Captain's Blog 26102007
Okay so as promised here I am and I really wanted to give State Communism a go for this post. Leipzig, previous to current period was a town built on trade (earlier in furs and durable goods, and later books). During World War two the city was bombarded because of its concentration of printeries (a good way to interrupt the supply of information). After the War this area was a formal part of the Communist GDR. With this background the state took on the massive task of providing housing for everyone, work for everyone, and necessary items for all.
The result was an area where the people worked, but often their place of employment didn't actually need them working there. AFter the GDR fell this caused massive unemployment levels. Also, because the state owned virtually all of the buildings it couldn't realistically maintain all of the buildings (over the course of 40 years). This means that many of the buildings here in 1990 were (and some still are) in complete disrepair. There are still some areas where it is apparent that something was bombed years ago. Compounding this very interesting situation the state was very invasive and aggressive in monitoring and rooting out dissenters. The Stasi was the policing agency that was very involved with "monitoring" those who threatened this system.
Tommorrow I will have pictures of the buildings (right now I don't have the chord that goes from my camera to my computer)
Tell me what you guys think of the subject
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3 comments:
Very interesting Reggie. Kyle and I witnessed many of the same things when we were in Hungary. Progress appeared to relatively slow. Many buildings in Budapest (including our Hostel) still had bullet holes in the walls from WWII and the 1956 Revolution. It seemed to me that in many places the old residential and industrial/commercial buildings left over from the communist era were being sacrificed in favor of building more for tourism and "new/modern" industrial and commercial ventures.
Agreed, the same thing is starting to happen around here. There are really about two types of Communist era buildings around here. The first was early and very grand (really they were gifts from Stalin) and they are still very well maintained. The other type is the more famous Communist box-styled buildings..These things are small and very utilitarian buildings. From what I hear, in this area the small box apartments could serve multiple purposes. Purpose one being housing many people quickly, and another is that it was very easy to for neighbors to snoop on one another. It is completely bizarre for me to believe that the community was plotting against itself.
Very, very interesting! Of course, I find this interesting; this is the kind of stuff I study and teach! Well, not architecture, but the nature of the former communist regime and the kinds of impact it continues to have. Truly, truly fascinating. Too bad you couldn't be here to take my Post-Communist Europe class or the Russia & Post-Soviet Politics class!
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