How My Own Family History Helped Me Advise on GDR Stories
How Personal Experience And Archival Research Help Writers And Filmmakers Create Authentic GDR Stories For Historical Novels And Biopics
The German Democratic Republic was Eastern Germany (1949-1990).
Travelling from West Germany to East Germany
I remember... crossing the border into East Germany as a child, feeling the palpable tension and excitement that came with stepping into a world that felt both familiar and foreign.
I remember... going down two flights of stairs in the flat where we stayed. Several families shared bathrooms and loos; it highlighted the stark differences in living conditions and the shared struggles of everyday life.
I remember... being super upset about having to share my bubble gum tooth paste with my cousins. (I had brought it from Western Germany.) As a four-year-old, I didn’t understand why they would use their parents’ minty toothpaste for grown-ups.
I remember... the architecture of Leipzig, Dresden and Karl-Marx-Stadt—brutalist buildings that reflected the ideology of the regime, but also the decay of hundreds of 1900s villas and Medieval, half-timbered houses that were left to rot because no materials were available in the hardware stores.
I remember... changing money, and how much less value the GDR mark had compared to the D-Mark from Western Germany; it was a tangible reminder of the economic disparities.
I remember... super cheap prices for food, magazines, music notes and books, yet often finding limited choices; empty shelves… it was a curious mix of high vs. low prices, and scarcity in quality.
I remember... queuing for food, often standing in long lines, or asking to get goods under the counter, for West-Mark.
I remember... my parents assessing the crowd, scanning for Stasi officers; this constant vigilance illustrated the ever-present surveillance and the culture of fear that pervaded daily life.
All these personal experiences during our travels in the 1980s have shaped my understanding of the German Democratic Republic. Combined with knowledge from extensive reading, interviews with both regime critics and supporters, and original sources, I’m equipped to delve into GDR topics.
Do you have a GDR, Iron Curtain or Cold War story you want to explore in a book or film? Then let’s connect.
~ Barbara
Historical Consultant For Actors | withdrbarbara.com/prepare