|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
The Week in Germany: Culture July 13, 2007 "Ostalgie" the Theme of a New Berlin Hotel
Above the beds in a recently opened 33-room hostel near the Ostbahnhof (East Station) in Berlin, hang framed pictures of the late Erich Honecker, East Germany's once powerful communist leader. Guests booking into the hostel are invited to "travel back with us to the former communist East Germany" and enjoy the "countless clever and amusing touches of everyday life in the German Democratic Republic (GDR)!" The six-story "Ostel", whose name is a pun on the the German word for "East" and "Hostel", is located at the corner of Wriezener Karree 5 in the city's eastern Friedrichshain district. Most of its rooms are decked out with GDR-era radios, commodes, thick glass lamps, floral-designed wallpaper and dressing tables with folding mirrors - items all prized in socialist worker family homes in the 1960s and '70s, right down to plastic egg cups. On tables and sideboards stand "Sandman" dolls, recalling the time when millions of East German children would sit in awe to watch the antics of their bearded TV bedtime hero, attired in his comic blue pointed hat, jacket and boots; magic bag of sand slung over his shoulder. The Ostel represents one in a flood of lodging houses, pensions and hostels, all of which have sprouted in Berlin in the past decade, many of them in the city's eastern districts. They offer alternative style accommodation in Berlin at prices way below those of the city's swanky hotels. Guido Sand, 33, and Daniel Helbig, 35, the proprietors of the Ostel, say they got the idea of giving the premises an authentic GDR "feel" after visiting a "pioneer camp" in Brandenburg, the eastern state surrounding Berlin. "That brought back a flood of memories," say the two men, triggering their interest in designing the Ostel - "East German style." Helbig and Sand hunted for original GDR furniture, curtains and radios at city flea markets when gearing up for the opening of their hostel on May 1 - the traditional "Tag der Arbeiterklasse" (GDR May Day). In the 1980s Sand and Helbig were variety artists in the east. Now Helbig is a film cutter by profession, and Sand a doctor. "I am no Ostalgiker," states Helbig, insisting that neither seeks to justify the role of the GDR, or glorify its communist past. "The Ostel is just a few minutes away from the centre of Berlin and from bars, restaurants, clubs and shops," claim the proprietors, adding "Our own 'Konsum' store offers you a selection of GDR products." Single rooms at the Ostel cost 38 euros (52 dollars), and double rooms between 51 and 59 euros. Hanns Peter Nerger, Berlin's Tourist Office chief, talks of Berlin being
a "very young city, with 40 per cent of its visitors under 35 years
of age." "With more than 80 trendy, scenic lodging places across
the city catering for the young, we rarely face a problem finding guests
accommodation," he says. dpa cf pb Links:
|
|
More from Germany.info  Newsletters
 Printer-Friendly
Page
Email This Article |
||
|
|||||
|
|||||
