Talk:Ostalgie

Better state

When the renowned West-German magazine Der Spiegel asked former GDR-inhabitants whether the GDR "was the better state" (compared to present-day Germany), 57% of them answered yes. To the statement of the interviewing journalist that "GDR inhabitants did not have the freedom to travel wherever they wanted", Germans replied that "present-day low-wage workers do not have that freedom either".

That doesn't seem right at all. The actual article is here, and the actual quote is

Today, 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, 57 percent, or an absolute majority, of eastern Germans defend the former East Germany. "The GDR had more good sides than bad sides. There were some problems, but life was good there," say 49 percent of those polled. Eight percent of eastern Germans flatly oppose all criticism of their former home and agree with the statement: "The GDR had, for the most part, good sides. Life there was happier and better than in reunified Germany today."

So 57% said that life there had more good than bad sides, but only 8% said that is was better than in the reunified Germany. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.115.127.65 (talk) 18:04, 25 June 2013 (UTC)

Spin

To use "suffering from Ostalgie" clearly shows an Anti-Ostalgie spin. Whoever wrote this had a quite laughably clear intent to show his view and not a neutral one.

obsolete brands

Quote: Now available are obsolete brands of East German foodstuffs... How can a brand be obsolete? A product can be obsolete, but a brand!? 86.56.0.159 21:51, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

Odd sentence

There are however, many former East and West German citizens who deny the existence of these cultural divisions as well as the existence of separate East and West German perspectives.

Um, really? I mean, I'm sure there are people who think it's a bad thing, but does anyone seriously deny the existence of ostalgie? There are whole cottage industries based around it.

I'm tempted to erase this as uncited, but then, there isn't a single cite in the whole article, so that seems kind of unfair... --Jfruh (talk) 00:30, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

I came to the talk page intending to comment on that very sentence, and ask what it's supposed to mean. It does seem very odd. What on Earth does denying "the existence of separate East and West German perspectives" mean? How can one deny that some East Germans do claim a specific perspective? And any sentence stating that "many citizens deny..." should definitely provide a source. Aridd (talk) 12:45, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

The Lives of Others

"The Lives of Others: Film produced as a counterpoint to Ostalgie" - I'd be surprised if a citation can be produced to support that the film was produced with this specific intent. If not, "Film that could be seen as a counterpoint to Ostalgie" might be fair enough. Mutt Lunker (talk) 11:54, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

End of History

Fukuyama's essay the End of History seems to predict Ostalgie

"The end of history will be a very sad time. The struggle for recognition, the willingness to risk one's life for a purely abstract goal, the worldwide ideological struggle that called forth daring, courage, imagination, and idealism, will be replaced by economic calculation, the endless solving of technical problems, environmental concerns, and the satisfaction of sophisticated consumer demands. In the post-historical period there will be neither art nor philosophy, just the perpetual caretaking of the museum of human history. I can feel in myself, and see in others around me, a powerful nostalgia for the time when history existed."

Not sure if you guys want to add this96.49.243.17 (talk) 17:33, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

Huh... how about that...

Turns out "C'etait Mieux en DDR" is an actual cultural phenomenon, not just a jokey album title. 193.63.174.211 (talk) 08:43, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

Video/DVD

I changed "available on video and DVD" to "video tape and DVD". For many readers "video" may be a synonym for "VHS", but the link directs to video that discusses all formats, not only VHS. So in its original form it meant "available on video and on one of the many formats for video", which seemed redundant. 207.45.249.143 (talk)

Berliner Mauer zurück

I added the following text:

A popular t-shirt logo says "Give me back my Wall. And this time make it two meters higher!"

But I removed it because my google search for "Berliner Mauer zurück" did not confirm this exact claim. However IMO the "Berliner Mauer zurück" does have circulation. Weißt du etwas? - üser:Altenmann >t 08:20, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

OK my bad search. should have been "meine Mauer zurück" -> "Gib mir meine Mauer zurück und macht sie dieses Mal zwei Meter höher!", bu the hit is the German version of the same artikel. - üser:Altenmann >t 08:28, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

Also 'Ich will meine Mauer zurück! Aber zwei Meter höher!' But all are not that popular as the article claims. - üser:Altenmann >t

References

Arguements

Is there any particular purpose to this section? It reads like it's from a sociology dissertation (ie expressing a POV) rather than a neutral encyclopaedia entry. Aside from it not really adding anything to the article, it's largely incomprehensible and feels like it's been rather poorly translated from a German original piece. 81.138.180.193 (talk) 16:16, 18 June 2018 (UTC)

Refs to polling

References