A producer from NPR contacted me yesterday concerning the Trabant. He wanted me to talk about the Trabant as a reflection of the dysfunction in East Germany, but I wanted to shift the conversation to another topic I think more significant, namely that mobility that the Trabant afforded DDR citizens whetted their desire for greater freedom. So I guess he didn't like that and moved on. That is OK, because the media shouldn't control discourse in all cases.
Note the fashion of the young woman and the shape of the Trabant.
So why are so many East Germans fond of this car? Why do they collect and show them? Surely not because the car is a reminder of the dark world inside the DDR.
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