Spiegel
It might be that because I am not interested in Politics, I tend to ignore or just glance over all the political materials if possible. However after forcing myself to read this article, it's a little bit surprising and also quite interesting to know that there was actually a lot going on in politics, some of which were even quite interesting, after the World War II.
Berlin Wall--Once I read an article about a really touching story that was about the Berlin Wall in Reader's Digest. In the story a young lady and a young man were engaged, but shortly after that they were separated by the Berlin Wall. They tried everything but they still couldn't get together. By the time they got married, it was almost 30 years later. I have always known that the Berlin Wall has brought misfortune to numerous people and families, but it is still shocking to see the number of people whose lives were totally changed by this Wall.
No Driving--The picture of "Strolling on a car-free Sunday" reminded me of the New Year strolling in my hometown that takes place every January 1st to encourage people to drive less and exercise more. However it is also quite interesting that West Germany tried to conduct oil-saving by prohibits driving on only four Sundays during an entire year.
Atomic Power--After the nuclear disaster in Japan last March, Germany totally stopped generating electricity using nuclear power. Many people seem to consider this as an over-reaction, but this little paragraph seems to explain something about the action against nuclear power that Germany took recently.
Breaking Down the Wall in the Head
This article is really surprising. In the junior year in high school my class hosted several German high school exchange students, and they seemed to leave us with an impression that the Germany after reunification didn't have much barrier between east and west any more.
Personally, I can't really agree with the example of Barwitzki used in the article. This seems to be such a not convincing example as people can argue with it in so many ways. It makes me feel that this article is less convincing due to this single example.
However, I guess the "advantage of youth" may really play a big role. Considering the change about attitudes toward many major things from my parents' generation and my generation, I really feel that the youth can bring up such a different view of the world.
Ostalgie
This Ostalgie seems really familiar to me. For a couple of decades, due to the limit in production, people in China had to use certain tickets for even daily goods. For example, people need rice ticket to buy rice and need oil ticket to buy oil. One couldn't buy anything without the tickets, even though he/she may have a lot money. During this time period, life was really hard for people. However, the generation of my grandparents sometimes still miss those special tickets, even though they would not choose live during that time period again. They would seek and collect old things from that time period and tell stories to the younger generation. This may be similar to Ostalgie, where people miss the past, as it was a part of their life anyways.
Germany's Real Divide
My supervisor in the summer intern is from Germany. Most of her family lives in northern Germany, and she worked in southern Germany before she came to her current job. She said that, even within one family, people don't seem to visit each other as often as they would, when they are living in two zones--south and north.
It's really interesting that even though Germany is not big in its total area, so much gap exists on this land.
Brennpunk Kultur
Deutschland: von der Monarchie zur Demokratie(I, II & III)
It is really surprising and interesting that the upper-left picture on Seite 438 seems to so widely used. It appeared again and again in my history textbook. Somehow I don't really like this part of the history, as it is so heavily politic-involved.
Freistaat Sachsen: Leipzig und Dresden
After the somewhat depressing history and description about the gaps and divisions in Germany, it is really great to end this reading in Leipzig and Dresden. Now I have two more places that I have to visit when I go to Germany one day. =)