oranges, bananas and other “Southern Fruit” were mostly a Christmas special

It was true for most of Europe afaik, unless you're speaking about like the 80s I suppose, but oranges being a christmas thing was true for my grandparents as well (not in Germany)

Holy shit I remember the wall coming down and how the former GDR was ransacked by western capital afterwards (because capital will always ruin everything) but I'd rather cut off my right foot than be trapped behind the no-mans-land of the death strip.

Glorification of the German Democratic Republic is on the rise two decades after the Berlin Wall fell. Young people and the better off are among those rebuffing criticism of East Germany as an "illegitimate state." In a new poll, more than half of former eastern Germans defend the GDR.

The usual quote was:

"Es gibt alles, nur nicht immer, nicht überall und schon gar nicht, wenn es gerade gebraucht wird."

You can find everything, but not always, not everywhere, and certainly not when you need it most.

The GDR "economy of scarcity" knew some scarcity, mostly citrus and coffee. There was always enough potatoes but rice and pasta was scarce, good cuts of beef and pork were always quickly sold out, sometimes you had to know someone who knew someone to get some. Broiler or bad cuts were easier to get. Cheese was a pain in the ass... you could hardly get Emmentaler or Gouda, what you could get was processed cheese ("Schmelzkäse").

Breadlines existed basically only directly after the war when everything was still in ruins. But oranges, bananas and other "Southern Fruit" were mostly a Christmas special when the party bought some from the class-enemy to supply citizens with those little luxuries.

Clothes on the other hand... oh boy, if you wanted some fine women's blouse, you better knew someone in the FRG.