Solyanka in retro packaging
Federal Foundation for Work-Up criticizes GDR look as SED trivialisation
Rewe is currently selling Soljanka and other typical GDR products with this look
© Screenshot Rewe online shop
Rewe is currently offering GDR nostalgia products such as Soljanka and Jagdwurst in its East German stores – including retro packaging with a hammer and compass. The Federal Foundation for Work-Up sees this as a trivialization of the SED dictatorship.
From the point of view of the Federal Foundation for Work-Up, the SED dictatorship is played down with GDR nostalgia products on the market. Foundation director Anna Kaminsky criticized the supermarket chain Rewe on Tuesday.
The retail giant’s East German supermarkets offer “canned goods in GDR decor, complete with hammer and compass”. Such products, from Soljanka to Jagdwurst, are also available in specialized online shops, at sales fairs and on large online marketplaces.
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Kaminsky emphasized that it must be part of the cultural remembrance consensus of united Germany not to downplay the injustice of the communist dictatorship and to commemorate the victims of the SED regime with dignity.
In a statement, Rewe referred to the manufacturers of the canned goods and explained that the stores carried the products at the request of the customers. In the eastern German federal states, the demand for products and recipes from the period before reunification is still pronounced.
The Federal Foundation for Work-Up works on the history of the SED dictatorship and has the task of accompanying the process of German unity. Kaminsky recalled that the GDR state coat of arms with a hammer and compass in a wreath of corn was the symbol of the SED dictatorship.