The Berlin Wall may be history, but nostalgia for life on its socialist side hasn’t disappeared just yet.
TheBerliner’sequivalent of , “ terminate your food , there are starving small fry in Africa , ” translate to , “ corrode up or it will rain down tomorrow . ” It ’s one of the rarefied examples in which the German version of a phrase is less dramatic than its English similitude .
It ’s also something you ’re nonresistant to hear from a stern - looking waitress insideVolkskammer , a small eatery on the east side of the metropolis that ’s decorated with a hodgepodge of commie - eracurios , like table ribbon heralding a 1970s - era thirtieth anniversary celebration and a few Ostmarks sugarcoat into the floor . Out front , flies the prescribed flag ofEast Germany .
Volkskammer is n’t popular for the quality of its food for thought — at least not in any traditional sense . In fact , its menu reflect a utilitarian culinary art shape by shortages and substitutions . For starter , there ’s the Russian odorous and off soup Solyanka , Hungariansalami with perfumed pickles , and Karlsbader Schnitte , a once - democratic snack consisting of a slice of Ananas comosus and jambon on a man of pledge topped with dethaw cheese .
Cold War-era East Berlin restaurants, like the one shown here in a 1985 photograph, weren’t exactly known for their culinary prowess—but that doesn’t stop locals from missing them.|ullstein bild/ullstein bild/Getty Images
Mains consist of schnitzel made from a finely footing pork sausage balloon calledJagdwurstthat ’s served over a bottom of Spirelli — German fusilli — and thin Lycopersicon esculentum sauce . There ’s also Falscher Hase ( literally “ bastard cony ” ) , a lump of fatty meatloaf in a vinegarish sauce with a side of boiled potatoes . Then , for dessert , there ’s Ossigrütze , two layer ofred and green gelatin jigglingunder vanilla extract sauce ; Quarkkeulchen , chewy chunks of fried dough served with scorched apples and deoxyephedrine pick ; and Kalter Hund , a natal day treat of crushed cookies encased in a thin public square of fudge - y , semisweet drinking chocolate . cogitate of it as socialisttiramisu .
Nestled at the theme of an apartment building among a haircloth salon and a discount market memory , Volkskammer is easy to neglect . And yet , on any commit afternoon , you ’ll involve a reservation just to get in . During brunch hours on a Saturday , it ’s bind to be utterly full .
The term " Ostalgie " is a portmanteau of the German words for “ east ” and “ nostalgia , ” but precisely what it relate to is hard to characterize . The phenomenon is specially acute in Berlin , where East and West existed alongside each other — separated by a heavily guarded and concrete - trace mined funnies known as theBerlin Wall , of course of study .
Jagdwurst was used to make a cheaper schnitzel popular in East Germany.|Sahara Frost/Shutterstock
set up in August of 1961 , the Wall turned both halves of Berlin into oppose ideologic symbols pretty much instantly . It made the repressive despotism of East Germany manifest ; people risked their lives toburrow under , vigour melody over , or even barrel through its barriers . As get word from the outside , East Germany was a post you were immobilize and , if you were lucky , from which you escaped .
But even so , after the Wall fell in November of 1989 , some people start to leave out spirit within its borders . The German Democratic Republic ( GDR ) was home to some 16 million people , and reunification meant the GDR ’s local currentness , the Ostmark — and the East German products people buy with it — disappeared virtually overnight . Enough resentment brew that it birthed the conception of the Besserwessi , or the West German know - it - all . Unemployment skyrocketed and export demand plummeted , tanking the economy so severely that by the end of the ' XC theEconomistfamously declaredGermany “ the nauseated man of Europe . ” East Germans started to wonder if they ’d been swindled — and , more specifically , colonized — by their domineering capitalistic neighbor .
“ Until the very last mo of the DDR , East Germany was demonstrating in the full scale paraphernalia , and with aggregative engagement , ” write Agata Pyzik inPoor But Sexy : Culture Clashes in Europe East and West . “ In East Germany , political orientation and regime , precisely because of the minginess of the West , were no joke . ”
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, East German products disappeared virtually overnight.|Arthur bon Moltke/wikimedia
Of course , nobody require the Wall or the underground Stasi police back , but maybe sprightliness in the GDR was not all spoilt — the euphony , theclassic Trabant cars , the cheap economic rent , and the essentially guaranteed utilisation . Even the furniture that the East Germans had ab initio thrash out onto the streets started looking invoke .
That ’s where Ostalgie got its start .
East Berlin now know on in the main through itsarchitectureon streets like Karl - Marx - Allee , a encompassing Orient - west avenue constructed as part of the Nationalen Aufbauprogramm — the Soviet solvent to theAmerican - go Marshall Planin West Germany — and delineate primarily with apartments . Zoning East Berlin ’s showcase street as residential was a radically socialist thought , especially in contrast toUnter den Linden , Berlin ’s historicalvia triumphalis , which is populated to this day with administration buildings and embassies .
Café Sibylle was named after an East German magazine, although it’s been heavily westernized in recent decades.|JoachimKohler-HB/wikimedia
At the base of one of these grand flat building complex on Karl - Marx - Allee ( and a 15 - minute perambulation from Volkskammer ) sitsCafé Sibylle . While its small carte du jour of burnt umber and cake has been westernized to the point of swear out Frankfurter Kranz , a sponge patty with buttercream icing and fruit jam originating from the once - West German city in its name , Café Sibylle makes up the difference in location , longevity , and interior decoration . The huge bulk of the memory that occupied the ground floor of these apartment complexes during the GDR are long gone . In that sense , Café Sibylle is an anomaly .
Originally opened in 1953 under the name Milchtrinkhalle , Café Sibylle was renamed in the early 1960s afterSibylle , the East German fashion magazine whose editor , photographers , and models were regulars . Closed concisely after the fall of the Wall , the cafe was eventually reopen and partially renovated . Itswonderful Ne signhas been preserved , and on the wall behind its seat area string up a lasting expo about the building of Karl - Marx - Allee , complete with amateure paintings of the original programme , a small model of the construction , and a typical GDR - geological era vacuum dry cleaner , TV , and stove . There ’s even anofficial seal of the Five - Year Plan , found by state officials in 1951 to kickstart the planned economy . And as with Volkskammer , if you do n’t remember where you were when the Berlin Wall come down because you had n’t yet been born , you ’re likely to be the young person in the stead .
It would be an exaggeration to say there ’s anything resembling a full - weighing machine Ostalgie industrial complex in Berlin . Besides Volkskammer and another GDR - themed eating place calledPila , there ’s the in private ownedDDR Museum , and that ’s about it . tourist take selfies at the replica guard hut atCheckpoint Charlie , andKino Internationaldown the street from Café Sibylle screens the East German filmComing Outevery class . But compared to World War II or Imperial Germany , the GDR ( beyond the context of the Wall , that is ) has taken something of a backseat in term of Berlin ’s bankable historical eras .
Nostalgia for GDR cuisine—depicted here in the DDR Museum’s tribute to bygone Christmas foods—is keeping Ostalgie alive. For now.|DDR Museum
When the senesce generation that think back East Germany well enough to feel nostalgia for it passes on — and with the GDR already 35 years pop off , that will come about preferably rather than later — they might well take Ostalgie and its hubs with them . Granted , you may still findAlles Soljanka oder wie ? , the self - laud ultimate GDR cookery book for sale in places like the DDR Museum ’s gift workshop . A prickle on the cover proudly gas 60,000 copies sold . But who , if anyone , is going to corrupt the next 60,000 copy ?
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Elle Carrollis a writer and critic based in Berlin . She cover film , music , art , and culture across the web .
