Quote:
Originally Posted by Julie in the rv mirror
I'm curious- how did your friend's mom get the album?
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I don't know where or whom she got it from exactly. There were a few possibilities to get such a record, for example:
1) A relative or friend from West Germany brought it across the border when they visited you.
2) You traveled to West Germany and bought it there. But since you were not allowed to go to the western part of Germany without permission (you had to apply for it and you needed a "good" reason, e.g. urgent family matters), that was a rather rare chance for such purchases.
3) You had a nice grandma who was willing to get you a record. Senior citizens were allowed to make short trips to West Germany without stating any reasons. (I guess the authorities thought that it wouldn't cause harm if they decided not to return.
)
4) There was a black market for records - you had to fork out
a lot of money for an album.
5)
Intershops usually had records on the shelves that were not released in East Germany. As far as I know, some of these records were manufactured in East Germany (with permission of the western record labels) but were in most cases identical to their western counterparts, i.e. same content, cover, labels etc. These shops did not accept domestic currency, so it was also quite difficult to get a record from there. I remember that I often went into an Intershop, saw all those cool records right in front of my nose, knowing that it was impossible to buy one.
