After the fall of the Berlin Wall, citizens of East Germany had to get used to a new way of consuming, working, and living. New-found freedoms were a breath of fresh air for many but in the chaos leading up to reunification with West Germany, the experience was also disconcerting.

From the end of the Second World War to the fall of the Berlin Wall, France and East Germany maintained links despite the Cold War. As early as 1959, towns in the two countries were twinned and thousands of French workers' children went on holiday camps in the GDR.