Ostalgie

Ostalgie (German: [ˌʔɔstalˈɡiː]) is a German term referring to nostalgia for aspects of life in East Germany. It is a portmanteau of the German words (nostalgia) and (east). Its anglicised equivalent, ostalgia (rhyming with "nostalgia"), is also sometimes used.

The term (along with the phrase "Soviet chic") is also occasionally used to refer to nostalgia for life under the socialist system in other former Eastern Bloc countries, such as Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. As with nostalgia for the Soviet Union, there are various motivations, whether ideology, nationalism, wistfulness for a lost sense of social status or stability, or even aesthetics or irony.

Ostalgie is a complex term that should not be described as simple emotion of nostalgia. And relates Ostalgie back to history of Cold war, it is better to examine this term in context of history and its current influence in Western Society. After that, meaning of East (Ost) of this term would be clearer.

The most noticeable differences would be the ruling political party of two countries. Differences of the two parties establish the different strategy for the process of “restoration”. In the West, authority adopted a capitalism tendency economy under Marshal Plan. In the other hand, authority of East Germany was under massive pressure from Soviet Union and adopted a more radical economy system that having more intensive requirement for individual. Divergence between two states first appears in their different in economic system choices. Structure of two German societies and their people were inevitably distinct from each other under the broad background of Cold War. Although people in two Germanys share the same language and the same history from establishment of German Empire to defeat of World War II, their identities were no longer the same in the dimension of completely different social life. Differences between West Germany and East Germany are evident before reunification.

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