I first saw the wall in 1976. On the western side, it had some of the most inventive graffiti that I ever saw. That year I also first saw "der Zaun" (the "fence"), the 750 mile obscenity that was the border that divided East and West Germany. No graffiti there; just double fences, guard dog runs, minefields and guard towers. Both were abominations and two of the biggest wastes of money I ever saw. East Germany put a whole small country in jail, and the Stasi, their secret police, established a network of "unofficial colleagues" who spied on their neighbors to assure ideological compliance. It was not a pleasant place.
Yet for all of that, there are a significant number of former East Germans who remember the old DDR fondly, and ironically, several of the old East German states have become the political home of Neonazi movements and the AfD, a right wing populist, anti-immigrant political party. That may serve to show that there is not much day-to-day difference between Leninist Communism and Fascism.
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I first saw the wall in 1976. On the western side, it had some of the most inventive graffiti that I ever saw. That year I also first saw "der Zaun" (the "fence"), the 750 mile obscenity that was the border that divided East and West Germany. No graffiti there; just double fences, guard dog runs, minefields and guard towers. Both were abominations and two of the biggest wastes of money I ever saw. East Germany put a whole small country in jail, and the Stasi, their secret police, established a network of "unofficial colleagues" who spied on their neighbors to assure ideological compliance. It was not a pleasant place.
Yet for all of that, there are a significant number of former East Germans who remember the old DDR fondly, and ironically, several of the old East German states have become the political home of Neonazi movements and the AfD, a right wing populist, anti-immigrant political party. That may serve to show that there is not much day-to-day difference between Leninist Communism and Fascism.
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