I live in the west of Germany and my proudly East German coworker/boss once brought some dish detergent because we ran out of it at the office. Of course it was Fit and came with a serving of East German brand history, presented by him.
Sorry if I'm reading this wrong, but surely you didn't work with an easy German whilst living in west Germany. Could you give more context to this I am very interested to hear
@@josephm3966 my boss is from East Germany. Although he would prefer to live in the east (the people are much more direct and honest there), he settled here because he and his wife found work here and stuff. After the GDR ended, many East Germans moved west, actually (for better economic opportunities), so there are many people from the former GDR living here. ETA: since the 9th November 1989, people in East Germany have been free to travel. The GDR officially ended on 3rd October 1990. Moving from East to West Germany is about as complicated as moving from Memphis to Nashville. We're a unified country. The reason why I'm making the east-west distinction is that although it's one and the same country, differences do persist - the economy is still less developed in the former GDR, older East Germans (40+) have a far different mentality as they were raised in communist propaganda, and there are the usual cultural differences between regions in Germany such as different traditional foods, different traditional clothing, different traditional festivals, different dialect and a different type of person.
Shocked you didn't mention Vita-Cola! Vita-Cola returned when Thüringer Waldquell secured the rights to the name and formula and began producing it in 1994. They even sponsored a football club in the early 2000s in Rostock! But that aside, gotta love how the EU is so serious about protecting regional foods. It's like how San Marzano tomatoes are special because of the volcanic soil used to grow them in that region. Dresdner Stollen is special symbolically as it was sent to West Germany by GDR citizens as a way of thanking them for sending care packets. The history of Stollen is quite interesting. Dresden Stollen was first documented in 1474. During Advent, bakers were not allowed to use butter, only oil, and the cake was tasteless and hard. They had to persuade to several popes as oil was expensive in Saxony and was hard to come by. Pope Nicholas V said no, and it didn't take until 1490 for Pope Innocent VIII to grant the use of butter. When Saxony became Protestant, this restriction on butter was removed, and overtime, richer ingredients like marzipan was added.
There are many products that originated in the DDR and are still on the market. There had to be a selection, else the video would be eight hours long :)
Dresdner (Christ)Stollen was always a popular Christmas treat with a very good reputation even in the West before reunification. It was often sent by families living in the GDR to family members living in the West for Christmas.
My grandfather in Dresden always baked it himself, otherwise grandma always baked everything else, but the Stollen was grandpa's responsibility. After the war, he had to give up studying because the school had been bombed out and he then learned to be a baker, which was quite helpful to survive.
@@Manaklyps Dresden was left in ruins after the war, that was really uncalled for. But I am glad your grandfather learned to be a baker, you must have enjoyed your Christmas dinner at your grandparents ! Did you learn to make it yourself from him ? Not necessarily to become a baker, but German Stollen and breads are a treat!
For those who don't know: The Red Tower is the oldest structure in Chemnitz. Whether it's called that because of the red porphyry tuff or the long use as a dungeon remains a mystery. It is mentioned as early as 1466! It is believed it is the remains of a 12th-century keep that oversaw early market trading on the Aue (floodplain) in Chemnitz, and the residence of the town magistrate, who was appointed by the emperor. Its use as a prison is only documented from the 16th century onwards. In 1570, it had 13 cells for 19 prisoners. It was still being used as a prison in 1840, when the city walls had already been dismantled. It burned down during WWII in 1945 but was completely renovated after 1990. Another GDR product is Club Cola. The government announced a project to create the drink at the 1966 Leipzig Spring Fair, and was first bottled in East Berlin in April 1967. Club Cola is still available in Germany today, however it is not made according to the same recipe as the drink that used to be sold in the GDR, since the original formula was lost in 1990 when the former brand owners were going bankrupt.
Another East German brand that is still around is Piko, who make model trains. Their product is much larger now than it was in the DDR-era, with trains being produced in N, TT, HO and G scales. They've even bought tooling from a defunct American company. What's confusing though, is there is a British company that makes track called PECO and they're pronounced the same way.
I've been interested in life in the GDR for some time but it is really difficult to find good material en English about it. Thanks so much and keep up the good work. Greetings from Spain.
We still use Fit because its cheap and good. Nudossi is expensive but is high quality and has a superior taste compared to Nutella. And Rotkäppchen because its just good.
@@mr.atomic2970Russisch Brot auf Schulausflügen/Klassenfahrt... Habe schon lange keine Nutella mehr gekauft, aber Nudossi könnte was sein mit dem höheren Haselnussgehalt.
As a French, I much prefer Nudossi to Nutella, and so have more than once ordered some from Germany. Everyone who tasted it here as a result, also prefers it to Nutella. Whether or not it would be worth it for Nudossi to spend a fortune on marketing is another matter, but they could easily find buyers here, if people could taste it.
Zetti Knusper Flocken is another good product from East Germany that you can get the West. I have also seen Filinchen but only in East German supermarkets.
Very revealing. As a visitor to the DDR in the 1980s, the small town of Raguhn near Halle, the VEB Ogis factory produced various fruit juices. All delicious, and the Rhubarb and Orange was superb... the name still brings back the unique taste to my mind. Sadly RIP.
I really enjoy Halloren, having developed a taste for it on my many trips to Germany - it's very different to English chocolate, and I can occasionally find it in the Lidl and Aldi supermarkets here
Halloren occupies a specific place. Not really "just chocolate" but also not really expensive chocolate truffles. They are pretty affordable yet still can be seen as a little special treat.
Orwo Colour films were sub-standard, not quite the quality of Kojak or Fuji ;-) However' GDR did have high quality optic products e.g. binoculars, telescopes and cameras.
@@johnsbox That's another one: the East German Zeiss is still around. After reunification they sold a bunch of product lines to the West German Carl Zeiss and renamed the rest of the company to Jenoptik which expanded into more industrial high-tech optics.
Lovely video, but personally I missed the "Pfeffi" aka peppermint-liqueur like the ones produced by Berliner Luft or Nordbrand Nordhausen. Although both are available in western Germany as well, it's much more common in the east.
Thank so much for the awesome videos and content that you present! This is such helping me not only to improve my english knowledge, but also about GDR and history! Greetings from Brazil!🇧🇷🇩🇪
As a West German I buy fit because the bottle just fits so conveniently in the cabinet. The West German brands all have bottles that demand more cabinet space than necessary. Do their manufacturers think that detergents are some type of lifestyle products?
Mitten in den Neunzigen Jahren war ich während meiner Universitätsstudien (Erdkunde mit Deutsch) bei der Uni Derby zweimal in Deutschland berufstätig - einmal bei einer Ausgrabung in Osnabrück und dann bei einem Busbetrieb in Aachen und ich errinere mich gut an den „Ostmarken“ im Supermarktregal und habe oft diejenige gekauft. Noch heutzutage habe ich ein noch laufendes RG 25 Mixgerät, womit ich oft Kaffee mahle!
When I was a little boy and not going to school yet, my parents were at Regen and I was looking like the "Bathing" boy, when I was exploring the Baltic sea.
For the laundry detergents they are Fewa Spee Milwa. These are still available post reunification. Oddly Spee has an advertisement deep into West Germany the Wuppertal Schwebebahn Verkehrsverbund Rhein Ruhr. Sadly in current the Stiftung warentest 2023 that actually loses out to Persil the West German laundry detergent. Can one buy them on the opposite side of the Iron Curtain the American Zone Bayern Baden-Württemberg Hessen Rheinland-Pfalz & Bremen or not inside a Kaufland Rewe Globus or not? Which an American contract worker for the US government calls the a Walmart equivalent in Germany. These products from the former East Germany are never mentioned in Stars and Stripes Germany edition. Which is better between the two West German Pril or Fit East Germany?
Hello and greetings from Rheinland-Pfalz! Yes, Spee is definitely available in our village's netto supermarket, and definitely in Rewe/Kaufland/Globus, too. As for the liquid detergent, in my opinion, Pril beats Fit.
Some products are missing. The Lübzer Beer brand from Mecklenburg Vorpommern, Wikinger Rollen from Lutherstadt-Wittenberg, Zetti chocolate and the canned meat from Halberstadt, they also produce sausages. And the famous Ketchup from Werder, Werder also make and sell juice from regional fruits around the area of Brandenburg. The Zeiss brand produces glasses and optical products and last but not least the camera producer praktica is still around.
In my part of Germany there is a brand called 9 Springe. They sell a cola that has the same formula as Vita Cola and funnily they also use similar colors. You can still buy their products. I also love VIBA nougat and Mühlhäuser Pflaumenmus (plum jam). Ah, so much cool stuff that's still or once more available. Btw. Dr. Quendt has also really tasty Oblaten (wafers) that remind me of the ones my aunt gets, when she visits relatives in the Czech Republic. Thanks for bringing back good memories :)
I enjoy the German products sold at the local Aldi here in the United States. The German Christmas products were mostly sold out well before Christmas. It would be intersting to find a former DDR product in Aldi here.
As a bulgarian, who lives in a neighbourhood, which had a school formerly named Wilhelm Pieck, Ive always been keenly interested in Eastern Germany. Great channel!
In August of 2022, my wife and I had a meal in Berlin at a nice restaurant adjoining a huge open-air atrium. Being in Berlin for the first time and nearing the end of our stay, I decided to have sausage. My plate was provided with some little squeeze packets of Bautz’ner mustard which kinda surprised me. I thought our restaurant was a little too upscale for condiment packets. I loved the mustard, though, and I pocketed the extra packets when we left the restaurant. It looks like a regular yellow American “ballpark” mustard but it’s not vinegary. It’s really good. When I got back to the US, I was able to order some via Amazon. I’m running out now but shipping is too expensive for me to buy it again. Until I figure out something, I’m rationing my squeeze bottle.
@@ikemkrueger I don't buy mustard that often but the small bucket of Bautzner Senf was €0.29 in 2018 and I think it's currently at roughly €0.50. I prefer "Löwensenf" nowadays but Bautzner mustard has that specific kind of taste that makes it a classic. Kind of like CocaCola. There are a bunch of objectively better Colas out there but sometimes you just need that ice cold CocaCola straight out of the glass bottle.
Hello, what about making a combined order for many more goods to an actual German shop online or brick and mortar shop) ? I'm French, and our postal company makes it nearly as expensive for me in France to order from neighbouring countries as to order from much further away. And so I make a big to huge order of lots of different kind of products from Germany once or twice a year. If not all, many of these specialties, but also other food, being much cheaper in Germany than in France, when the order is big enough, the heavy postage bill disappears in the difference. And if friends or family members join in, then all the better, you can sample quite a few things and pick what you'll order more of. Many sites in Germany also offer a bulk rate price on items, handy with goods having to be eaten with a short time once opened if you are a small family
German mustards generally shit all over the mustards of anglo nations. I wish I could some here in Australia. I have also lived in the US and UK and have always missed the vastly superior German food.
You forgot one very specific product that's still available. ORWO film. A descendant from the original Agfa wolfen plant, that was forced to sell it's film as orwo. They still produce film today, and recently put out a new colour film.
They passed to you a list with the candidates. It was optional, to remove someone from this list. So, people noticed, when you disagreed. For me, the 98 % result was believable, because it was manipulated. Later I learned, there were more people who disagree and the propaganda simply lied. 1990 I noticed the difference, when I have to choose.
I'd like to try Nudossi, Im Italian and Nutella is a mainstream product, o.c we have more artisan offering on the market but they usually can't make it abroad...next visit to Germany I want to buy Nudossi, is it available in Berlin?
I was soo suprised to hear a Dutch accent once I clicked on this video. Love to see the interest in regional history exceeds borders! Thank you for your research and dedication!!
I'm glad that you mentioned Goodbye Lenin in this video, because as soon as I saw something to do with GDR food come up I immediately thought of that scene where they find that huge hoard of all those old GDR food brands in an old house
Fantastic channel and contents, congratulations. Just one thing, it would really help those of us who can't neither speak nor read German if you placed captions every time you say a German name, definition, city or person; so it would add to our understanding. Thanks and looking forward to seeing more of your videos. Greetings from Argentina.
In some cases it can't be translated, like when he said "Spreewald - Spreeforest", because Spree is the name of a River and even though the name has a meaning, most people wouldnt know it but would have to guess. There could be little snipbits of explanations edited on the screen, but that adds to the workload.
I'm from the very west of Germany, worked in food retail for years. Some of these brands are staples that we sold all the time, for example was Rotkäppchen Sekt one of the four sparkling wone brands we had in a rotation of weekly discounts (the others being Mumm, Freixenet and... idk Metternich maybe)
Oh, they recently started selling Halloren kugeln here in St. Petersburg. I wondered what's their history yet never bothered to google it. Thanks to the video, now I finally know.
I had multiple teachers from East Germany in secondary school and they'd always make me curious about the various products they missed badly. I'm so happy to see so many lovely things still available today. I still hope I can taste some Spreewaldgurken some day... Great channel! I'm glad I found this.
The red package at you're holding your hand of candy I can't pronounce the name is actually soul stateside to and I've actually seen that brand on my grocery shlf and I have seen that candy candy aisle so probably tomorrow I'll walk down to my local grocery store which is only around the corner and try that brand of candy
ha, interesting case with Polish dish washing detergent Ludwik ;) also has quite big market share and is one those brands created during Soviet occupation
Here in the United States, we can get Wernesgruner beer at most any Aldi location. If I'm not mistaken, that is a brand from the former DDR. The marzipan stolen sold at Aldi are also good.
Always interesting to learn about this era. I would love to see what other brands that still exist beyond the supermarket, for example Carl Zeiss, Praktica (which became a UK brand), and Meyer Optik Gorlitz. I know a bit about DDR cameras, so I wonder if other technical companies may have survived.
My dad had a 'Waltzflex' camera, it was the two lens type and you viewed from the top. Not sure if it was a DDR product or West Germany. The spliting up of companies and factories was terrible, there was so much talent the world could not gain from.
Thanks, YT algorithm. Found a new hidden gem
So hidden that it's on the algorithm.
Same
Same!
not interesting at all actually, boring content
He's a Nazi be careful
A strange sensation to watch a video about East German Products, narrated in English with a Dutch accent.
"gurkens" :D
What a time to be alive!
@@peterkapunkt6783 He said gherkins
I thought he was German but I checked the channel description and yes he’s Dutch 🇳🇱
Welcome to the 21st Century, man. All these countries are friends now. :)
I live in the west of Germany and my proudly East German coworker/boss once brought some dish detergent because we ran out of it at the office. Of course it was Fit and came with a serving of East German brand history, presented by him.
zieht die Mauer wieder hoch
Sorry if I'm reading this wrong, but surely you didn't work with an easy German whilst living in west Germany. Could you give more context to this I am very interested to hear
@@josephm3966 my boss is from East Germany. Although he would prefer to live in the east (the people are much more direct and honest there), he settled here because he and his wife found work here and stuff. After the GDR ended, many East Germans moved west, actually (for better economic opportunities), so there are many people from the former GDR living here.
ETA: since the 9th November 1989, people in East Germany have been free to travel. The GDR officially ended on 3rd October 1990. Moving from East to West Germany is about as complicated as moving from Memphis to Nashville. We're a unified country. The reason why I'm making the east-west distinction is that although it's one and the same country, differences do persist - the economy is still less developed in the former GDR, older East Germans (40+) have a far different mentality as they were raised in communist propaganda, and there are the usual cultural differences between regions in Germany such as different traditional foods, different traditional clothing, different traditional festivals, different dialect and a different type of person.
The 'Fit' brand had 80% or more of market share in East Germany and they were gonna just let it die out, thankfully a smart entrepeneur save it.
Shocked you didn't mention Vita-Cola! Vita-Cola returned when Thüringer Waldquell secured the rights to the name and formula and began producing it in 1994. They even sponsored a football club in the early 2000s in Rostock! But that aside, gotta love how the EU is so serious about protecting regional foods. It's like how San Marzano tomatoes are special because of the volcanic soil used to grow them in that region. Dresdner Stollen is special symbolically as it was sent to West Germany by GDR citizens as a way of thanking them for sending care packets. The history of Stollen is quite interesting. Dresden Stollen was first documented in 1474. During Advent, bakers were not allowed to use butter, only oil, and the cake was tasteless and hard.
They had to persuade to several popes as oil was expensive in Saxony and was hard to come by. Pope Nicholas V said no, and it didn't take until 1490 for Pope Innocent VIII to grant the use of butter. When Saxony became Protestant, this restriction on butter was removed, and overtime, richer ingredients like marzipan was added.
There are many products that originated in the DDR and are still on the market. There had to be a selection, else the video would be eight hours long :)
Vita-Cola is actually pretty dope. Would recommend!
Yeah it is really good, especially cooled.
Thank you very much for answering! This Dresdner Kuchen must be delicious as the same time...
Haha. My first knowledge of Spreewald Gherkins came from "Goodbye Lenin" (2003) film
Same here!
Beautiful film
Dresdner (Christ)Stollen was always a popular Christmas treat with a very good reputation even in the West before reunification. It was often sent by families living in the GDR to family members living in the West for Christmas.
Not having any family in Germany, nobody has ever sent me any, but I always order some myself for everyone here. It's simply delicious.
Auch Russisch Brot gab es in Westdeutschland, etwa von Bahlsen.
@@ursinodepeluche Das stimmt.
My grandfather in Dresden always baked it himself, otherwise grandma always baked everything else, but the Stollen was grandpa's responsibility. After the war, he had to give up studying because the school had been bombed out and he then learned to be a baker, which was quite helpful to survive.
@@Manaklyps Dresden was left in ruins after the war, that was really uncalled for. But I am glad your grandfather learned to be a baker, you must have enjoyed your Christmas dinner at your grandparents ! Did you learn to make it yourself from him ? Not necessarily to become a baker, but German Stollen and breads are a treat!
For those who don't know: The Red Tower is the oldest structure in Chemnitz. Whether it's called that because of the red porphyry tuff or the long use as a dungeon remains a mystery. It is mentioned as early as 1466! It is believed it is the remains of a 12th-century keep that oversaw early market trading on the Aue (floodplain) in Chemnitz, and the residence of the town magistrate, who was appointed by the emperor. Its use as a prison is only documented from the 16th century onwards. In 1570, it had 13 cells for 19 prisoners. It was still being used as a prison in 1840, when the city walls had already been dismantled. It burned down during WWII in 1945 but was completely renovated after 1990.
Another GDR product is Club Cola. The government announced a project to create the drink at the 1966 Leipzig Spring Fair, and was first bottled in East Berlin in April 1967. Club Cola is still available in Germany today, however it is not made according to the same recipe as the drink that used to be sold in the GDR, since the original formula was lost in 1990 when the former brand owners were going bankrupt.
Thank you Dear Leader.
Thanks for a great channel! When talking GDR brands, although not consumer goods, you should also make a video about Ampelmann.
Another East German brand that is still around is Piko, who make model trains. Their product is much larger now than it was in the DDR-era, with trains being produced in N, TT, HO and G scales. They've even bought tooling from a defunct American company. What's confusing though, is there is a British company that makes track called PECO and they're pronounced the same way.
Yes! I know Spreewald Gurken from the movie Goodbye Lenin! 😁 Greetings from Czechia!
Spreewaldgurken haben Lieferschwierigkeiten.
One of my all-time favorite movies.
I've been interested in life in the GDR for some time but it is really difficult to find good material en English about it. Thanks so much and keep up the good work. Greetings from Spain.
We still use Fit because its cheap and good. Nudossi is expensive but is high quality and has a superior taste compared to Nutella. And Rotkäppchen because its just good.
I forgot Russisch Brot when i was a kid i allways eaten it in school there was aswell Putzi Toothpaste and Leckermäulchen Yogurt.
@@mr.atomic2970Russisch Brot auf Schulausflügen/Klassenfahrt...
Habe schon lange keine Nutella mehr gekauft, aber Nudossi könnte was sein mit dem höheren Haselnussgehalt.
@@derstoffausdemderjoghurtis ja das ist es auch bei Nudossi und russisch brot war immer im schulvesper dabei.
I recognised that pickles inmediatly from the film Goodbye Lenin, really good movie.
Ich hab garnicht gewusst das es solche Kanäle über die DDR gibt , positiv überrascht und hoch erfreut , und ein Abo dagelassen...👍🙋🏽♂️👍
As a French, I much prefer Nudossi to Nutella, and so have more than once ordered some from Germany. Everyone who tasted it here as a result, also prefers it to Nutella. Whether or not it would be worth it for Nudossi to spend a fortune on marketing is another matter, but they could easily find buyers here, if people could taste it.
Need a Nudossi dealer ?
@@parkerbull3316 I know of two places I can get it from in Germany, but heavy postage, are you a dealer ? It could interest me.
Nudossi puts the money into hazelnuts, while Nutella puts the money into ads
@@thomasb4422 That's true.
@@parkerbull3316I am in NL, is this something you are willing to deal?
oh hey! we here, just outside berlin in brandenburg, still see fit a lot - never knew it was a brand from the GDR 😂
Want to try this Nudossi. Really enjoying the channel and learning about GDR
The Nudossi today is not same as in GDR times, but still tasty if you like that kind of stuff :)
Zetti Knusper Flocken is another good product from East Germany that you can get the West. I have also seen Filinchen but only in East German supermarkets.
Natemays
I was very surprised when I saw "Burger Knaecke" in South Africa's Pick 'n Pay Supermarket. 😮😂
Greetings
You can buy Filinchen in almost every Edeka in Berlin
Gut gemacht UA-cam. Dass Sie mir diesen Channel vorgeschlagen haben😊
Very revealing. As a visitor to the DDR in the 1980s, the small town of Raguhn near Halle, the VEB Ogis factory produced various fruit juices. All delicious, and the Rhubarb and Orange was superb... the name still brings back the unique taste to my mind. Sadly RIP.
How could you exclude Vita Cola?
I have a still unopened bottle of East German beer that I bought in England in the summer of 1990.
I really enjoy Halloren, having developed a taste for it on my many trips to Germany - it's very different to English chocolate, and I can occasionally find it in the Lidl and Aldi supermarkets here
Halloren occupies a specific place. Not really "just chocolate" but also not really expensive chocolate truffles. They are pretty affordable yet still can be seen as a little special treat.
Never heard of Aldi but we have Lidl in Sweden. I’ll be sure to keep a lookout for Halloren.
70/100g sugar too much for me
My daughter and her bf brought me several packages of them in February 😊 delicious!
I really enjoy your channel! Thanks!
I bought a watch from Germany. It came with a bag of Russich Brot and I’ve been hooked ever since.
Another surviving East German product is Orwo photographic film, they are planning to release new products for stills and motion picture.
Orwo Colour films were sub-standard, not quite the quality of Kojak or Fuji ;-) However' GDR did have high quality optic products e.g. binoculars, telescopes and cameras.
Pentacon sold its cameras to the non-socialist foreign countries. Some of them under their own Praktica brand, but also under the retailers' brands.
@@johnsbox That's another one: the East German Zeiss is still around. After reunification they sold a bunch of product lines to the West German Carl Zeiss and renamed the rest of the company to Jenoptik which expanded into more industrial high-tech optics.
@@straightpipedieseleast german optics were quite good!
Thanks; I did not know that this survived.
Chocolate we ate as kids in Yugoslavia. We called citrona wit c instead z. All those products were good products the problem was limited availability
“Russisch Brot” was also a Common Cookie in West Germany. I ate those in my childhood in West Germany. it was a “Bahlsen” Produkt.
It literally means „Russian bread“ i used to eat it too, im thinking of buying some from netto.:)
Mokka fix gold is produced in Poland by woseba and wildly available, also mentioned in good bye Lenin
I gonna try that coffee since there is a shop that sells it here in Finland.
Nudossi! 👍 Great Show!
Lovely video, but personally I missed the "Pfeffi" aka peppermint-liqueur like the ones produced by Berliner Luft or Nordbrand Nordhausen. Although both are available in western Germany as well, it's much more common in the east.
It is THE drink for any occasion in Berlin
Just now find your channel. Thank you for providing interesting material. 👍 Keep it on! 🖖
Thank so much for the awesome videos and content that you present!
This is such helping me not only to improve my english knowledge, but also about GDR and history!
Greetings from Brazil!🇧🇷🇩🇪
You should do a video about Intershops!. Excellent channel, btw 😊
In Poland, you can buy Mocca Fix Gold. I associate it with East Germany thanks to Goodbye Lenin
My grandmother used the blue Rondo
I’m from Poland and I didn’t know that
Absolutely fascinating, thank you
This was simply incredibly interesting!🎉
As a West German I buy fit because the bottle just fits so conveniently in the cabinet. The West German brands all have bottles that demand more cabinet space than necessary. Do their manufacturers think that detergents are some type of lifestyle products?
Yes
When I lived in Rostock, I bought Nudossi thinking it was a supermarket brand till someone told me the story
By the way, more hazelnut.
You summoned a Rostocker?
Fascinating! Thank you ☺️
A surviving East German Brand is Multicar producer of small trucks.
Vielen Dank for your in depth research and great video!! I live the pickles!! :)
Florena also has a very good shaving cream which is made to be used with a shaving brush.
Florena is 10 years younger than Nivea and meanwhile it's part of the same company. Ok you said it in the video.
Those halloren kugeln seem nice. Have to give those a try sometime
Mitten in den Neunzigen Jahren war ich während meiner Universitätsstudien (Erdkunde mit Deutsch) bei der Uni Derby zweimal in Deutschland berufstätig - einmal bei einer Ausgrabung in Osnabrück und dann bei einem Busbetrieb in Aachen und ich errinere mich gut an den „Ostmarken“ im Supermarktregal und habe oft diejenige gekauft. Noch heutzutage habe ich ein noch laufendes RG 25 Mixgerät, womit ich oft Kaffee mahle!
Very interesting. I'm on the hunt for Nudossi, next time I'm in Germany....love Hazelnuts.
Another former East German brand is Rügener Badejunge cheese, although it is no longer produced in Rügen, but in Thuringia.
When I was a little boy and not going to school yet, my parents were at Regen and I was looking like the "Bathing" boy, when I was exploring the Baltic sea.
For the laundry detergents they are Fewa Spee Milwa. These are still available post reunification. Oddly Spee has an advertisement deep into West Germany the Wuppertal Schwebebahn Verkehrsverbund Rhein Ruhr. Sadly in current the Stiftung warentest 2023 that actually loses out to Persil the West German laundry detergent. Can one buy them on the opposite side of the Iron Curtain the American Zone Bayern Baden-Württemberg Hessen Rheinland-Pfalz & Bremen or not inside a Kaufland Rewe Globus or not? Which an American contract worker for the US government calls the a Walmart equivalent in Germany. These products from the former East Germany are never mentioned in Stars and Stripes Germany edition. Which is better between the two West German Pril or Fit East Germany?
Hello and greetings from Rheinland-Pfalz! Yes, Spee is definitely available in our village's netto supermarket, and definitely in Rewe/Kaufland/Globus, too. As for the liquid detergent, in my opinion, Pril beats Fit.
Some products are missing. The Lübzer Beer brand from Mecklenburg Vorpommern, Wikinger Rollen from Lutherstadt-Wittenberg, Zetti chocolate and the canned meat from Halberstadt, they also produce sausages. And the famous Ketchup from Werder, Werder also make and sell juice from regional fruits around the area of Brandenburg.
The Zeiss brand produces glasses and optical products and last but not least the camera producer praktica is still around.
Thank you🎉
love your channel. I'm 52 so I remember the DDR though I never visited it. D.A., J.D. NYC
Very interesting. Great video, as always. Thanks for starting this channel and sharing all this.
Thank you very much sir. That was very informative video.
In my part of Germany there is a brand called 9 Springe. They sell a cola that has the same formula as Vita Cola and funnily they also use similar colors. You can still buy their products. I also love VIBA nougat and Mühlhäuser Pflaumenmus (plum jam). Ah, so much cool stuff that's still or once more available. Btw. Dr. Quendt has also really tasty Oblaten (wafers) that remind me of the ones my aunt gets, when she visits relatives in the Czech Republic. Thanks for bringing back good memories :)
Bohme chocolat also exported far east into Russia, you can buy it today in many Moscow supermarkets. Middle price category.
rottkapchen is very important here in berlin
The Konsum market chain is alive and well in Leipzig, as well as Club Cola, which is a good drink.
My local supermarket here in the States carries Radeburger Pilsner.
I enjoy the German products sold at the local Aldi here in the United States. The German Christmas products were mostly sold out well before Christmas. It would be intersting to find a former DDR product in Aldi here.
Dr. Quendt offers also the Karlsbad host wafers, thin and filled with hazelnut.
You reminder me of Rossish brot!! So good!
The watchmaker industry would be a fabulous subject
As a bulgarian, who lives in a neighbourhood, which had a school formerly named Wilhelm Pieck, Ive always been keenly interested in Eastern Germany. Great channel!
In August of 2022, my wife and I had a meal in Berlin at a nice restaurant adjoining a huge open-air atrium. Being in Berlin for the first time and nearing the end of our stay, I decided to have sausage.
My plate was provided with some little squeeze packets of Bautz’ner mustard which kinda surprised me. I thought our restaurant was a little too upscale for condiment packets.
I loved the mustard, though, and I pocketed the extra packets when we left the restaurant. It looks like a regular yellow American “ballpark” mustard but it’s not vinegary. It’s really good.
When I got back to the US, I was able to order some via Amazon. I’m running out now but shipping is too expensive for me to buy it again.
Until I figure out something, I’m rationing my squeeze bottle.
In german super markets you can buy buckets of 1000mL of "Bautzner Senf". And it's very affordable.
@@ikemkrueger I don't buy mustard that often but the small bucket of Bautzner Senf was €0.29 in 2018 and I think it's currently at roughly €0.50. I prefer "Löwensenf" nowadays but Bautzner mustard has that specific kind of taste that makes it a classic. Kind of like CocaCola. There are a bunch of objectively better Colas out there but sometimes you just need that ice cold CocaCola straight out of the glass bottle.
Hello, what about making a combined order for many more goods to an actual German shop online or brick and mortar shop) ? I'm French, and our postal company makes it nearly as expensive for me in France to order from neighbouring countries as to order from much further away. And so I make a big to huge order of lots of different kind of products from Germany once or twice a year. If not all, many of these specialties, but also other food, being much cheaper in Germany than in France, when the order is big enough, the heavy postage bill disappears in the difference. And if friends or family members join in, then all the better, you can sample quite a few things and pick what you'll order more of. Many sites in Germany also offer a bulk rate price on items, handy with goods having to be eaten with a short time once opened if you are a small family
German mustards generally shit all over the mustards of anglo nations. I wish I could some here in Australia. I have also lived in the US and UK and have always missed the vastly superior German food.
Did you check World Market? (formerly Cost Plus World Market) They have a lot of European grocery items.
Really really lo e your videos! 👏
Interesting. Thank you for sharing
Great video, as always!
You forgot one very specific product that's still available.
ORWO film.
A descendant from the original Agfa wolfen plant, that was forced to sell it's film as orwo.
They still produce film today, and recently put out a new colour film.
I bought ORWO film in the UK in the 1980s
Nice video! But shouldn't Köstritzer be there as well (even if today it's part of Bitburger)?
Bring back the Trabant.😊
Great video. Could you cover how elections worked in the GDR?
The SED-Front won with either 99.98 or 99.97 percent. Voting was mandatory but still some refused to vote.
"Elections"
They passed to you a list with the candidates.
It was optional, to remove someone from this list.
So, people noticed, when you disagreed.
For me, the 98 % result was believable, because it was manipulated.
Later I learned, there were more people who disagree and the propaganda simply lied.
1990 I noticed the difference, when I have to choose.
I'd like to try Nudossi, Im Italian and Nutella is a mainstream product, o.c we have more artisan offering on the market but they usually can't make it abroad...next visit to Germany I want to buy Nudossi, is it available in Berlin?
I was soo suprised to hear a Dutch accent once I clicked on this video. Love to see the interest in regional history exceeds borders! Thank you for your research and dedication!!
Some things are missing: Vita Cola, Bautzner Kekse and Zeiss cameras come to mind.
Gefeliciteerd met uw onderzoek mijnheer 👍
Great video! Really interesting information
mam ciągle w użyciu młynek do kawy z DDR - AKA Mona / I still use a coffee grinder from DDR - AKA Mona
I'm glad that you mentioned Goodbye Lenin in this video, because as soon as I saw something to do with GDR food come up I immediately thought of that scene where they find that huge hoard of all those old GDR food brands in an old house
I bought two mint condtion east german arny back packs. one to save. one to use.
Rotkäppchen is iconic and pretty hip as well
I was born and raised in West Germany and I love Nudossi! MUCH better than Nutella. I also love "Spreegurken".
Fantastic channel and contents, congratulations. Just one thing, it would really help those of us who can't neither speak nor read German if you placed captions every time you say a German name, definition, city or person; so it would add to our understanding. Thanks and looking forward to seeing more of your videos. Greetings from Argentina.
In some cases it can't be translated, like when he said "Spreewald - Spreeforest", because Spree is the name of a River and even though the name has a meaning, most people wouldnt know it but would have to guess.
There could be little snipbits of explanations edited on the screen, but that adds to the workload.
Grüne and Rote Brause are missing as well as the Bambina brand
Nice Canadian Tuxedo!!!
Love the vids, keep them coming
I'm from the very west of Germany, worked in food retail for years. Some of these brands are staples that we sold all the time, for example was Rotkäppchen Sekt one of the four sparkling wone brands we had in a rotation of weekly discounts (the others being Mumm, Freixenet and... idk Metternich maybe)
Where are the "Knusperflocken"? 😕
Exactly! Missing Zetti Knusperflocken. I love them!
Interezting video!
Going to berlin in a week, making a list of these things so i can try them out.
Werder Ketchup, Bautzner mustard and pickles from the Spreewald, and forget the rest
Oh, they recently started selling Halloren kugeln here in St. Petersburg. I wondered what's their history yet never bothered to google it. Thanks to the video, now I finally know.
I'm wondering how many of those are produced in Germany-and not imported with German label by an international company. : (
I had multiple teachers from East Germany in secondary school and they'd always make me curious about the various products they missed badly. I'm so happy to see so many lovely things still available today.
I still hope I can taste some Spreewaldgurken some day...
Great channel! I'm glad I found this.
Ein süßer Haselnussaufstrich aus 36% Haselnüssen klingt gut.
and what about Vita Cola? :) PS: Diamant bikes still roll out from Hartmannsdorf :)
The red package at you're holding your hand of candy I can't pronounce the name is actually soul stateside to and I've actually seen that brand on my grocery shlf and I have seen that candy candy aisle so probably tomorrow I'll walk down to my local grocery store which is only around the corner and try that brand of candy
ha, interesting case with Polish dish washing detergent Ludwik ;) also has quite big market share and is one those brands created during Soviet occupation
My new favorite channel😁
Love that he kept his word, gonna order some Nudossi
Here in the United States, we can get Wernesgruner beer at most any Aldi location. If I'm not mistaken, that is a brand from the former DDR. The marzipan stolen sold at Aldi are also good.
Always interesting to learn about this era. I would love to see what other brands that still exist beyond the supermarket, for example Carl Zeiss, Praktica (which became a UK brand), and Meyer Optik Gorlitz. I know a bit about DDR cameras, so I wonder if other technical companies may have survived.
I own a Pentacon lens. It's a 135mm f/2.8 late version, the one with 6 blades. (Almost) all metal construction and the results are amazing.
My dad had a 'Waltzflex' camera, it was the two lens type and you viewed from the top. Not sure if it was a DDR product or West Germany. The spliting up of companies and factories was terrible, there was so much talent the world could not gain from.
What about the Margon Cola? I drank it once (only) and I still remember it