Life in East Germany in the 80s

Overall Context of East/West Germany
- Germany was divided into 2 parts - Eastern and Western Germany. Including the Capital city Berlin.
- Western Germany (left side) was a capitalist modern culture that allowed space and freedom of speech to a certain extent.
- Eastern Germany (right side) was being controlled by The Stasi (secret police) and they wanted a structured society where people were monitored for what they do and say. People had to cautiously think about their actions otherwise there would be serious consequences.
- People were allowed to move freely between the two up until 1961. This closure of free movement meant that families were split and a 87 mile concrete wall was built to divide the two parts. Including 176 watch towers.
- There was part of the border called the Death Strip, anyone who entered would be killed immediately.
- Checkpoints were placed to allow mostly UK and US citizens through. The most famous was Checkpoint Charlie, used by Americans.
- The wall stood for a total of 26 years, before people became angry and critical of the wall. Even American president "Ronald Reegan" stated in a speech "Tear down this wall!".
- Many Eastern Germans protested after this which resulted in them tearing down the wall and destroying it using their own hands.

General Life
Residents of East Germany were being constantly surveyed and monitored, so they had to be cautious on what they said and where they said it. It was common for people to speak their mind at home in front of families where they were trusted but would agree with the system when in a public place or workplace. Examples of this would include watching western television at home but not mentioning it in school.

Economy and Shopping
Economically, the salaries in the East were very low but with common life essentials being cheap. For example everyone could afford bread and rent as it was deemed necessities to survive in Eastern culture (all equal, food and shelter should be affordable). This meant that anything outside of the Eastern culture was expensive, like if a shop received desired goods from the Western side, there would be a long queue to get the item as it was rare and everything wanted something different rather than the same selection they got regularly. People wouldn't even know what they were queueing for, they just saw a long line and assumed that it was something good. There was copious amounts of trading and back street dealing between teenagers and youngsters that would use their own prices to swap forbidden items. Items like chocolate, meat and butter were scarce.

Equality
As the Eastern culture wanted equality, equal rights were good during the time - women worked and child-care was available and affordable. There was no Unemployment, and even if people didn't have jobs, they would invent work to keep them from being idle.

Benefits that the GDR offered
Although the DDR/GDR (German Democratic Republic) controlled a lot of what citizens lives, they did offer many benefits which included: work, support, free health care, places in nurseries and schools and affordable houses.

Fun and Music
Music was censored as the government saw the lyrics to some music was used as dissent, so the only legal music was in German. If people wanted to listen to anything different they'd have to go to the 'black market' or street dealers to do so. Theatres was the most common leisure type.

Education
Russian was the main language taught in schools as it was the main tongue of Eastern Europe. Children were taught etiquette, simple politeness and teamwork.

Lack of Freedom
People wanted to escape the East as they felt like they were trapped and controlled by the government; they had to freedom to their life. Their work, their social life and what they said and did was monitored by the government, and one slip up would consequently result in major punishment. They wanted to escape so they could free their opinions and views without being scared of being punished or imprisoned.

Were there Anomalies
Yes, of course not everyone in the East had the same opinion of not liking the system. It was common to find people who enjoyed the structural lifestyle, as it gave them stability because the GDR gave out jobs, homes, childcare and other benefits.