# Life After the Berlin Wall: Unemployment and Nostalgia in East Germany

- Original post: https://www.twitter.com/i/status/2121011307097055467
- Source account: [@NLangH17](https://x.com/NLangH17)
- Source language: English
- Duration: 1:49
- Published: 2026-11-13
- Canonical URL: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/kGaGaoKFIRP6/en/life-after-the-berlin-wall-unemployment-and-nostalgia-in-east-germany

## Transcript

[0:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/kGaGaoKFIRP6/en/life-after-the-berlin-wall-unemployment-and-nostalgia-in-east-germany) Manfred Gerbot and Christoph Begrich recall the sense of hope they felt when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.

[0:06](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/kGaGaoKFIRP6/en/life-after-the-berlin-wall-unemployment-and-nostalgia-in-east-germany?t=6) They themselves had actively opposed the communist regime.

[0:10](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/kGaGaoKFIRP6/en/life-after-the-berlin-wall-unemployment-and-nostalgia-in-east-germany?t=10) There are enough people today who blame us for unemployment and so on.

[0:14](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/kGaGaoKFIRP6/en/life-after-the-berlin-wall-unemployment-and-nostalgia-in-east-germany?t=14) They ask us why we just didn't keep quiet, and that makes you sad, of course.

[0:19](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/kGaGaoKFIRP6/en/life-after-the-berlin-wall-unemployment-and-nostalgia-in-east-germany?t=19) The world of work has changed completely.

[0:21](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/kGaGaoKFIRP6/en/life-after-the-berlin-wall-unemployment-and-nostalgia-in-east-germany?t=21) There used to be this camaraderie. Now it's a competitive struggle and every man for himself.

[0:27](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/kGaGaoKFIRP6/en/life-after-the-berlin-wall-unemployment-and-nostalgia-in-east-germany?t=27) The town of Artern has suffered massive unemployment since reunification.

[0:31](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/kGaGaoKFIRP6/en/life-after-the-berlin-wall-unemployment-and-nostalgia-in-east-germany?t=31) It has had the highest rate in the state of Thuringen.

[0:34](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/kGaGaoKFIRP6/en/life-after-the-berlin-wall-unemployment-and-nostalgia-in-east-germany?t=34) Surveys show that nostalgia for the old days is growing here and elsewhere in the east. Some people even go further than that.

[0:42](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/kGaGaoKFIRP6/en/life-after-the-berlin-wall-unemployment-and-nostalgia-in-east-germany?t=42) I'd have nothing against them rebuilding the wall and making it 10 meters higher.

[0:49](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/kGaGaoKFIRP6/en/life-after-the-berlin-wall-unemployment-and-nostalgia-in-east-germany?t=49) We'd at least have our job security and wouldn't have to watch every penny.

[0:53](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/kGaGaoKFIRP6/en/life-after-the-berlin-wall-unemployment-and-nostalgia-in-east-germany?t=53) The unemployment agency is making life hell for us, especially when you're a single parent. We don't need the West.

[0:59](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/kGaGaoKFIRP6/en/life-after-the-berlin-wall-unemployment-and-nostalgia-in-east-germany?t=59) Disillusionment has left people longing for the past, security, solidarity, and communist-style social cohesion.

[1:08](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/kGaGaoKFIRP6/en/life-after-the-berlin-wall-unemployment-and-nostalgia-in-east-germany?t=68) They also recall the fair share of partying they did back then.

[1:12](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/kGaGaoKFIRP6/en/life-after-the-berlin-wall-unemployment-and-nostalgia-in-east-germany?t=72) It was a system that not everyone believed in, but which had its benefits.

[1:16](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/kGaGaoKFIRP6/en/life-after-the-berlin-wall-unemployment-and-nostalgia-in-east-germany?t=76) Some unemployed people meet at the People's Solidarity charity organization, which has survived reunification.

[1:23](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/kGaGaoKFIRP6/en/life-after-the-berlin-wall-unemployment-and-nostalgia-in-east-germany?t=83) Nobody here misses the wall, but they have all experienced disappointments with the free market system and its unexpected downsides.

[1:31](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/kGaGaoKFIRP6/en/life-after-the-berlin-wall-unemployment-and-nostalgia-in-east-germany?t=91) They failed to say what would happen to us.

[1:33](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/kGaGaoKFIRP6/en/life-after-the-berlin-wall-unemployment-and-nostalgia-in-east-germany?t=93) It was like being thrown into cold water, all the unemployment and so forth.

[1:37](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/kGaGaoKFIRP6/en/life-after-the-berlin-wall-unemployment-and-nostalgia-in-east-germany?t=97) What about freedom? I didn't have freedom.

[1:41](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/kGaGaoKFIRP6/en/life-after-the-berlin-wall-unemployment-and-nostalgia-in-east-germany?t=101) We used to say, "I'd like to travel to A or B," but I can't do that today either.