We loaded up the bus again. Sylvia pointed out a Trabant as we drove by it. What is a Trabant? It is a small East German vehicle built after World War II. The Berlin Wall had been erected dividing the city into East and West. The Trabant was pretty much manufactured out of necessity since East Germans couldn’t get the West German-manufactured Volkswagen because of said wall. The Trabant had a wait list of about ten years or more for the average worker due to the fact that the company that built it was a state-controlled entity. That fact also meant that the Trabant was for the most part the only vehicle most East Germans could get.
Believe it or not, some parts of the car – bonnet (hood), boot (trunk) lid, fenders, doors – were made from recycled cotton waste from the former Soviet Union and resins from East Germany’s dye industry. Strange as that sounds, it was extremely rust resistant, lightweight, and stronger than steel. Though it had some groundbreaking features for its time, it was also famous (or is it infamous?) for its supposed dreadful design, bad build quality, inferior reliability, “atrocious maintenance record”, and weak two-stroke engine (think lawnmower) that only developed about 23 horsepower. Automotive journalist Doug DeMuro calls it, “[Q]uite simply, one of the all-time worst cars ever made.” He is not the only columnist that shares that opinion. These negatives greatly overshadowed any positives the car had going for it such as it being fairly easy for most owners to maintain and repair themselves using common household tools, and providing owners some measure of independence in a Communist-ruled country where such concepts as independence where not exactly encouraged. In the process, it became one of the symbols of East Germany – and the East Bloc and Communism in general – around the time the Wall finally came down.
I had heard of the Trabant before. And the descriptions I had read about the car were mainly confirmations of the reputation it had gained. I was on the wrong side of the bus when Sylvia pointed out the Trabant so there was no way to get even a bad photo of it. But it was cool to actually see one here still on the road.
In spite of its reputation, the Trabi, as is affectionately called, endures. There are several Trabi owners clubs and meet-ups across Europe, and even in the United States.
Lunchtime
A German lunch was included with our tour. We stopped at Bräustüberl at the City Hotel. Our lunch was buffet style. I filled my plate while trying not to appear too gluttonous. One of the items that landed on my plate was sauerkraut. I wanted to see what real German sauerkraut tasted like. In the past I did not like sauerkraut. That was until this lunch. Maybe it was the passage of time leading to a more mature palate. Or maybe the sauerkraut I had in the past was just bad sauerkraut. Whatever the case, I like sauerkraut now.
One thing I really wanted to try while here in Germany was a German beer. They served Lowenbrau for us at Bräustüberl so I absolutely had to have one. Lowenbrau is available back in the states, but it is a German beer…
Photo credit: Pixabay
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