My first steps in East Germany
Ever since I moved to the US I had many people asking me about life in East Germany. It goes like this. Wow, you are from East Germany… What was it like to grow up there? Was it really though? Tell me; what was it like?
And then I start my stories getting more and more questions. People always seem to be amazed. That’s why I started this blog. It will be my perspective and my experiences about the life behind the wall. It’s to share some history and maybe even to educate.
Well, let’s start with… it wasn’t all that bad as a child I guess even though I had some tough times but also loads of fun.
I’ll go back as far as I remember… Our first home.
I spent the first 6 years of my life (1966 – 1972) in a house that belong to lets say the ranger and hunter of the castle owner before WW2. Yes, our village had little castle.
The village / government owned the house when I lived there with my family, my parents and a 3.5 years older brother.
We shared the house with 3 other families. We had a tiny apartment with a kitchen, a living and a bed room. The indoor bathroom was shared with all families. It had a real WC and a bath tube. A serious luxury I learned a little later in life. The water was heated via a coal oven and it took several hours for the water to warm up. Therefore we bathed on weekends only and the water was shared. Imaging, the same bathing water was used by several people. It was more or less in and out mainly to wash your hair. And yes, there were outhouses which the adults used to go to. Little did I know…
The sleeping situation was solved by carrying my brother to the living room couch when my parents went to bed. My little bed was in my parents bed room but I slowly got to big for it. More to come…
What would you like to know? I’ll happily share whatever information I have.
The Life of Me 