I had a happy childhood in the GDR. I wasn’t really aware of the repressions under the dictatorship. I was too young but perhaps it was also because my family was rather apolitical and stayed out of everything. We saw the wall fall on television. They showed bustling scenes as they announced: “The border is open!”
We picked up our Begrüßungsgeld (welcome money) in Berlin. I vividly remember the drive on the bumpy GDR highway. There was a huge line outside the bank on Karl Marx Strasse. After we got the money we went to the Hertie department store. I was fascinated by the enormous assortment of candy – Haribo, Milka, Kinder Eggs and the like. It was so much more colourful than the canned peaches, baking chocolate and Othello biscuits you got in the GDR! The present I got however was the board game ‘Monopoly’.
When home, we tore open the packaging and played for hours. The only board games I had known before then were “Mensch ärgere dich nicht” (lit. ‘don’t get angry’ a game similar to Ludo or Sorry!) and card games. But now we had not only dice and figures but also banknotes and special event cards. Monopoly was about strategy; you could buy property and go to jail. It was so exciting!
It was through Monopoly that I was introduced to capitalism. For me it came with its advantages – democracy, travel, freedom of speech and press. I was also later able to go abroad and study.
Nevertheless, today I am quite sceptical of capitalism. Things for the common good such as housing, health, education or water should not serve individuals who want to maximise profit. They are social rights that every human being is entitled to! Today I work as team leader in human resources and recently became a mother of twins. I wonder will my children also one day play Monopoly?
»It was through Monopoly that I was introduced to capitalism.«