The Life of Me… Why?

“Good bye, Lenin!” a movie which was released in 2003 became one of the first internationally recognized movies about the GDR. I watched it in NYC. I enjoyed it very much and was the only one in the movie theater who was able to sing-along when the kids sang “Unsere Heimat“. Since our school system was very standardized, I am quite sure that every East German knows or at least remembers this song.

If you haven’t see the movie check it out. It’s on Amazon.

However; “The Life of other” left a bigger mark. It was release in 2006. I assume you can see the resemblance to the blog name by now.

This movie I think you have to see, if you are interested in the life that happened behind The Wall. Amazon

I do not want to takeaway the story, since you might want to watch it… but on a very short note about this moving story, it shows people trying to survive in a sick system. There is mainstream which are people who just go along because they are afraid for their own and their families well-being. And there are people who fight independent of the outcome and the impact on their life’s.

We have seen this many times in the past. I hope the current developments in Germany will not end in a repeat of history. We have seen theses politicians not focusing on solutions but maintaining their egos, strengthen their power with bad propaganda using the vulnerability of people to spread hatred. I am a believer and optimist and think we are able to learn and can do better.

My burning question was, why did the system fail?  (Also very simplified, of course… I am not even close to explore any kind of economic system in this blog)

Let’s start with Marx & Engels which I had to study for my BA degree. They were idealists believing that Communism would be the happy state of life for everyone (very simplified 😉 ). They are probably turning in their graves by my ‘summary’ of the book “The Communist Manifesto”.

The GDR never reached this state. We were still, by their definition in the state of Socialism. However; they did not factor in the human beings. The good things about our race which brought us from the stone age to today, eg. our abilities to think, communicate, learn as well as our curiosity and our sense of exploring everything and anything, etc. The bad things which also brought us here, are the drive for power, money, and jealousy and greed. The latter are also our downfalls and the reason for Marx’ & Engels’ dream not ever becoming reality.

It’s us, the very human being holding us back from our ideal state of mind and being. And there are exceptions like Mother Teresa just to name one. These are probably the dreamers and idealists and they will not be able to change the human race with all it’s facets.

Oops… that was an unexpected excurse.

Back to “The Life of others”. I remember that I felt very glad that this movie was made and was close to write a Thank you letter to the makers. I never did but I still feel the same. It shows the good in people even under bad circumstances.

Last but not least, one more item for your watch list. The latest series about the GDR taking over living rooms in Europe “Deutschland 83” set in a divided Germany in the 80s. Only streamed on Hulu but I am sure it will be available on other services as well.

It’s awesome!