Mrs. Ratcliffe's Revolution (2007)

Mrs. Ratcliffe's Revolution (2007). 1h 42m

“Der Spiegel (Spiegel-Online)July 03, 2009 Majority of Eastern Germans Feel Life Better under Communism By Julia Bonsteinu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGlorification of the German Democratic Republic is on the rise two decades after the Berlin Wall fell. Young people and the better off are among those rebuffing criticism of East Germany as an u0026quot;illegitimate state.u0026quot; In a new poll, more than half of former eastern Germans defend the GDR.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe life of Birger, a native of the state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania in northeastern Germany, could read as an all-German success story. The Berlin Wall came down when he was 10. After graduating from high school, he studied economics and business administration in Hamburg, lived in India and South Africa, and eventually got a job with a company in the western German city of Duisburg. Today Birger, 30, is planning a sailing trip in the Mediterranean. He isnu0026#39;t using his real name for this story, because he doesnu0026#39;t want it to be associated with the former East Germany, which he sees as u0026quot;a label with negative connotations.u0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd yet Birger is sitting in a Hamburg cafe, defending the former communist country. u0026quot;Most East German citizens had a nice life,u0026quot; he says. u0026quot;I certainly donu0026#39;t think that itu0026#39;s better here.u0026quot; By u0026quot;here,u0026quot; he means reunified Germany, which he subjects to questionable comparisons. u0026quot;In the past there was the Stasi, and today (German Interior Minister Wolfgang) Schäuble — or the GEZ (the fee collection center of Germanyu0026#39;s public broadcasting institutions) — are collecting information about us.u0026quot; In Birgeru0026#39;s opinion, there is no fundamental difference between dictatorship and freedom. u0026quot;The people who live on the poverty line today also lack the freedom to travel.u0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBirger is by no means an uneducated young man. He is aware of the spying and repression that went on in the former East Germany, and, as he says, it was u0026quot;not a good thing that people couldnu0026#39;t leave the country and many were oppressed.u0026quot; He is no fan of what he characterizes as contemptible nostalgia for the former East Germany. u0026quot;I havenu0026#39;t erected a shrine to Spreewald pickles in my house,u0026quot; he says, referring to a snack that was part of a the East German identity. Nevertheless, he is quick to argue with those who would criticize the place his parents called home: u0026quot;You canu0026#39;t say that the GDR was an illegitimate state, and that everything is fine today.u0026quot;”