Well you're comparing today's former East Berlin to todays former West Berlin. In the context of "oppressive thought police" it would be more meaningful to comp

Well you're comparing today's former East Berlin to todays former West Berlin. In the context of "oppressive thought police" it would be more meaningful to compare the pre 1989 state of the city. I'm not entirely sure (I was only born in 1989 and thus haven't had a chance to visit the DDR) but I'm fairly certain there weren't a lot of graffiti back then.