FöF lecture: Eberhard Kittler: Dream cars from the West - How Fiat, Renault and VW shook up the automotive East

Despite the ever-present economy of shortages, drivers in the East strived for individual mobility. Because the outdated factories could not deliver enough, Poland, Yugoslavia, Romania and even the Soviet Union collaborated with Italian and French manufacturers. Dacia, Lada, Polski-Fiat and Zastava were the names of the new dream vehicles. Direct imports also came into the country in various ways. Western cars have also appeared in the GDR since the 1950s, but in principle they stuck with the antiquated two-stroke technology.

It was only at the end of the 1970s that the GDR opened up to official imports from the “non-socialist currency area”: some VW, Mazda, Volvo, Citroen and Peugeot went to selected buyers for Ostmark. Volkswagen then offered the country, which had a weak foreign exchange, four-stroke engines for Trabi and Wartburg - which modernized the East, but drove it further into bankruptcy.

Motor journalist Eberhard Kittler has been working on these issues for years and has spoken to countless contemporary witnesses. He has recently published a book specifically about Volkswagen in the GDR.  It reveals how, despite economic and political constraints, well over 50,000 Beetles, Bullis and Golfs came into the country, and why the  other Eastern Bloc countries were so pragmatic about bringing Western automobiles onto their roads.

Admission to the lecture is ten euros,  FörderFreunde have free access, spontaneous guests are of course  welcome, unfortunately a place cannot be guaranteed.