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The Latest Breaking News from East Germany

This Oddball Electric Scooter Is More Than Just a Throwback

Before electric scooters were cool—or even a thing—the streets of East Germany were buzzing with the unmistakable whirr of the Simson Schwalbe. First introduced in 1964, the smoky two-stroke scooter became a beloved icon, with over a million units sold before production wrapped in the mid-’80s. Fast forward to today,…

RideApart

“I didn’t know him or trust him. But I gave him all of that money in the hope he would bring me a Strat. I had no idea if I’d see him again”: Rammstein’s Richard ZK on the coffee shop rendezvous in East Germany that got him his first Fender

The Rammstein riffer wanted a Strat to imitate his hero, Jimi Hendrix – but getting hold of one took some serious work

Guitar World

Frieder Reimold, journalist who wrote AP’s iconic ‘East Germany opens borders’ bulletin, dies at 80

Frieder Reimold, the former Berlin bureau chief of The Associated Press German-language service who wrote the iconic 1989 bulletin that East Germany had opened its borders, has died aged 80, his family said

The Independent UK

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The Berlin Wall: a divide that once shaped German women's lives apart still echoes today

As Germany celebrates the fall of the Berlin Wall 35 years ago on Nov. 1989, women look back at how different their lives were under communism in East and capitalism in West Germany

The Independent UK

AP Photos: 35 years after the Berlin Wall opened, fragments of East Germany's border remain

Most of communist East Germany’s heavily fortified border was torn down quickly after it was opened in 1989, but there are still places where visitors can see the remains of the Berlin Wall and other sections of the frontier

The Independent UK

Thirty-five years since the wall fell, Berlin is divided – over what to do with crumbling communist buildings

The 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, an event that powerfully symbolised the collapse of communism in eastern Europe and signalled the end of the cold war, is an opportune moment to take stock of what remains of East Germany (GDR) in the capital of Germany.

The Conversation

As a former East German athlete doped by the state, I see how our past pain is fuelling the far right

In east Germany, our history is shrouded in lies and silence. Until we break their hold, support for extremism will flourish, says academic and author Ines Geipel

The Guardian - UK

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How East Germany's 'Traffic Light Man' Became A Beloved Icon

As Germany readies to mark 35 years since the Berlin Wall fell, one symbol of the former communist East has become an icon of reunification, seen by millions every time they cross a street.

International Business Times

Ikea pledges €6 million to former prisoners of communist East Germany who were forced to build flat-pack furniture during the Cold War

“We deeply regret that this happened,” said Walter Kadnar, CEO of Ikea Germany.

Fortune

Ikea pledges millions over use of forced labour in East Germany

Ikea has pledged to contribute €6 million to a hardship fund for victims of the former East German dictatorship, acknowledging that some of its suppliers had used political prisoners as forced labourers.

Radio France Internationale

Former Stasi official sentenced to 10 years for 1974 Berlin border murder

Czeslaw Kukuczka was shot in the back as he tried to flee from East Germany via the Berlin Wall on March 29, 1974.

Al Jazeera

Former officer with East Germany’s secret police sentenced to prison for a border killing in 1974

An 80-year-old former officer with communist East Germany’s secret police, the Stasi, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for the murder of a Polish man at a border crossing in divided Berlin 50 years ago

The Independent UK

Not just AfD: What’s the BSW, Germany’s rising populist left party?

The party founded in January espouses anti-NATO, anti-immigrant populist rhetoric while promoting left-wing economics.

Al Jazeera

Why German reunification is still a good idea

When asked about my opinion on German reunification, I usually respond that I think it is a good idea, and that we should do it. This is, of course, a joke, as Germany is now united with no official internal borders. However, 35 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall,…

The Conversation

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Evening Standard

Hundreds of homes to be built on Tube station car park after Transport Secretary ditches Tory veto

TfL’s tower block scheme was described by MP as ‘overbearing’ and like East Germany

International Business Times

Far-left Rebel Seeking Peace With Putin Rocks German Politics

A radical far-left politician who wants to make peace with Russia's Vladimir Putin looks set to play a key role in regional elections in the former East Germany on Sunday.

International Business Times

Pessimism Dogs Eastern Germany Despite Economic Gains

With its shiny new housing estates, scores of building sites and bustling city centre, Jena represents the fresh face of the former East Germany.

The Guardian - UK

Smashing idea: how East Germany invented ‘unbreakable’ drinking glasses

In the 1980s, a company called Superfest pioneered extra strong glass – but it disappeared with the fall of the Berlin Wall. Now it’s making a comeback

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Al Jazeera

UEFA Euro 2024 finals stage reopens east-west football divide in Germany

Of the 10 host cities staging UEFA Euro 2024, only one is in the former East Germany. Can the playing field be levelled?

The Guardian - UK

‘It was high time I told our stories’: Jenny Erpenbeck on her International Booker winner Kairos

A pulse-quickening novel about a tempestuous age-gap relationship at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall has won the top prize for translated fiction. The German author and her translator discuss how it entwines the personal and political

The Guardian - UK

Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck wins International Booker prize

Erpenbeck is the first German writer and Michael Hofmann the first male translator to win the £50,000 prize for novel which tells the story of a relationship set against the collapse of East Germany

The Guardian - UK

What’s ‘wrong’ with east Germany? Look to its long neglect by the wealthy west

The far-right AfD is leading the polls in former GDR regions – and longstanding bias in German media and politics is partly to blame, says German-British historian Katja Hoyer

France 24

'Puzzle Women': Piecing together the files destroyed by East Germany's secret police

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, a team of archivists has been tirelessly sorting, pasting and reassembling documents that were destroyed by the Stasi, the East German secret police. Nicknamed the "Puzzle Women", these heroines of collective memory face the Herculean task of piecing together these files:…

The Guardian - UK

The Berlin Wall is opened for Christmas – archive, 1963

In December 1963, an agreement between East and West Germany allowed West Berliners to obtain one-day passes to visit relatives in East Berlin

The Independent UK

Former agent of East Germany's Stasi agency is charged over the 1974 border killing of a Polish man

Prosecutors say a former member of communist East Germany’s secret police has been charged with murder over the killing of a Polish national at a border crossing in divided Berlin in 1974

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