Ostalgie for the Wall?

A survey in 2007 showed that more than one in five Germans would like to see the Berlin Wall put back up. A remarkable 97 percent of East Germans reported being dissatisfied with German democracy and more than 90 percent believed socialism was a good idea in principle, one that had just been poorly implemented in the past. This longing for the Communist era is so widespread that there’s a German word for it: Ostalgie, a portmanteau of Ost (east) and Nostalgie (nostalgia). How is it possible that Berliners went from that wild celebration of November 1989 to wanting to return to the very system they had longed to dismantle?

—The Art of Choosing by Sheena Iyengar