
Hello, Lenin? Berlin, 1997 - benbreen
https://longreads.com/2017/02/02/ostalgie-berlin-1997/
======
rmetzler
I was born in 1980 in East Berlin, seeing the photo and reading the first
paragraphs gave me goosebumps.

“Gibt’s doch gar nicht” is usually meant ironically. If you loose your coat-
check ticket, you're supposed to describe where your stuff is and maybe what's
in one of the pockets, so they are sure you don't steal it. But to be fair,
even little kids in Germany learn they have to store there stuff at a place
where it should be impossible to loose. Even more when it is important like
your passport.

There is also a system in place where you can throw stuff you found (like
wallets, id cards, etc) in the yellow Post boxes and it will be sorted in Bonn
and mailed to the right people.

~~~
lispm
A German co-worker was in Paris recently. Her wallet was stolen while she was
in a train station. One or two days later she was informed by the Police that
the wallet had been found. The money was gone, but she got back all the rest
(credit cards, id card, ...).

~~~
netrus
Happened to me in Germany as well. I always wonder about the incentive to the
bad guy, but it is really great considering the hassel of getting all the new
documents is far worse than the loss of the money I usually carry with me. The
police even adviced me to wait some days before starting to apply for new
documents, because this happens in most cases.

~~~
poizan42
> I always wonder about the incentive to the bad guy

People who are desperate, e.g. drug addicts, but feel bad about it? Might also
just be that the theif threw the wallet away after emptying it for money, and
someone else found it.

------
freeflight
While there's a certain truth to the statement that Neo-Nazis are somewhat
more common in East Germany, that's not really the whole story.

West Germany also has its fair share of Neo-Nazis and closet racists, the
biggest difference being that West Germans had a couple of decades more time
to "tone it down" compared to East Germans.

In West Germany many people, to this day, have very negative sentiments
towards Eastern Europeans, Eastern Germans included. They are just more
careful about how and when they voice them, something the East Germans haven't
quite mastered to the same level yet.

Mostly due to an element of curiosity because "darker skinned people" simply
had not been that common in the Soviet states, so they are rather blunt on
such topics in comparison to West Germans who have learned to "hide" it a
little bit better.

------
JoeDaDude
The article title is a play on the film name "Goodbye Lenin", a comedy about
the fall of the East German state and reunification.

[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0301357/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0301357/)

------
tyingq
_" The Metropol club literally did not have a protocol for lost coat-check
tickets, because literally nobody had ever done it before in the history of
the Metropol club."_

I ran into similar things living in Germany. I went to the Allkauf store just
to look around, only to discover there was no way to leave other than the
checkout lines, which were very long.

So, I (discreetly, I thought) jumped the turnstyle that lets people in so I
could exit. There was immediate pandemonium, with security people coming my
way, disapproving looks from shoppers, and so on.

I'm curious where the German propensity for strict organization, rule
following, etc, comes from, and how far back it goes. The posted story seems
to suggest it comes directly from WWII, since the East Germans don't seem to
have the same attitude.

~~~
the-dude
I wonder in which country this would have ended well.

edit: what do you think is the intended function of the turnstile?

~~~
tyingq
There was no path to exit other than waiting in line behind shoppers waiting
to pay for their items.

~~~
lispm
Then you have to ask these people to let you pass. Doesn't happen often, but
sometimes. Usually one would enter such shop only if you actually knew what to
buy. But if you don't find what you were looking for, then one would leave it
without buying anything. Happened to me too. Some people are too shy to ask
people to let them pass, others not.

~~~
coldtea
> _Then you have to ask these people to let you pass._

Which is not obvious. And is not the case in most other places in the world
I've known.

~~~
lispm
Haha, what would you do in a room with only one exit, where people are
standing in the exit?

I would ask those people.

Obviously.

Trying to find some other exit in a shop will mean trouble. I would expect
that in most places of the world.

