"Go, Trabi, Go!": Reflections on a Car and Its Symbolization over Time

Abstract

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, a small boxy car made of fiberglass and pressed cotton captured the imaginations of Germans East and West. Long the object of affection and frustration in East Germany, the Trabi quickly came to be a key symbol not only of the German Democratic Republic but also of socialist inefficiency and backwardness. In the mid 1990s, however, the Trabi reemerged as an evocative symbol of Eastern German distinctiveness and postsocialist nostalgia. A central figure in the "argument of images" surrounding the politics of German re-unification, then, the Trabi has moved from thejokebooks of 1989 to a new status as the "cult automobile" of the late 1990s. Drawing on James Fernandez's theory of images and symbolization over time, I trace the symbolic formation of the Trabi before, during, and after re-unification.

Iconic Brands

“…They come to represent cherished values and social relations in a community, thereby helping to sustain and reinforce a sense of belonging, unity and continuity. While most vividly observed in the context of a radically transforming society (as in our introductory story; see also Berdahl, 2001;Manning, 2009;Manning and Uplisashvili, 2007;Merkel, 2006), this phenomenon is not unique to that context. In societies where self and identity, including national or collective identity, are defined primarily in terms of consumption (Appadurai, 1986), commercial artifacts, such as brands, assume value beyond their use or exchange value.…”

“…For example, discussing the merits of Druzhba's symbolic status, a newspaper proudly writes that it tastes and looks exactly the same as nearly half a century ago -foil-wrapped with an elongated letter D hugging a blue globe against a yellow background -and concludes that the imagery is so familiar to all generations of Soviet people that Druzhba cannot fail to be a symbol of the times (Utro, April 2004). This and similar statements seem to ignore the fact that during the Soviet era precisely such uniformity of Soviet goods and their unchangeability across space and time used to be seen as damning, tangible evidence of socialist economic inefficiency and lack of choice (Berdahl, 2001;Fehérváry, 2002Fehérváry, , 2009). Today, we suggest, the focus on form -aesthetic constancy -eclipses such past experiences and understandings and, in this way, affords ample space for an experiential remembering while forgetting.…”

“…Therefore, the primary emphasis in the extant literature has been on the signs and meanings that these goods come to represent (Arvidsson, 2001;Berdahl, 2001;Holt, 2004;Merkel, 2006). In this article, we aim to complement this analytical angle with a focus on the manifest materiality of iconic brands, inspired by recent work on materiality (for example, Miller, 2005).…”

Remains of the Soviet Past in Estonia

“…For instance, jeans were not simply a pair of trousers, but also a manifestation of connections and social capital. Likewise, people decorated their homes with packages of Western products, even if empty, because of their symbolic value (Berdahl 2001;Fehérváry 2009;Yurchak 2005). Nonetheless, the overstocking of commodities and the means of production can be also seen as an indicator of a different relation between people and things (Kiaer 2005;Oushakine 2014).…”

Identity, Nostalgia and Leisure: Technology Use in Second Homes

“…A great deal of this nostalgia, however, derives from non-physical elements (Buyandelgeriyn 2008;Cavanaugh 2004;Stewart 1988) or from the modification in meaning of everyday objects (Berdahl 2001;Stewart 1988), both trends which I will touch on in describing my research. In this chapter, I will explore several distinctive aspects of nostalgia, in particular a desire for relationships that mirror those of the past, food practices that are no longer an everyday occurrence at main homes, traditional home aesthetics and technology decisions, traditional notions of space use, and work practices of second homes.…”