Vintage East German 1960's ORWO Film Commercial

[ChongLi99]

GREAT DDR!

[ponomariev]

Viva East Germany!

[ponomariev]

I was in GDR in 1979 and sadly it was repressive espescially compared to West Berlin.Stasi were modern day Nazis.

[spaceman1979]

Hey fitting commercial, It's not like there was a shortage of cameras in the GDR is it?

[lioii]

It's not an Il-18 but an IL-14, in fact it's DM-SAZ, the first VEB Flugzeugwerke Dresden licence built Ilyushin IL-14! As far as I'm aware the aircraft still exists today.

[revolution1917oct]

So-so,wenn man heute über die DDR was hört,dann nur negatives!Man hält nur STASI und SED-Diktatur für die Wahrheit. Das leben da war gar nicht so schlecht und in vielen Bereichen besser als im Westen!

[neotheone999]

wundervolles Produkt für das Gefangenenlager der DDR

[eric5906]

It's like Austen Powers goes commie: 'Groovy, comrade-baby, groovy!'

[juanbosco31]

Dedico esto a Pablo Ferro cuban artist

[hebneh]

My goodness, what a lively, swinging country! Makes you want to cross the border going the opposite way from what everyone else wanted, from the west to the east - doesn't it?

What's also interesting is that it really isn't obvious what the product is till near the very end.

[17olaf61]

Die Werbung war wohl eher an das westliche Ausland gerichtet. Aber schöner Werbeclip.

[wakeuplittlesparrow]

i feel like fellini probably saw this and realy liked it.

[whizbang47]

Its so 60s! What it reminds me of is "The Prisoner," only the music sounds more Italian.

[deiktes]

More than just interesting, thanks.

[Ooshbala]

is this from when east germany was still under soviet control?

[aussiebeachut]

Wunderbar.. 1960s chic.. even if it is East German.

Classic really.. Could East Germans afford film and cameras.. much less to take pictures in such exotic locations.. given their borders were sealed.

It's marvellous stuff.. but it wreaks of glamour I'm sure was non existant in the DDR of the 1960s.

Non the less.. A CLASSIC !!

[timonline2000]

Yes they could. The GDR had the highest standard of living in the Eastern block. People had plenty of food, TVs, refrigerators and cameras, even Super 8s!

For a while during the 70s, the average income in East Germany was higher than in Britain.

[longcatislong193]

East Germany was basically the First World part of the Eastern Bloc. Of course, it was far from a complete paradise thanks to political repression and restricted movement to and from the West, but compared to other places, it was pretty well off.

[Petrikau]

Than why so many people from GDR wanted to escape to West Berlin or die trying? And why German goverment has to spend billions of euro every year to help ex-GDR regions?

[kimtiu]

Because a dictatorship is a dictatorship. Most people didn't like it, anyway. But the GDR government are relatively well-skilled in keeping people happy, right? Till China decided to step in.

[j2taranto]

I think it was only 14 people on average per month that left the DDR for West Berlin, it wasn't exactly mass exodus, not 14 people leaving, 14 attempts.

[bradjl2009]

It's pretty sad that on GDR tv in the 1960's there wasn't a problem with a woman showing her breasts on tv, but in the USA in 2008 you get fined if it isn't blurred. Pretty damn sad!

[sl3media]

Yep. Gotta love Taliban America. But hey, we're #1, right?

[bradjl2009]

Yea it doesn't seem like though it with the way things are and China is supposed to over take us in 2020.

[AmazingShoestring]

you mean pretty damn decent!

[Sigakoer]

Really very impressive

[larbo4200]

i love the background music where can i find it

[sl3media]

I have no idea what the music is. It is the original audio for the commercial. I've heard it used in other DDR era commercials, but don't know what it is called.

[fraulover]

Toll Werbung

[sl3media]

Sorry, but no. It's East German. ORWO was the "company" set up from the portions of Agfa that fell in the east. VEB is the German abbreviation of "Volkseigener Betrieb" (People's Owned Company) which was applied to nearly all business concerns in the DDR.

The Interflug IL-14 is also a dead giveaway as well, since Interflug was the DDR state-run airline.

If you've ever owned any ORWO film, you would see it's clearly marked "Made in German Democratic Republic".

[dheschete]

Toll, Mann!

[shinra18]

Surprisingly Kitsch for what was apparently one of the worlds most depressing countries :P

[zessin]

Weltklasse!

[Germany1976]

Music was also used in the 1960's Wartburg 1000 commercials.

[santorini79a]

Do you know the name of the background music its excellent

[Germany1976]

The DDR had commercials until the late 1960's that were later severely limited by the SED in the 1970's as the hard currencies were rare, and many, actually great, durable products (Robotron, Colortron, and Colormat TVs, for example) had to be exported. Oftentimes DDR products were rebadged and sold in the West European countries, such as Meissner Porzellan, Carl Zeiss Jena, even Pioneer record players etc.

[rainer1980]

I thought Communism usually considered fashion to be a bourgeoise concept that created class inequalities? I guess the East Germans didn't see it that way in the 60s?

[misterelsh]

Communism isn't 'anti-fashion'-

It's just that heavy industry was often considered more important than light industry (consumer goods- fashion included) because of the threat capitalist nations posed.

This commercial was from around Kruschev's time- Kruschev had the policy of 'peaceful coexistence' with the west. This was a period where the the east bloc could afford to devote some resources to light industry.

[saigonpunkid]

It depends, for example you can't expect such commercial from China at the same era.

Communism is just an idea, it's the leaders who interpreted it differently.

[webdemarcio]

Wonderful background music!!!!!!

Marcio, from Brazil.

[Germany1976]

Government interfered with the commercials after 1978. Less creativity is noticeable after the 1960's.

[vsovereign]

LOL! I guess life in the East wasn't so bad in the early 60's :)

[nelsonat]

Wow, didn't know they had these types of commercials in East Germany, guess they had more openness in there communist believes then I thought. XD

[Paladin1441]

ACH! Ost Deutchen Propagana! Ist SCHISSE!

[TheLastBaron]

This was shown in movie theaters, not on East German television, hence the 90-second length. East German TV did have commercials until 1978. They ran every evening at about the same time the commercials ran in the West. Since West German TV was purposely beamed at the East, except for a very few, almost all East Germans could watch the West and see what life was like there.

[TaoNakamora]

What happened in 1978 to stop the commercials?

[Standardissuemale87]

what the hell? Isn't the DDR supposed to be a communist state? and aren't corporations banned in the soviet union? Since advertisements are a reflection of daily life, I would say that life in the communist countries seem fabulous! Until now, I've only heard wonderful stories of soviet life from old geezers who used to live in the ukraine but I thought they were just senile...

[LeamingtonSteve]

they had hot chicks in the DDR! I only ever saw muscular Olympian shot putters and javelin throwers! lol

[NotATube]

"ORWO film - It's what 8 out of 10 Stasi members recommend for spying on their people!"

Bought Orwo's slide film once- had a very "interesting" yellow cast, and I splashed out a bit more of my pocket money to get Kodachrome the next time round...

[Skylinesandsunsets]

Looking at that commercial (which, btw, was WAY TOO LONG), you'd never guess that East Germans would take a chance with their lives by crossing a heavily guarded Berlin wall.

Nevertheless, it's interestering to see how people used to live under former communist systems (DPR Germany, USSR, etc).

[Oldcrotch]

I never knew how "Wild & Crazy" life in the DDR really was!!!

[s4ndwichMakeR]

typical GDR-commercial, i had one of this soviet-cameras

[02009823]

Is this really a East Germany film? It looks like from the West.

[sl3media]

Uhh...yeah. It really is East German. ORWO was the "company" set up from the portions of Agfa that fell in the east. VEB is the German abbreviation of "Volkseigener Betrieb" (People's Owned Company) which was applied to nearly all business concerns in the DDR.

The Interflug IL-18 is also a dead giveaway as well, since Interflug was the DDR state-run airline.

[denberg2]

It's an IL-14, not an 18.

[fotoLMR]

I know this order - All people owns all country, companies,concerns e.t.c - in reality that meant - All people owns all - all people owns nothing.

Tom (Latvia, former SU)