Further Media
The West played a major role in Christian Hoffmann's childhood and youth. His grandfather's sister had been living in southwestern Germany with her husband since the 1950s. Despite the construction of the Berlin Wall, the siblings were able to maintain close contact with each other over the years. Aunt Helga and uncle Herbert visited regularly and brought gifts for Christian and his brother Jan:
“When my uncle came from Pforzheim, it was always a highlight. We knew they had brought toys with them.”
This is how Christian came into possession of genuine Lego bricks, Matchbox cars, and the Playmobil figures shown here. They come from themed figure sets that were sold in western toy stores in the 1970s and 1980s. His father brought the dollar bill and cent coin back from a visit to West Germany:
“I was always fascinated by the American dollar because you only knew it from television [...]. I was totally happy and put them straight into the album and never touched them again! Because it was somehow something distant, something exotic.”