You all know me by now; I love collecting mementos from the Cold War era! Finding vintage items from the USSR isn’t hard at all; there are countless online sellers living in post-Soviet countries who have entire Etsy shops dedicated to such vintage goods. But finding vintage items from East Germany, however, is an entirely different story!
I’ve read many insightful books on East Germany, and yet it still seems like such a mysterious shadow of a former country. It only existed from 1949 to 1990, as did its other half, West Germany.
East Germany was a communist country though and didn’t have free trade (it was a satellite state of the Soviet Union and therefore, behind the Iron Curtain), and finding vintage items online from there is harder, 30+ years after Germany reunited. There are less online sellers who sell things from the former DDR….
…but I found this!!! And boy was I shocked to come across it on Etsy, from a seller in Berlin. It’s a 1970’s membership book of the Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organization (it was for East German youth aged 6 to 14).
The photo of Erich Honecker is a real throwback; his portrait was everywhere in the East back then, as he was the leader of the country at the time.
I seriously can’t believe I have this. It’s a real thrill finding historical items from the Iron Curtain countries, and I’m thankful for the Internet, which enables me to further dive into my strange-fascination with fallen communist regimes! 😃
Funny side-note: while Google researching this pioneer organization, I found a vintage poster for it in Google images and the girl reminded me of myself as a kid…we even have the same TEETH, hahaaaa!!!
Now, let’s end this post with an outfit!!! I love this one because it has all sorts of color shades going on and that pop of red and pink. 💖❤️
See ya next time!!! ❤️ Do you have any collections? Feel free to share in the comments!
The Big Hair Diaries 
Very intresting. On your outfit, I am starting to see Bernie Mittens to go with the hair yarn.
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Very intresting. On your outfit, I am starting to see Bernie Mittens to go with the hair yarn.
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Bwaahaahahaha!!!!!! I actually do own mittens…hmmmmm! 😉
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I loved reading, so interesting, thank you.
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You’re so welcome!! ❤️
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Wow, you’re like the best Cold War merch hunter ever!! I’m so glad you’re enjoying your book! And I love that you found your Iron Curtain twin!! Your pic is so adorable; your scrunchie and chambray vest take me right back to the ’90s!!! Of course, I love your current look too. Is that one red yarn bow and one pink one, or just a trick of the screen?! Either way, it all looks — to borrow an ’80s/’90s phrase — totally awesome!!!
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Haha thank you so much!!! ❤️ Yep, that photo is totally 90’s – what a throwback!! Indeed, that is one red yarn bow and one pink one! 😃
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Wow, that is seriously interesting. I don’t know much about the Cold War yet (I’m currently in my Korean War phase, inhaling books about it) but this is really neat to see.
Aww And you were such a cute kid! I see you’re rocking the thick yarn bows, and they look adorbs 🙂
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The Korean War, how neat!!! I actually don’t know much about the Korean War, but I would like to research it in the future and learn about the conflict.
Hahaha thank you!!! And yep, I’m loving my yarn bows! 😃
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I LOVE YOUR BOOK CHOISES YOU ARE WELL-VERSED IN WORLD HISTORY!
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Thank you!! ❤️
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❤
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