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\u201cAs a proud Easterner, I\u2019m happy to help revive this iconic car,\u201d said Tom Grossmann, standing in front of his lime green 1985 Trabant, best remembered for a chassis made of reinforced cardboard. \u201cIf it means that there are more of these cars on German roads, all the better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Born in 1989, the year the Berlin Wall fell, Mr. Grossmann expressed a sentiment typical at the scene in Pirna.<\/p>\n
For years, he had been dismissive of the old Eastern-built cars, but in middle age, his view changed. In part, he was drawn by the community that had developed among people who own the cars.<\/p>\n
When he bought his sedan five years ago, he paid 3,000 euros, about $3,250, but then spent more than twice that refurbishing his ride, adding a sunroof, wider tires and custom upholstery.<\/p>\n
Uwe R\u00f6ckler, 23, neatly dressed in a G.D.R. police uniform from the 1980s, paraded past the lineup of cars giving out fake parking tickets and posing for photos with passers-by. Mr. R\u00f6ckler is a stickler for details: The tickets he carefully filled out and pinned under wipers were written on an exact reproduction of the form used by East German police in the 1980s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cIt starts with a belt buckle that you find at a flea market,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd pretty soon, you\u2019re wearing a full uniform,\u201d he added, noting he had several spares hanging in his home closet.<\/p>\n
To Mr. R\u00f6ckler, whose parents toiled under the communist regime, the era holds a fascination. \u201cNot everything was bad, it was just everyday life,\u201d he said. Of the East German police, which many see as one of the most obvious manifestations of a repressive state, he said: \u201cThey were actually pretty good criminalists \u2014 in many ways equal to those in West.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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May 1 \u2014 formally known as the \u201cInternational Day of Struggle of the Working Class and the Oppressed Peoples of the World\u201d \u2014 was one of the most important dates on the socialist calendar. Though it was a public holiday and nobody had to work, attendance at state-organized parades was mandatory, and civilian brigades of factory workers, socialist youth groups and politicians were expected to march with signs celebrating progress and socialism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Waiting in line to board a carefully maintained bus from 1958 that would take him on a tour of Pirna, Thomas Herzog, 62, remembers the requirements of that era well. \u201cI\u2019m here because no one is forcing me to be here,\u201d he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n
Among those in Pirna celebrating this May Day, 35 years after East Germans last celebrated it in a functioning communist state, many said the era had been rife with problems, including restrictions on speech and travel, with citizens living under the yoke of one of the most restrictive state security systems behind the Iron Curtain.<\/p>\n
But as that time recedes into the past, memories of the communist country have become more attractive for many, especially as discontent with the current system grows.<\/p>\n
According to a poll from December, 82 percent of Germans nationwide are at least somewhat unsatisfied with the government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Given that level of discontent, it\u2019s unsurprising some people are looking backward.<\/p>\n
In eastern Germany, where the disaffection is often more pronounced, many look toward the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, for solutions. In Pirna\u2019s state, Saxony, where voters head to the polls in September, the AfD polls at 30 percent, more than any other party on the ballot.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Conny Kaden, 60, the founder of the G.D.R. Museum, said that despite the benefits reunification brought, there were downsides.<\/p>\n
The socialist state, he noted, in addition to offering jobs at state-run enterprises, had fostered a sense of community through mandatory meetings in youth, worker and community clubs. \u201cI\u2019m not saying this is about raising the G.D.R. flag,\u201d Mr. Kaden said. \u201cBut we lost something, we lost the cohesion.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n