Prenden Journal; For East German Theme Park, the Bad Old DaysBy STEPHEN KINZER,
Published: November 9, 1993
Guard towers cast ominous shadows over fearful citizens who are forbidden to leave their heavily guarded enclave. Spies from the dreaded secret police are everywhere. Prices are low, but there is little to buy. Everyone is supposed to turn out for military parades and cheer the Communist boss as he waves from the reviewing stand.
For many East Germans, this is an easily recognizable picture of the recent past. If Frank Georgi has his way, it will also be a picture of the future.
In one of the most extraordinary projects to emerge from German unification, Mr. Georgi, a 28-year-old entrepreneur who worked as a tour guide and music promoter in East Germany, is planning to recreate his vanished homeland as a theme park on a sprawling plot of land 20 miles north of Berlin.
"Most people in West Germany and other countries never knew what life was like for us, and this will be a chance for them to see," Mr. Georgi said during a tour of the former army base he is preparing to buy. "Also, people who lived here don't want to lose all contact with the last 40 years of their lives. They feel a kind of nostalgia for the old days, and it's increasing as time passes." Surly Clerks, Secret Police
Visitors who come to Mr. Georgi's theme park will have to sign forms promising to observe certain "rules of the game." Whether they sign up to stay for the day or for a longer time, they will be forbidden to take side trips out of the camp or to take early leave under any circumstances other than dire emergencies.
They will be free to talk with waiters, bartenders, chambermaids and even security guards, who will be dressed as East German police officers. But some of these will have double roles as secret police agents, and guests who question the Communist system or criticize its leaders will be seized at some later point and thrown into jail. But sentences will be meted out in hours, rather than in years as was the case in East Germany.
The only autos allowed in the park will be East German-made Trabants and Wartburgs. Taxis will be Soviet-made Volgas.
East German flags will flutter in the breeze, and banners exhorting people to follow "socialist commandments" will hang from walls. As far as possible, all such artifacts will be genuine.
Clerks and shopkeepers will be surly and unhelpful. The only products for sale will be those that were available in East Germany.
There will be parades marking the principal East German holidays.
There will be a variety of accommodations, ranging from a campground and a youth hostel to a comfortable hard-currency hotel. The hotel and luxury shops in the lobby will be the only place where German marks will be accepted. Everywhere else, payment will be by coupons printed to resemble the east-marks that were East Germany's currency.
A special closed-circuit television channel will broadcast old East German films, standard dramas as well as political documentaries showing the evils of capitalism.
The plot of land where Mr. Georgi plans to build his theme park was formerly used to train East German Army officers. It was also the site of one of East Germany's most secret installations, a network of steel and concrete bunkers 100 feet underground where Communist leaders planned to hide in the event of nuclear war. The bunkers have been sealed to prevent looting, but Mr. Georgi plans to reopen them as a special exhibition. Museums Are Sprouting
In addition to conventional attractions like a swimming pool and a small zoo, Mr. Georgi plans to open a museum on East Germany's social and political history.
Mr. Georgi is negotiating with the federal Government to buy the former army base, which is nearly two miles square, and expects to pay about $2 million. Preliminary estimates of the cost of building the park range from $30 million to $60 million, which is to be paid by a Berlin investment concern that will reap most of the profits. If all goes according to plan, construction will begin next spring and the park will open in 1995 or 1996.
The theme park would not be the first center commemorating the country that was officially called the German Democratic Republic. A museum in the Communist youth group's former Berlin headquarters has proven very popular, attracting hundreds of visitors daily. And the eastern city of Eisenhuttenstadt has decided to open a similar museum. Park Has Its Dissidents, Too
Not everyone approves of this trend. A Eisenhuttenstadt official, Lothar Richter, called it "absolute idiocy" and warned that such museums would become rallying points for old Stalinists.
Mr. Georgi said he expects criticism of his theme park. "I can imagine that people who were victimized by the East German Government would not find much humor in this," he conceded.
Part of the nostalgia some eastern Germans feel for their old Government is based on memories of simpler days when streets were safe, prices were stable, rents were low and jobs were guaranteed.
"I can't get rid of this feeling of being an outsider, a sense that all of my life experiences are now irrelevant," said Jens Reich, who was a leading East German dissident. "It's a strange feeling. It's as if you yourself have disappeared, as if you're a relic of a lost era."
For many East Germans, this is an easily recognizable picture of the recent past. If Frank Georgi has his way, it will also be a picture of the future.
In one of the most extraordinary projects to emerge from German unification, Mr. Georgi, a 28-year-old entrepreneur who worked as a tour guide and music promoter in East Germany, is planning to recreate his vanished homeland as a theme park on a sprawling plot of land 20 miles north of Berlin.
"Most people in West Germany and other countries never knew what life was like for us, and this will be a chance for them to see," Mr. Georgi said during a tour of the former army base he is preparing to buy. "Also, people who lived here don't want to lose all contact with the last 40 years of their lives. They feel a kind of nostalgia for the old days, and it's increasing as time passes." Surly Clerks, Secret Police
Visitors who come to Mr. Georgi's theme park will have to sign forms promising to observe certain "rules of the game." Whether they sign up to stay for the day or for a longer time, they will be forbidden to take side trips out of the camp or to take early leave under any circumstances other than dire emergencies.
They will be free to talk with waiters, bartenders, chambermaids and even security guards, who will be dressed as East German police officers. But some of these will have double roles as secret police agents, and guests who question the Communist system or criticize its leaders will be seized at some later point and thrown into jail. But sentences will be meted out in hours, rather than in years as was the case in East Germany.
The only autos allowed in the park will be East German-made Trabants and Wartburgs. Taxis will be Soviet-made Volgas.
East German flags will flutter in the breeze, and banners exhorting people to follow "socialist commandments" will hang from walls. As far as possible, all such artifacts will be genuine.
Clerks and shopkeepers will be surly and unhelpful. The only products for sale will be those that were available in East Germany.
There will be parades marking the principal East German holidays.
There will be a variety of accommodations, ranging from a campground and a youth hostel to a comfortable hard-currency hotel. The hotel and luxury shops in the lobby will be the only place where German marks will be accepted. Everywhere else, payment will be by coupons printed to resemble the east-marks that were East Germany's currency.
A special closed-circuit television channel will broadcast old East German films, standard dramas as well as political documentaries showing the evils of capitalism.
The plot of land where Mr. Georgi plans to build his theme park was formerly used to train East German Army officers. It was also the site of one of East Germany's most secret installations, a network of steel and concrete bunkers 100 feet underground where Communist leaders planned to hide in the event of nuclear war. The bunkers have been sealed to prevent looting, but Mr. Georgi plans to reopen them as a special exhibition. Museums Are Sprouting
In addition to conventional attractions like a swimming pool and a small zoo, Mr. Georgi plans to open a museum on East Germany's social and political history.
Mr. Georgi is negotiating with the federal Government to buy the former army base, which is nearly two miles square, and expects to pay about $2 million. Preliminary estimates of the cost of building the park range from $30 million to $60 million, which is to be paid by a Berlin investment concern that will reap most of the profits. If all goes according to plan, construction will begin next spring and the park will open in 1995 or 1996.
The theme park would not be the first center commemorating the country that was officially called the German Democratic Republic. A museum in the Communist youth group's former Berlin headquarters has proven very popular, attracting hundreds of visitors daily. And the eastern city of Eisenhuttenstadt has decided to open a similar museum. Park Has Its Dissidents, Too
Not everyone approves of this trend. A Eisenhuttenstadt official, Lothar Richter, called it "absolute idiocy" and warned that such museums would become rallying points for old Stalinists.
Mr. Georgi said he expects criticism of his theme park. "I can imagine that people who were victimized by the East German Government would not find much humor in this," he conceded.
Part of the nostalgia some eastern Germans feel for their old Government is based on memories of simpler days when streets were safe, prices were stable, rents were low and jobs were guaranteed.
"I can't get rid of this feeling of being an outsider, a sense that all of my life experiences are now irrelevant," said Jens Reich, who was a leading East German dissident. "It's a strange feeling. It's as if you yourself have disappeared, as if you're a relic of a lost era."
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