Some went to ‘Trabiworld’ for a ride in a rickety old Trabant, the only vehicle to which most East German workers could aspire. In 1949, the Western powers merged their respective areas in to the Federal Republic (West Germany) while the Soviet Union turned its own sector into the ‘Democratic Republic’ or ‘DDR’ (East Germany). He was a young shop-worker in West Berlin in 1980 when he decided to take a day-trip into East Berlin — as Westerners could — ‘out of curiosity’. In a bar, over several beers, he was persuaded to help a tearful East German youth make an escape attempt. ‘East Germany never had time to develop a sustainable economic plan of its own.

Source: Daily Mail October 25, 2019 21:11 UTC