In general, yes, though Niandra has them the other way around (West Germany was envied). Gunter Grass' novels usually have a subtext of this running through them somewhere, especially those post-wall-come-down.
Well, what scared me is that both posters seemed rather young, and I'm wondering how history is being taught these days. I was in high school when the wall came down, so I have rather vivid memories of a divided Germany. What scares me is that with this ideological shift to the right in American politics, I wonder if West Germany is being seen as the better of the two countries.
I was in college when the wall came down... and when I was in high school, we were definitely taught that West Germany was the better of the two countries. Of course, being in America, we had a stake in West Germany, so I understood why.
Grass (who AFAIK spent his entire postwar life living in East Germany) addressing it, however subtly, does tend to put the stamp of authenticity on it for me. Not that he agrees that West Germany was a better country. heh.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
branchandroot![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-17 04:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-17 07:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-17 07:51 am (UTC)Grass (who AFAIK spent his entire postwar life living in East Germany) addressing it, however subtly, does tend to put the stamp of authenticity on it for me. Not that he agrees that West Germany was a better country. heh.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-17 04:37 am (UTC)