded, only that nothing of it was visible in the shops. Then there was the unbearable living situation for many GDR citizens, because only a few could afford to build a house. Even the new apartment blocks (plattenbau) were the exception and not the rule. 70 percent of people lived in miserable shacks, that's just a fact. Thank goodness I was able to leave this miserable state in 1984 and build a good life for myself in the Federal Republic. And today I look in disbelief at Berlin, where they elected the left losers again – who can do nothing but spend other people's money – back into power. If I were living in Berlin today, I would pack my bags again and flee. Photo: My last evening in the GDR #DDR #deutscheGeschichte #Wende (translated)
