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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">===========================================<br>
L O W L A N D S - L - 25 January 2009 - Volume 02<span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
From: <span class="ep8xu"><span style="color: rgb(121, 6, 25);">Mike Morgan</span></span><span class="hccdpe"> </span><span class="ldacoc"><<a href="mailto:mwmosaka@gmail.com">mwmosaka@gmail.com</a>></span><br>
Subject: <span class="hccdpe">LL-L "History" 2009.01.22 (02) [E/LS]</span><br>
<br>
On the former East Germans' isolation question ... MY two stotinkis
worth...</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">In August
1983 I was in Bulgaria
on an international month-long seminar, and then in 1985 was there again for 9
months doing my PhD dissertation research. Both times I met an d talked to a
number of East Germans, and what Ron said is basically true ... with open minor
modification. Yes, to be able to travel in the outside world, even in the
warsaw pact coiuntries, even in VERY Stalinist Bulgaria (in the 1980s if you
travelled in the Soviet Union, it is UNLIKELy that you woudl have seen many
pcitures of Stalin displayed, in mid 1980s Sofia,
it was quite common).<br>
<br>
I neevr ASKEd anyone to see their party membership cards, so can't say fro sure
than ANY of the east Germans I met were NOT party members ... but as for Party
LOYALTY, well, they fit into TWO groups: people who (at least when viewed
externally) toed the Party line 8the larger of the two groups), and then also a
group 8much smaller but still not miniscule) who were critical (almost but not
quite openly critical that is) of the system. this second group are the
exception to Ron's characterization ... they may or may NOT have had party
memebrship cards, what they DID quiet obviously have is what the Yugoslavs used
to call VIP: vezba i poznanstvo ... that is connections (who you know). They
were the people whose daddies maybe were party bosses, and so they knew the
system was not what it claimed to be, and also because their daddies had all
the power, they felt secure enough to be able to flaunt the system.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">So, the
essential part of what ron said is perfectly true: teh AVERAGE East German had
NO uncontrolled contact whatsoever with the outside world ... even in the
Warsaw Pact countries (controlled contact was more common, yet still limited
... unless you count watching old Soviet movies on TV!)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">ps Bulgarai
was similarly closed ... though a lot of foreigners were here and there, they
were mostly "guest workers" from (North) Vietnam and (Sandanista)
Nicaragua, etc (and one particular young Nicarauguan whom my wife picked
up on the rtam and brought home to dinner one Sunday had THIS to say about
Zhivkov's Bulgarain: Aqui no hay alegria! I imagine Eastern Germany was much the same back then.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
Mike || </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: SimSun;" lang="ZH-CN">マイク</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> || </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Mangal;" lang="HI">माईक</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="HI"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">|| Мика || </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Shruti;" lang="GU">માઈક</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="GU"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">|| </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Sylfaen;">მაიქ</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> || </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Raavi;" lang="PA">ਮਾਈਕ</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> <br>
</span><span dir="rtl" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="HE">מייק</span><span dir="ltr"></span><span dir="ltr"></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><span dir="ltr"></span><span dir="ltr"></span>
|| </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Latha;" lang="TA">மாஇக்</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="TA"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">|| Miqueu || U C > || <span dir="rtl" lang="AR-SA">ما یک</span><span dir="ltr"></span><span dir="ltr"></span><span dir="ltr"></span><span dir="ltr"></span> || Mihangel <br>
================ <br>
Dr Michael W Morgan <br>
Ishara Foundation || </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Mangal;" lang="HI">ईशारा</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="HI"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Mangal;" lang="HI">फॉउंडेशन</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="HI"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">|| </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: SimSun;" lang="ZH-CN">イシャラ基金</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
Mumbai/Bombay *|* </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Mangal;" lang="HI">मुंबई</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="HI"> *</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">|*
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: SimSun;" lang="ZH-CN">ムンバイ</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">/</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: SimSun;" lang="ZH-CN">ボンベイ</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> (</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: SimSun;" lang="ZH-CN">インド</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">)<br>
<a href="http://www.ishara.org/" target="_blank">www.ishara.org</a><br>
+++++++++++++++<br>
Kësê zïmanê xwë wïndakê, wïndayë. (Kirmanji Proverb: 'Whoever loses his
language is lost.')</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p>
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