No Loyalties In Politics

One of the peculiarities of the fall of communism in the East of Europe, is that the system that had control of the peoples thoughts for over 45 years, wasn't able to retain any loyalty from its former citizens after democracy was restored.

East German Propaganda Posters
Showing United Workers Ready To Fight Capitalism .... Standard Fare For 45 years. 

For example in East Germany, having brainwashed three generations of children's minds with communism, as firstly a Young Pioneer, then via the Free German Youth,and then the Socialist Unity Party, one would expect that these kids would retain this mindset, no matter whether elections carried real choice or not. I mean how could children's books with titles like 'Six-Year-Old Bronek and the Six-Year Plan' not have had some sort of resonance and created Homo Sovieticus.

Doing the "Time Warp" East German style

Quirky little story ..... a developer opened up a flat in East Germany and found that it was a time capsule of East German life.

Littered around the flat were long-forgotten East German relics such as "Vita" cola, "Marella" margarine, "Juwel" cigarettes, and an empty bottle of "Kristall" vodka, colloquially referred to as the "Blue Strangler." The rooms were decorated with furnishings dating from the 1950s to 1980s, and the toilet was located on the communal landing, as was common for East German tenement blocks. A wall calendar showed August 1988 and that's when the flat was last believed to have been entered.

Mr Aretz said he had found documents in the flat showing that the occupant was a 24-year-old man who had been in trouble with the police. “It’s unclear if his offences were political or if he was a petty criminal. He had spent two terms in jail and he was definitely someone who didn’t fit in with the system. I’ve kept his documents. So far, he hasn’t got in touch with me.”