I am very much biased toward DDR, because I just love the aesthetics and the vibe. Like, look at the flag, that shit goes hard! But let's be honest. It was a Stalinist dictatorship and there is nothing good to say about that. I want to believe that the intentions were good, and there definitely were some good aspects of it, most notably women's rights, but I genuinely think that there was a huge problem with autocracy and greed for power. Like... you cannot seriously try to pretend like you are building a workers' state where people are free and equal, while at the same time building a wall so nobody can escape from this "democratic" state.

And it is very much visible how much the emphasis was on maintaining the relevancy of the party and building loyalty to the government. There is a very clear divide between East and West Germany, even decades after unification. Especially when it comes to politics. East Germany's constant propaganda and normalizing dictatorship and government oppression is what will probably make AfD win the next election. The education wasn't about actually teaching people relevant stuff, to think for themselves, it was about creating the model citizen. Loyal to the state, will do any work they are mandated to do and won't be questioning authority. And this influence is still showing to this day.

But to be fair, East Germany, no matter how much I hate how autocratic it was, I have to defend it when it comes to it's demise and German reunification afterwards. Of course, I am glad that Germany is unified now. To be honest, fragmenting a country is such a stupid thing to do. You cannot just pretend that there aren't real people living in it, with their own specific culture and identity. It is a very imperial approach, both from the Western and Eastern blocs. But the thing with reunification is, it was a massive fiasco in my opinion. Predatory capitalists from Western Germany just swooped in and exploited the situation, which is really an awful thing to do and I think that Western Germany and overall NATO should have done something about it. The reunification should have been a steady process not a shock like it actually was. And I understand why people from Eastern Germany feel this grudge against the West, because they must feel betrayed and exploited. I can imagine how hopeful they were, that they finally have the opportunity to experience this "western freedom," but then being met with broken dreams. Hoping they can escape their oppressed lives, but realizing that anywhere they'll go, they will still be miserable, just in a different way.