[Leica] East Berlin 1966

[Nathan Wajsman]

Believe it or not, for us in the other Communist countries (I was 5-6 years old in neighboring Poland when Bob was taking these pictures), DDR was the place where they had consumer goods that we did not. Electrical goods, household appliances, etc.—all of this was better and much more available there than in our countries. This was part of the respective social contracts in DDR and Poland: we had more freedom, they had more stuff.

Good riddance to it all. When the Berlin Wall fell 25 years ago, I was living in Florida and I watched it on CNN with my 4-month old son in my lap. I had of course followed the dramatic events of that summer in Eastern Europe very intently. There was always this fear that at some point the Soviets would say: Enough! — the way they had done in 1956 (Hungary) and 1968 (Czechoslovakia) and threatened to do in 1980 (Poland). But once the Wall fell and they did nothing—then I knew that the Evil Empire was finished. DDR was the jewel in the crown and by letting it fall, USSR clearly signalled its own demise. I cried with joy that evening.

Nathan

Nathan Wajsman

Alicante, Spain
http://www.frozenlight.eu
http://www.greatpix.eu
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Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/

Cycling: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/belgiangator

YNWA













On 08 Nov 2014, at 18:55, Robert Baron <robertbaron1 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I did not have the sense it was a cheerful or happy place.