GenZedong

Hey speaking of apartments, this bozo leaves out what happened to GDR citizens immediately after reunification. Anyone in the FRG could make a claim on property in the East that was “taken” from them or their ancestors in the process of Germany being divided. At one point, over half of all residential dwellings in the East were claimed by leeches in the West. Even though a lot of claims didn’t end in evictions, so many GDR citizens had to live under the threat of being made homeless (and many were).

You had to wait for a car but it’s not like in the US where a car is a mandatory (and incredibly expensive) requirement to live. They had public transport. And part of the reason they had to wait so long (and also why bananas et al were hard to come by) is that the capitalist world tried to strangle the economies of the Eastern Bloc as much as possible.

Also, the Stasi didn’t come after you just for complaining about the government. Lots of people complained. They came after you if they suspected you were on CIA or BRD payroll, or were a capitalist wrecker, or a fash, etc. Good faith complaints were fine. The book I cite in the source below has an opinion poll that was made shortly after reunification. Former GDR citizens responded to what they liked the least about life in the GDR, and the Stasi were pretty low on the list. Travel limitations were clearly #1 IIRC, but that can’t be blamed entirely on the GDR as the capitalist west also placed restrictions on the travel of GDR citizens.

Source: Stasi State or Socialist Paradise. Haven’t read any Victor Grossman but he’s pretty great on this subject, too.

Keep in mind, about that line where he says they made DDR the largest prison on Earth, just to keep in perspective: the USA, since 1970, has quintupled its incarcerated population, currently making up about 1/5 of the world’s prison population.

"A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic" -J. V. Džugašvili

i cant with this people, they are the real spoiled ones taking everything they got in socialist states for granted and complain how hard they had it: "uh it was so hard, we did not have oranges? Can you believe that??? how can a society possibly function without oranges, literally 1984" I give you the choice:

A: live in a society where human rights like housing, food and clothing are treated as such and the vast majority of peoples needs are met (no oranges)

or

B: live in a society where you need to pay for your human rights and where only the rich can carefree finance their lives without sinking in unpayable debt while homeless people roam the streets and get beaten by the police for being poor (with oranges)

…waited 10–12 years for a car and it wasn't cheap…

Meanwhile, in capitalism, cars are so cheap that so many car 'owners' get into a debt that lasts longer than the car. Some of them even find out that after weeks or months of payments, their credit application can be refused and the car can still be taken off them.

Stasi also forced you to do this

"Communism bad because no oranges and bananas!"