THE TRABANTA Look at its Significance Through The Ages

The Emergence of the Trabant

East Germany 1957 Small, Spacious, Fast, Affordable, East to Repair “Satellite” “Companion”, inspired by Soviet Sputnik Lifespan = 28 years

Trabant

Made out of Duroplast:a form of plastic containing resign strengthened recycled wool or cotton cheap!

TrabantChallenged collectivity with a sense of independence and freedom Western consumerism Enhance status and mobility

TrabantKetman: capitalist ideals hidden from socialism, self-realization against something, identity makingDraculic readings: transition from socialism to post-socialism, consumer goods=sense of identity/class (make-up, toilet paper) Verdery: socialist production= hoarding and bargaining

Trabant Video

The Trabant in Transition

The Trabant was the car used by many East Germans to cross the border into West Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9th, 1989. Thus it became a symbol of the reunification of East and West Germany.Despite this, many abandoned their Trabants in favor of second-hand Western cars which were more attractive, better produced, and more environmentally friendly.

Mural of a Trabant by Birgit Kinder on a segment of the Berlin Wall

“More than any other object, it facilitated and represented the

arrival of the East German.”

Humor…Trabants were the butt of many jokes created by and spread amongst West Germans. After the initial euphoria of the fall of the Berlin Wall, there was a rise in West German antagonism against East Germans as they began to crowd the Western half of the city. In addition to expressing their anger at East Germans through these jokes, West Germans also committed acts of physical violence, such as slitting the tires on and setting fire to many Trabants.

“The Trabi allowed aggression toward the Other to be displaced

onto an inanimate object and physically distinguishable symbol

of that Other.”

Trabi Jokes How do you double the value of a Trabi?

Fill it up with gas.How many people does it take to produce a Trabant?

Two. One to fold, the other to glue.A Mercedes 500 comes to an intersection. The driver asks the passenger: ‘Is it clear?’ He answers, ‘Yes, to the right a Trabi is approaching and to the left it is also clear.What is the difference between a woman’s panties and a Trabi?

Nothing, they both prevent traffic (sexual intercourse).

Go Trabi Go!My body and soul long for hot sun I’m taking my chances todayThe engine, it sounds like a steel drumThere’s nothing that’s left in the wayA trip full of thrilling adventuresThe feeling excitingly newDon’t wonder why we’re taking off nowSo suddenly out of the blueWestward Ho!Trabi, Go!Hit the road to the sunLet’s take off and have funOn or doneWestward ho, Trabi go!Trabi go!We’ll fly over valleys and mountainsWe’ll always remember these daysI’m dreaming of blue sea and fountainsThe sun bids all troubles awayAbove me the sky seems so endlessI’m free like a bird on the wingThe air full of music and actionI’m feeling it under my skin

Westward Ho!Trabi, Go!Hit the road to the sunLet’s take off and have funOn or doneWestward ho, Trabi go!(Instrumental)Westward ho!Trabi go!Hit the road to the sunLet’s take off and have funOn or doneWestward ho, Trabi go!Trabi go!Go Trabi go!Go Trabi go!Trabi go!Trabi go!Go Trabi!G-go Trabi!Go Trabi, go, g-go Trabi go!Trabi Go!Trabi Go! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2PNsatxzmk&feature=related

Trabi ProductionFollowing the reunification of East and West Germany on October 3rd, 1990 the demand for Trabants plummeted. East Germans experienced a period of Konsumnachholbedarf (need to catch up on consuming) where they bought predominantly West German products.Factories that produced Trabants either went out of business or were privatized by larger companies (ex. Volkswagen), similar to how Gerber privatized the Alima Fruit and Vegetable Processing Company in “Privatizing Poland”.

The Trabant Today: Nostalgia• Noisy, ugly and most of all,

unreliable, Trabants became a symbol of everything that was wrong with Soviet Bloc communism. – “If there was any doubt about

who won the Cold War, look no further than this: When the Iron Curtain finally came down, Tabbies were being traded for Levis blue jeans."

• Western Germany: people here are more apt to remember the Trabant as an example of romantic pluck than of Communist ineptness.

• Today, the defanged Trabant conjures up nothing but love.

"But we treasured things in those days. The Trabant was a symbol: You had your family, you had a house, and you even had a car."

The Trabant's nostalgic appeal extends to other former communist states, many of which imported the car: Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.

The Trabant Today: Ostalgie• East Germans began to

reminisce about some of the more attractive elements of socialism which didn’t always exist in a capitalist world. – Ost: East – Nostalgie: Nostalgia

• Trabants were symbolic of what they yearned for and became popular again as collector’s items.

• This symbolism has been demonstrated recently in popular films.– Goodbye Lenin!– The Lives of Others

The Trabant Today: Society

• NATO– Used by former Bulgarian

foreign minister to take NATO secretaries for rides.

• Historical Icon– In 2005, which had become a

symbol of Bulgaria's NATO accession, to the National Historical Museum of Bulgaria.

• Religion– The prime minister's trabant

was also blessed by Pope John Paul II in 2002.

• Politics– The Deputy Head of Mission in

the British Embassy of Budapest uses a green trabant as his diplomatic car.

• Pop Culture– Used by U2 for music video.

The Trabant Today: Revival

• In the late 1990s, there were plans to put the Trabant back into production in Uzbekistan as the Olimp. However, only a single model was produced.

• Increased presence (via ostalgie): “Grown larger in death than it was in life.”

• In January 2008 Herpa, a German company that makes die-cast model cars, acquired the rights to the Trabant name.

• Teamed up with another German company to make a car they are calling the new Trabi.

The Trabant Today: Revival• Unveiled on September 17th at

the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show. • The 2012 Trabant will be an

electric car. • Keeps most of the lines of the

original model. • The car will come in a four-door

hatchback body style.

• Powered by an electric motor. (get it's juice from a solar panel mounted on the roof of the car)– Be able to run for 250 km on a

single charge of the battery.

The 2012 Trabant

Bibliography: Imageshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Trabbi_601-S_-_Typenschild_1.jpg

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Avery

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Avery

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vakutDNZ6gs

Avery

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Michelle

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Michelle

Bibliography: Images • http://www.zercustoms.com/news/2012-Trabant.html • http://www.zercustoms.com/news/Trabant-nT.html • http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.

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Ellen Carter

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Ellen Carter