>East Germany was propped up by the rest of the eastern bloc countries to serve as the posterboy of communism
>East Germany was a satellite state of the soviet union, looted wholesale, whole factories shipped off, resources used to strengthen the soviet union etc.
So which one is it? Was the DDR a net giver or receiver of aid from the rest of the eastern bloc?
East Germany was propped up by the rest of the eastern bloc countries to serve as the posterboy of communism
Elijah Gonzalez
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Owen Mitchell
it doesnt work like that
inside the USSR, there was such cases but the satelite states had limited independance in their policies and how they wish to run their country, nobody was made a posterboy
the problem is Veeky Forums is filled with middle class children who either had family members prosecuted or just way too indoctrinated about those times
what the USSR did was buying their products and offer raw materials for cheap so they could run their economy as part of the Comecon
since it was the main market, it could largely influence the demand, hence different countries specialized for different types of industry
the DDR benefited from this since it had traditions of the car industry
afaik the looting was the true, although once things settled they were obviously helped to get back on their feet, but that was the case with every eastern bloc country
Charles King
Didn't expect such a nuanced post here desu
Jackson Myers
The why is the DDR such a gigantic pile of misery?
No industry no infrastructure no jobs, the ussr raped the ddr.
Greetings from germany I know what I am talkingg about.
Sebastian Flores
DDR definitely was NOT the posterboy of Communism. Hungary was. DDR was the bulwark against the fascist West. Anyone who says otherwise is a larping leftypol faggot.
Asher Howard
because the goal was not to make profit but to have full employment
once reunited with the bundesrepublic, the differences were sharp (and resulted in closing alot of its companies)
its also harsh on its habitants since not only they were separated from their own nation, they are now looked down by them for being poorer
but if you compare it to any other eastern bloc country, eastern germany is still way ahead of them
Jackson Nelson
The DDR wasn't great but East Germany really got the short end of the stick after reuniting. All those state assets had to go somewhere, and while they could've given each worker a share in the company they worked at (so not only do you safely transition to capitalism, you actually give workers more power than socialism was supposed to give them) a lot of stuff was simply sold off to west german companies.
>DDR was the bulwark against the fascist West.
How can you say this and right after accuse others of being leftypol faggots?
Do tell me about Hungary though.
Gavin Brooks
not him but the stereotypical socialist shortages, lack of goods, poverty and so on didnt exist after 1956
if you were working, you could afford a flat at least, you were working because everybody had a job
look up goulash communism
Levi James
>How can you say this and right after accuse others of being leftypol faggots?
Because it's the proper statement. The West was considered fascist by the COMBLOC. They even had the anti-fascist protection wall.
>Do tell me about Hungary though
Goulash communism and the highest standard of living of all communist states. You didn't wait 20 years for a telephone, television or automobile. Didn't suffer from the same shortages as other communist states once Goulash communism came into play (like Poland and meat for example). 1956 was a big fucking wake up call for the Hungarian government.
Alexander Evans
Oh, I get it. I knew that in their eyes the west was fascist, you could've used quotation marks so I'd know it wasn't your actual opinion.
Andrew Allen
Honestly, the Cold War West was, to a pretty large degree, fascist. This is particularly true before neoconservatism and the neoliberalization of the West.
James Clark
Fascism is the opposite neoliberlism. You have no idea what you're talking about. Study instead of throwing buzzwords around like they mean something.
James Anderson
>(You) in charge of reading comprehension
Ian Gonzalez
oh my bad. I thought you said the opposite of what you said.
I accept my shame senpai.
Hunter Price
>raw materials for cheap
To be fair, after the oil price surged in the 1970s, the Soviet Union reduced cheap oil deliveries to other comecon members. In order to be able to buy sufficient oil, East Germany and the other socialist countries had to pay with Wester hard currency, which was always rare.
Christopher Gomez
They smuggeled lots of Engineers into west Germany.
There was also operation Paper Clip.
Wyatt Lee
False dichotomy user. Its like saying
>Australia was an impoverished penal colony
>Australia relatively one of the wealthiest countries in the world
Which one is it?
Camden Peterson
The first one. East Germany was the most successful and glorious of the Eastern Bloc nations. It's an example of successful Socialism. Doing trade with the USSR doesn't equal rape.
Juan Cox
In the DDR:
>There were no homeless
>Everyone could get a cozy job where you only worked 1-2 hours per day and sat around the rest of the day
>Even with such a job you could still afford a car
>Food was cheap
>The radio still played Volksmusik instead of american nigger music
>You could leave your home unlocked and nobody would rob you
Ayden Bell
So I'm friends with a lot of older eastern europeans (like in their 50s and 60s)
They all said East Germany was the biggest fucking shithole in the entire Socialist bloc. Hungary, Czech and Poland were the best. Apparently Russia sucked dick as well.
Oliver Wilson
>>East Germany was a satellite state of the soviet union, looted wholesale, whole factories shipped off, resources used to strengthen the soviet union etc.
True but only for a couple of years cause the USSR planned on a reunified Germany. They wanted to have reparations from the west as well (especially from the Ruhr region). After it was clear that a unification wouldn't happen, the looting stopped.
>East Germany was propped up by the rest of the eastern bloc countries to serve as the posterboy of communism
True until the oil crisis hit the eastern block and the Soviets stop delivering cheap oil to the GDR, which they used to sell to the West.
Pic related.
Well since GDR was the border and was always under the threat of reunification the East-German politburo consisted of stone cold soviet fanboys till the end. So in terms of cultural politics the states you mentioned were far more liberal. In terms of standards or living this is a joke. Poland was a hellhole until the reforms of the 90s (that did bad as well). I remember you couldn't even drink polish tabbed water in the early 90s.
Jace Mitchell
The East Germans were able to make the biggest profits immediately after the oil shock though. The price of Soviet oil was calculated with the five-year average of the world market price, as a result the price of Soviet oil directly after the oil crisis was far below world market prices. East Germany imported as much oil from the USSR as possible and sold the refined products at normal prices to the West. After some time, the Soviets naturally adapted the system and that money making scheme came to an end.
Mason Price
This is true. It took until like 83 for the GDR to be hit by the crisis. This is the reason they built "new" coal power plants they heavily fucked up the environment. It's also the reason they took huge loans from Bavaria of all places.
Interestingly the environment protection groups that were created in response met in churches and were part of the nucleus of what became the opposition movement.