Kultur 5--Matthew Viola

Ostalgie is certainly an interesting phenomenon to examine. There are definitely people who want to forget that the split of Germany ever happened, however there are many other former East Germans who seem to long for how life used to be. One place where you can see this is when walking around in East Berlin. The crossing signal on all streets is a man wearing a fedora, otherwise known as das Ampelmännchen. There was a debate on whether to replace the outdated DDR technology including these crossing signals in order to forget about the division of Germany over the years when the German republic was reunited. However, there was such an outrage over this simple change that they kept the crossing signal. Personally, having witnessed this signal in use, I have to admit it is awesome looking. However, had I been living in the DDR in the 1980s, I'm not sure I would have the same opinion. This doesn't stop many souvenir stands from selling shirts with this man on it, or Russian hats signifying the country's former Communist past, or the official passport stamps of the DDR.

I can also see why Berlin has such an appeal to young artists trying to make a name for themselves. I found that certain things in Berlin, like food and entertainment were very cheap. In Wedding, it never seemed that most people had jobs. However, in the is city, you don't really need a job to be able to support yourself because of this cheapness compared to some other cities. I can also see where not needing as much money would cause people to become complacent with not having a job unless they absolutely needed one. I have a feeling that in the poorer areas, this might be the reason why it seems that no one works.