What follows are a serious of photos depicting what East Berlin was like. A friend of mine (who is an archetect) went with me to Marzahn, a working class suburb of old East Berlin. Although the tall concrete buildings that providing housing for most East Berliners (and were common throughout the East bloc) have been renovated and look much better than they used to, you can still get a taste for what life was like. In these satellite cities the buildings were separated by a small park, had their own schools and shopping centers, and provided what many in the East felt was a decent quality of life; at least everyone had an apartment, a job, and a community. Activities were centered around the work place, and youth had numerous opportunities to do things after school and on weekends. Many found unification hard because suddenly all that was gone, the western way of life seemed more cold and disconnected. Of course, the East German economy was collapsing and they had no alternative but to change. Still, I can't help but think that some of what they had -- at least in terms of community and activities -- could be integrated into a market economy in a way that makes alienation less likely. Berliners seem to think so too, especially after right wing neo nazi types started to grow in popularity among disillusioned youth, and instituted programs designed to help social life in sections like this. This part of Berlin votes strongly PDS in elections; they don't want the return of communism (and they recognize that the PDS is not the same party as the old SED), but feel that the change hasn't taken East German concerns seriously. The PDS doesn't get a majority though, as many who suffered through the injustices of life in the old GDR find it repulsive to vote for a party still made up by a lot of those who made the old system work, and they don't trust the new rhetoric coming from Gregor Gysi (who had been a lawyer representing dissidents in the old system). As time goes on, the PDS looks set to survive, and a new generation is giving them more votes, especially as the old SED regime slips into historical memory. The buildings in the first photo below are a bit taller than most; usually buildings were only about nine stories high, as elevators often failed and the materials were of low quality and taller buildings were unstable. The second photo is more typical.