Photo Gallery Fahrvergnügen, Socialist Style
Auto enthusiasts were treated to "Damals Die Renner," or "They Used To Be Hot," a spectacle of communist-era cars, in Dahlen in the eastern state of Saxony over the weekend. Participants brought vehicles to showcase that were produced in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and other socialist countries between 1949 and 1990.
Around 550 vehicles were displayed at the event, which has been held once every four years since 2000.
The state security apparatus was a recurrent theme: Pictured here is a MZ motorcycle driven by the East German Volkspolizei, or "people's police".
Here, two men dressed in GDR-era police uniforms stand next to an East German police patrol car.
Camping wasn't an activity restricted to Western Europeans, as evidenced by this East German trailer.
Exhibits were presented in 11 different categories and included emergency-service vehicles, mopeds, buses and tractors.
Pictured here is a French Citroen sedan that was used as an official East German government vehicle. Former Communist Party leader Erich Honecker was often driven in the same vehicle make.
The event coincided with what would have been Honecker's 100th birthday. Pictured here, an image of the communist leader in a car with a quote reading, "We mourn a comrade who managed to keep the Westerners from our throats for 40 years."
Cabaret artist Uwe Steimle performed as Erich Honecker at the event. He arrived at the event in an official GDR state car with a police escort.
Thomas Kuenzel drove all the way from Leipzig to exhibit his 48-year old Trabant 600. Pictured here with his car, Kuenzel holds up a knitted toilet paper doily from GDR times.
Trabant vehicles like the ones displayed at the show were a popular car in the GDR era. Restoring these vintage vehicles can be expensive, however, costing their owners thousands of euros.
Still, vintage cars are difficult to maintain. Here, one exhibitor attends to his Wartburg car during the event.
Around 15,000 people came to see the spectacle, which was organized by vintage car enthusiast Siegried Bossack.
