The German word Ostalgie is a portmanteau of the words Ost (“East”) and Nostalgie (“nostalgia”). In its most basic form, Ostalgie refers to a nostalgic view of life in the former East Germany (Deutsche Demokratische Republik, DDR) that came to an abrupt end in 1990. At first glance, it appears that this word can easily be translated directly and simply encapsulates a feeling of longing for the lost society of the DDR since German reunification. Ostalgie, however, is much more complex than its apparent English denotation. It broadly consists of two components: a positive reflection on the DDR and a criticism of contemporary united Germany. By translating Ostalgie into English, the complex layers of sentiment and feeling towards the DDR that have developed over the past few decades are reduced to simple nostalgia, and the subtlety of its meaning is lost.
Life in the Soviet-controlled DDR was radically different from that in the democratic West Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland, BRD). In order to avoid the mistakes that followed the First World War, the USA and other Western invested pumped billions of dollars into the BRD after its founding in 1949 to build a stable and affluent country. Conversely, Russia saw the DDR as a resource to cover the losses of the Second World War and seized industrial and financial assets. To quote Econ Krenz, “The GDR was a child of the Soviet Union.” While the BRD was nurtured and protected, the DDR was neglected and suffered crippling economic hardship. Furthermore, the DDR was a surveillance state with few personal freedoms. Privacy did not exist – the Stasi (secret police) had a file on virtually every citizen, and an estimated 174,000 were inoffizieller Mitarbeiter (state informants). Despite claiming to be a democratic state, under Soviet rule there was just one political party. It is difficult to comprehend nostalgia for a state without freedom or privacy, and with economic hardships, such as food rationing.
However, beneath this veneer of struggle, hardship and poverty, life in the DDR was characterised by a strong community spirit. The state promoted collectivist ideals over individualism; for example, Volkseigene Betriebe (“state-owned firms”) frequently held social events that contributed to this fondly remembered connectedness. Furthermore, through legislation like the Familiengesetzbuch (“Family Code”) of 1965, gender equality was encouraged. Despite the apparent hardships, people were largely equal; unemployment did not exist, and the homeless were offered state housing. Since the reunification of 1990, capitalism and consumerism have brought incredible wealth inequality to East Germany, homelessness has become rife and thus the communal identity that defined the DDR has degraded. This social decline is a key component of Ostalgie and social historians have emphasised this emerging contrast.
Ostalgie is understood by some as a mourning of a prematurely ended socialist experiment and a simpler time. Many East Germans saw consumerism as a negative stain on German society and the DDR as the socialist stronghold against it. In the 1970s, there was strong support within the DDR for the Red Army Faction, a radical left group in the BRD that opposed capitalism and consumerism. Furthermore, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, numerous Eastern intellectuals joined the movement ‘For Our Country’ that opposed German reunification and sought to protect socialist principles. More recently, contemporary art exhibitions have noted a resurgence in the aesthetic of Post-Bauhaus functionalism (culturally associated with the DDR), another symptom of this longing for a simpler time.
It is also important to consider that Ostalgie has a lifespan. Adults who lived under the DDR are over 50 years old now. Inevitably, as time progresses, those with first-hand experiences of the highs and lows of life in the DDR will pass and with them, any direct nostalgia for their former life. While their perspectives may pass down to the next generation, the feeling of nostalgia will slowly wither away; one cannot feel genuine nostalgia for something they have not experienced themselves. This makes the question of whether Ostalgie should be translated even more pertinent as it evolves from a lived feeling to a studied past phenomenon.
Ultimately, Ostalgie is an acknowledgement of the close DDR community and a criticism of the modern unified Germany. The historical complexity and nuanced consideration of these ideas are lost when it is translated. The tempting simplicity of this East-German nostalgia is a misnomer. To preserve cultural and intellectual sensitivity, Ostalgie should not be translated. Thus, the consequences of translating Ostalgie serve as a cautionary tale of the risks inherent in conveying historical experience across languages, where cultural nuance can exist far beyond surface meaning.
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