The East German Handbook Hardcover – December 29, 2017

As noted on the back cover, "Your travel guide to a vanished place" - this is a very comprehensive overview of life in the old GDR. Having visited several times in the late 70's, many of the items and memorabilia bring back memories, specifically the cheapness and the "ersatz" quality of daily life. e.g. the ubiquitous grey plastic, the public transport tickets produced from a million - times - recycled scrap paper, the exhaust - spewing Trabant cars, the paucity of goods on offer in shops, the sullen faces, the constant and exhorting propaganda which frantically attempted to "legitimize" this Soviet - German rump state. The SED (Communist Party) leadership was evil, spying and prosecuting and controlling all aspects of life for it's hapless citizens (one of my friends was imprisoned for the "crime" of "unauthorized attempt to flee The Republic"; even as a visitor, I discovered that I have a Stasi file detailing my visits to Dresden and East Berlin). No one misses the old GDR, but as it eventually fades into memory, this book is an excellent "souvenir" of that failed and misbegotten place...my highest recommendation.

I'm not an apologist for the evils of the German Democratic Republic, commonly known as East Germany. That being said I can't deny it had many parts of it that stir wonder, particularly in their strikingly strikingly yet starkly different approaches to many of life's common products. This collection from the masterful photo book company Taschen is a perfect showcase of those delightfully strange products of the former East Germany. Everything from plastics to propaganda, clothes to lottery tickets and much more is explored and gives a great sense of how East Germans used to live. The way the book is bound to an almost museum level of quality also makes the product feel well worth the price. This is a perfect purchase for any Eastern Bloc aficionado or anybody interested in German history or design.

Fascinating survey of just about every aspect of East German life. I personally found the advertising and consumer goods chapters the best. As usual with Taschen, the book is fascinating visually. There are essays in English and German to round out your knowledge.Despite the regime's attempts to put a good face on things, East Germany was a pretty unpleasant place to be. The book does cover the Stasi, and isolation of life there.Good lesson on everyday life in a dictatorship. Has a lot to offer not only for students of history, but for students of the present day world.

Any student of history and especially Germany should read this book, very well written in English and German with many photos. Details daily life in the DDR and shows many products made there, full of propoganda. A travel guide to someplace that you can no longer visit, except by reading through the pages of this massive volume.Well worth the cost that will become a treasured addition to your collection.

If you are in any way intrigued by the German Democratic Republic then this is a must buy. Plenty of photos and illustrations from life back in the DDR. It is a brick of a book so you can use it to throw at the Stasi during a morning raid before making your escape!

Profusely illustrated with text in English and German. Complete look at life in East Germany during the cold war years.

This is an excellent book regarding what life was life in the former German Democratic Republic. What a walk down memory lane! I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the GDR!

Great quality and insightful information. It's like being at the museum itself

If you love german history, german culture or nostalgic memorabilia from a vanished country, this is a must.

Having visited East Germany a decade before the fall of the Berlin Wall, I was intrigued by this detailed view of a country that developed its own rather unique culture while isolated for so many years. Heavily influenced by the Soviet world, it was also the face of that world to the West, and with heavy Russian subsidies did its best to compete with western allure and keep its citizens content behind the Wall. The richly illustrated book covers a wide range of material, from household and technical products to food, appliances, toys, games, packaging, advertising, magazines, music, film and many other cultural artifacts, plus images of family life, work and leisure - and, of course, the apparatus of the omnipresent secret police and the government. 800-plus pages of good-quality photos and captions in German and English, plus longer introductions to the featured sections, give an comprehensive view of a largely forgotten nation. In the eastern part of Germany, there are still tremors of 'Ostalgia' for the perceived positive aspects of life in the days of the GDR and its efforts to build a different society, and this book helps us see beyond our longstanding image of the GDR as just a dour police state. Engrossing and highly recommended.

Una obra maestra sin duda, no solo por la complejidad de los temas que trata, sino por el número de páginas y la cantidad de información. Un vistazo exhaustivo a un modo de vida distinto a lo que conocemos

article conforme, livraison rapide. Je crois que le livre était uniquement en allemand mais il est aussi en anglais. C'était plus facile à lire en anglais pour moi. Très inintéressant, nous nous replongeons dans une époque particulière...

I visited the GDR twice, once in mid 1987 and again in early 1989. The circumstances surrounding the collapse of the GDR were unique. Not only did the ideology which spawned it disappear, but the entire country did the same! I think it’s easy to forget that there was far more to the GDR than the Berlin Wall and the ubiquitous, dreadful Stasi. Just as in the West, ordinary citizens of the GDR lived their daily in much the same way as folk anywhere else, holding down jobs, raising families, enjoying holidays and recreation etc, within the limitations that the ideology they lived under would permit. The East German Handbook is fascinating and in my opinion worth every penny. This is a quality book. Inside it’s a treasure trove of both informative text and copious illustrations, which really do show items that were a part of the minutiae of daily life for the masses of the GDR. It was once pointed out by a friend of mine who grew up in the GDR, that not absolutely everything there was intrinsically bad, but had no wish to see the resurrection of another GDR. I have many books on the GDR, but Justinian Jampol has produced one of the most fascinating and unique books on this subject and I’m very pleased to add it to my library. I’ve you've any interest in the Cold War era, or the GDR in particular, then this will appeal.