Testing the west: Consumerism and national identity in eastern Germany

With unification, Western‐style consumerism washed over East Germany in a gigantic wave that stood in marked contrast to the socialist reality of limited supply and suppressed demands. This article examines the impact of consumerism as a repository of national identities in the new Länder in the aftermath of 1989. It argues that from a quantitative perspective East Germans firmly internalised consumerism by approximating to the consumption levels of their Western compatriots. Easterners also filled consumerism with political meaning. By buying certain products they expressed emerging regional pride, defiance against the sweeping transformation processes and a nostalgic and romanticised reference to the GDR past. These mass‐cultural expressions of national identity serve as telling indicators for the continued separation of the publics’ psyche in east and west.