25 Years of German Unity // My first trip to the GDR

2 pieces of History in my Hand... 2 pieces of the Berlin Wall

Today Germany, my "Heimat", the country where I was born and lived in for 30+ years, celebrates 25 years of the German Unity. 
25 Years ago, the Berlin Wall came down. "Funny" side note: today on the US news, one orange dude is talking about building a wall. History should teach us a lesson... Guess not.
I still remember that day. We were all watching it on TV. I was 7 back then , and I didn't really know what was going on. But seeing all the happy tears, celebrations, and people hugging each other on TV made me realize this was something BIG. Something to be happy about! 
Plus David Hasslehoff was there. My crush. The guy whose CD I just bought. My very first CD. (Geez, I'm German :oD)

About 9 months after the wall came down, my parents decided to pack up the RV to go on summer vacation to "East Germany". The German Democratic Republic. Or GDR. We didn't really know what to expect. My parents explained a little, but since they haven't been there, it was more guessing and assuming. 
My dad's cousin and his wife went on vacation to Malchin, a small town in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and stayed on a farm there. So that's where we headed.

It was a looooong ride over there. I remember, all of a sudden and pretty much as soon as we crossed the "border",  the "Autobahn" changed, meaning the pavement, and it was a way more bumpy ride. After what felt like an eternity we finally arrived at our destination.

My first impressions are more like a blur. I don't remember much, but the farm dog "Bambi" attacking me and my sisters. I remember hundreds of geese. I remember how sorry I felt for my sisters having to sleep in a pop-up camper, while I was staying in our RV.



I do remember the currency. The "Ostmark" coins felt like play money. The grocery stores were still almost completely empty. Sometimes we've had trouble finding a loaf of bread. Stores - there were no stores really! No shopping centers. The lemonade bottles had rusty caps. The lemonade itself tasted super weird.

The family we stayed with was pretty wealthy, compared to the average citizen of East Germany. So they took us on boat rides on the lake, and they even had a pool.



We went on a couple of road trips to the Baltic Sea, the beautiful city of Rostock, we went to see the chalk cliffs of Ruegen...



Honestly - it wasn't my favorite summer vacation. I hated it. But now, a few years later, I am very thankful my parents took us over there. It made me realize, that this part of GERMANY needs our help, not only LOVE, but money, to built it back up. And it made me realize how lucky I was, being born and raised on the "FREE" side of the wall.

25 years later, there is still a wall. It might not be visible. But in some heads it's still there. We are still talking about the east. The east is still talking about the west. Some people in the east miss the "good old days", when the wall was still up, and everything was taken care of.
There is a scary amount of racist people in the eastern regions of Germany. During the FIFA World Cup in Germany 2006, there were literally no-go-zones for people who don't look like the average middle european... Currently Germany has to handle a huge amount of refuges fleeing from IS, and there are more refugee camps attacked in the east, than anywhere in the west...

Why it's like that? I don't know... But maybe today, everyone will take a break from hate, and celebrate all the good things the reunification brought. Listen to the Hoff, hug and kiss again, and party like its 1989.