To be fair it wasn't rationing - that was a load of crap apparently. It was fixed prices everywhere. Butter was X marks everywhere and there wasn't the luxury o

To be fair it wasn't rationing - that was a load of crap apparently. It was fixed prices everywhere. Butter was X marks everywhere and there wasn't the luxury of choice (choice was defined to be the enemy which I do sort of agree with - I spend way too much time selecting products versus using them). The reason for Ostalgie is that if you didn't piss off the Stasi, you actually had a reasonable life. Also, since reunification, the West Germans have treated the East like a second class lepper colony and closed all their businesses down resulting in much pissed-off-ness.