Palast der Republik
Few will mourn the demise of the Palast der Republik, home of the East German parliament. It's being carefully demolished. It took 3 years to build, was in use for 14, and has stood around for another 16, waiting to be removed. A triumph of socialism, indeed
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I'm just so angry that this building is being demolished. The claim is "because of asbestos" - but that's clearly rubbish when you remember that the ICC is full of it too. The real reason? It was a positive symbol of East Germany.
Even when left to rot, it was a very pretty building - particularly in Winter and at sunset because of the copper sheen to the window/walls.
I don't know if you've noticed the propaganda here, but there's an amazing amount as soon as you start talking East vs West. It's generally held (by English-speaking publications) that the East was a complete failure and that people were pretty stupid/backward.
Some things were awful (eg research and industry areas where people got cancer because of related pollutants) - but they were just as bad in the West at the same time. Smog was named after a particularly nasty winter on the Rhein where it became impossible to refuse that people were dying because of the combination of cold, damp air and high ppm particulate pollution.
Some things worked far better than than they do now. No one starved. No one froze on the streets. From what I've heard, you basically were not permitted to be homeless.
Obviously the GDR failed. It went bankrupt financially and (in terms of attempting to control it's people) morally. And that seems to be what happens with "socialist" countries because while we're all equal, some of us want to be a little *more* equal.
But it was not a complete and absolute failure. Some things (like the recycling stations) were running better then than they do now. Did you know these were abolished in '89 when the BRD took over? And then were brought back by popular demand - but it's now privatised and it took the new company a few years to figure out that the colour-code system the DDR used was worth following?
I'll miss that building. I thought it could have been a good museum. It housed the Chinese clay soldiers very nicely.
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