Word: leipziger
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...Their willingness to work and our capitalist system put together would produce incredible results," marvels a West German businessman visiting Leipzig...
Most people react by refusing to discuss politics or their discontent with the regime. The boredom level is probably higher in East Germany than in almost any other country in the world. "If you live quietly and keep your mouth shut," says an elderly woman in Leipzig, "then nobody bothers...
During the annual Leipzig Trade Fair, a favorite pastime of citizens is to stand on street corners and watch the visiting Western cars. Otherwise scrupulously honest, the East German has no qualms about stealing the distinctive star that adorns every Mercedes hood...
...inferior to its Western equivalent. Distribution is bad, and shortages of even items like toilet paper are chronic. People still line up for such things as fruit-grapefruits are sold only to diabetics. Shoppers often return home emptyhanded. "You always walk around with a pocketful of money," says a Leipzig woman, "because you never know what you may find in the shops...
...most Westerners, East Germany is a colorless, Kafkaesque country, dominated by soldiers and bureaucrats and lacking any sense of fun. Despite the undeniable economic achievements of the East Germans and the surface gaiety of life in Leipzig or Dresden, the impression is largely correct. There is a defensiveness that boils over into hostility at the slightest unfavorable reaction by a visitor, followed by a memorized promotion of Communism's virtues. "It is not a stable political system," says Peter Ludz, a professor at the University of Bielefeld and one of West Germany's leading experts on the G.D.R...