How about a movie thread?

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by Dondilion

Finn:
I saw "Goodbye Lenin" several times and it was laughable the extent the
son undertook to preserve his mother beloved East Germany.

I wandered the streets of East Berlin on several occasions back in the Iron Curtain days. They compelled you to exchange 25 Deutschmarks into 25 Ostmarks on a 1:1 basis at Checkpoint Charlie when you went over for a day on a tourist visa (when you could buy Ostmarks at least 5 times cheaper in West Berlin at the rail station). It was damned difficult to spend 25 Ostmarks in day over there as there was essentially nothing worth buying other than mediocre beer. Pretty dismal place. The first several hundred meters beyond the Wall inside of East Berlin didn't look a lot better than it must have in May of 1945.

I still have quite a few mementos (e.g., Soviet Army belt buckles, medals, etc.) that I traded Soviet troops for Marlboro cigarettes I bought at the PX for less than $.20 a pack.