Nostalgia
by Caroline WyattINTRODUCTION: In Eastern Germany, recent years have shown a development few expected after the collapse of Communism - sentiment for the old days. It's called Ost-algia -- Nostalgia for the Ost, or East. At least once a month, eastern youngsters are getting together for parties celebrating the good old bad old days, complete with Erich Honecker look-a-likes, as Caroline Wyatt reports from Berlin.
FX: Man yells in German, crowd giggling
WYATT: An East German border guard in full uniform marches alongside a huddle of eastern German youths, brandishing handcuffs and barking orders. But instead of fear there's delighted laughter. The guard is an actor, and the youngsters are at an east Berlin nightclub for an evening of nostalgia for the old days. They've had to stand in line for hours - just like under Communism. They've even had to pay for an entry visa, as well as changing their deutschmarks for worthless paper money.
VOX POP: Woman speaks in German
WYATT: This young woman, wearing her old East German youth movement outfit, says what she enjoys most is revisiting her old life.
FX: Cries of Erich, and Honecker
WYATT: But best of all for many of the party goers is the presence of Erich Honecker, the late East German head of state, who is signing autographs. In reality, Mr. Honecker is a look-a-like: 76-year-old Kurt Schmidt supplements his pension with guest appearances as Honecker's double. And even the party isn't all it seems. This celebration of Communism, complete with Socialist imitation Coca Cola, is a commercial event. A canny eastern entrepreneur, Ralf Hecker, has even managed to get this party sponsored by Philip Morris. But that doesn't bother the youngsters here.
VOX POP: Matthias speaks in German
WYATT: 25-year-old Matthias says what he likes best is hearing the old Socialist phrases. He admits that he doesn't want the Wall or Communism back - this is just a fun night out. But others, like Kurt - who's come in his old border guard uniform - genuinely do look back to Communism with nostalgia.
KURT: It was my state. It was my life. And now it's all so directed at the money. That's what I most miss is the meaning of life, because now the only idea you can have in this system is money.
WYATT: Others agree that these Ostalgia parties, as they're known, do have a serious point. Rainer Oschmann edits the former Communist newspaper Neues Deutschland. He believes the parties are an expression of Eastern German identity.
OSCHMANN: Many East Germans have experienced, sometimes, an incredible amount of patronizing from the other side and they are simply fed up with that. They have reached a point where they say `Well, enough is enough, and they have detected and reinvented, sort of, a new pride in themselves.
MUSIC
WYATT: To the sounds of an old East German chart-topper, some one thousand youngsters dance late into the night. For most, it's a chance to relive their adolescence. Yet for many, it seems, it's a trip back to a safer world - where unemployment didn't exist and no one need face the difficult choices posed by capitalism and democracy. For MARKETPLACE, this is Caroline Wyatt in Berlin.
Reporter Caroline Wyatt is a correspondent for the BBC in Berlin who will soon become their Bonn bureau chief.
