The East is in a poor state because The West illegally annexed it, threw away their welfare state, outlawed the communist party, and gave all of its industry to exploitative West German companies. Indicators of quality of life plummeted after the fall of the USSR and the Berlin Wall. The West also trashed East Germany’s liberating policies towards women and LGBTQ+ people. East Germans that were older have nostalgia for the better times. Patronizing and ignorant liberals, rather than understand the truth in their experiences, have invented a fantasy called Ostolgie to explain this away, doing their best to pretend that this is just old people being silly rather than remembering tangibly better experiences.
This fictionalization is a necessary part of anticommunist thinking: no aspects of “the enemy” can ever be good or beneficial for anyone. All seemingly good things done by that enemy must either be attributed to a “brainwashed” population or a devious plot to appear better than they really are for propaganda purposes. It is important to recognize that these patterns of thought are not usually effectively exported and are instead intended for a domestic audience to make sure they don’t actually understand and sympathize with the designated enemy.
Literally every single German old enough to remember life in the DDR that I know (which aren’t exactly few - I am German) recounts that time with terror.
In my entire life, I have not met a single person alive back then who wants to go back to the DDR. There’s no notalgia, only painful memories.
Literally every single German old enough to remember life in the DDR that I know (which aren’t exactly few - I am German) recounts that time with terror.
Define “that time”. The DDR suffered a state and economic collapse shortly before it was annexed, due to general instability of the Eastern Bloc, particularly the liberalization of the USSR (which also caused its collapse). Anyone who was a teenager would have lived through something scary.
If you don’t know any East Germans who preferred life back then then you have likely only spoken to people who weren’t adults for any appreciable amount of time in the DDR. Or live in a very strange bubble. I have met plenty and I’m not even German.
In my entire life, I have not met a single person alive back then who wants to go back to the DDR. There’s no notalgia, only painful memories.
The fact that you’re literally unaware of Ostalgie suggests you are generally unaware of anything about those who actually lived in the DDR. To have lived as an adult there for, say, 20 years, they would nedd to have been born before 1950. How many 70-90 year olds do you hang out with? How many who were kids and teenagers in 1985, i.e. now 50-60 years old? I had to make an effort to meet such people, who were younger when I did.
The East is in a poor state because The West illegally annexed it
Wut? Germany was a singular country until the Soviet Union occupied half of it. Re-uniting the occupied territories with the rest of the country is literally the opposite of an illegal annexation.
Wut? Germany was a singular country until the Soviet Union occupied half of it.
This is a non-sequitor, it does not change whether West Germany illegally annexed East Germany, which it did. Germany included parts of what are now Poland prior to the Nazis’ invasions. Would you also write off Germany illegally annexing them as a righteous revanchism?
Re-uniting the occupied territories with the rest of the country is literally the opposite of an illegal annexation.
You should learn your basic history before trying to lecture others. Germany was cut down and the remaining pieces split into regions governed by 4 countries (France, UK, USA, USSR). With the rise of the US the first 3 of course rapidly became de facto one region and the legal mumbo jumbo followed to create West Germany.
West Germany was created from this as an “independent” country, still under the thumb of the US, excluding East Germany. The USSR proposed full reintegration of Germany as a neutral country, but the US had already committed to a policy of isolation, preferring their NATO-pushing givernors of West Germany.
Regarding illegal annexation of East Germany, it was done against the consent of the people who lived there and against their own supposed legal framework.
The East is in a poor state because The West illegally annexed it, threw away their welfare state, outlawed the communist party, and gave all of its industry to exploitative West German companies. Indicators of quality of life plummeted after the fall of the USSR and the Berlin Wall. The West also trashed East Germany’s liberating policies towards women and LGBTQ+ people. East Germans that were older have nostalgia for the better times. Patronizing and ignorant liberals, rather than understand the truth in their experiences, have invented a fantasy called Ostolgie to explain this away, doing their best to pretend that this is just old people being silly rather than remembering tangibly better experiences.
This fictionalization is a necessary part of anticommunist thinking: no aspects of “the enemy” can ever be good or beneficial for anyone. All seemingly good things done by that enemy must either be attributed to a “brainwashed” population or a devious plot to appear better than they really are for propaganda purposes. It is important to recognize that these patterns of thought are not usually effectively exported and are instead intended for a domestic audience to make sure they don’t actually understand and sympathize with the designated enemy.
Fuck off troll.
Literally every single German old enough to remember life in the DDR that I know (which aren’t exactly few - I am German) recounts that time with terror.
In my entire life, I have not met a single person alive back then who wants to go back to the DDR. There’s no notalgia, only painful memories.
The west german hitlerite invaders murdered and imprisoned everyone who opposed them
Of course you cant talk to them
Define “that time”. The DDR suffered a state and economic collapse shortly before it was annexed, due to general instability of the Eastern Bloc, particularly the liberalization of the USSR (which also caused its collapse). Anyone who was a teenager would have lived through something scary.
If you don’t know any East Germans who preferred life back then then you have likely only spoken to people who weren’t adults for any appreciable amount of time in the DDR. Or live in a very strange bubble. I have met plenty and I’m not even German.
The fact that you’re literally unaware of Ostalgie suggests you are generally unaware of anything about those who actually lived in the DDR. To have lived as an adult there for, say, 20 years, they would nedd to have been born before 1950. How many 70-90 year olds do you hang out with? How many who were kids and teenagers in 1985, i.e. now 50-60 years old? I had to make an effort to meet such people, who were younger when I did.
Wut? Germany was a singular country until the Soviet Union occupied half of it. Re-uniting the occupied territories with the rest of the country is literally the opposite of an illegal annexation.
This is a non-sequitor, it does not change whether West Germany illegally annexed East Germany, which it did. Germany included parts of what are now Poland prior to the Nazis’ invasions. Would you also write off Germany illegally annexing them as a righteous revanchism?
You should learn your basic history before trying to lecture others. Germany was cut down and the remaining pieces split into regions governed by 4 countries (France, UK, USA, USSR). With the rise of the US the first 3 of course rapidly became de facto one region and the legal mumbo jumbo followed to create West Germany.
West Germany was created from this as an “independent” country, still under the thumb of the US, excluding East Germany. The USSR proposed full reintegration of Germany as a neutral country, but the US had already committed to a policy of isolation, preferring their NATO-pushing givernors of West Germany.
Regarding illegal annexation of East Germany, it was done against the consent of the people who lived there and against their own supposed legal framework.