Trabis and the Wall

 When you think of East German cars, you probably visualize the colorful but cheaply-made Trabants ("Trabis"), which is what most people drove in the German Democratic Republic. But the GDR also had its very own race car: the Wartburg Melkus, also known as the "Ferrari of the East".

While the West German car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz generally dominated the Formula One World Championship, East Germany participated in many of the races with its Melkus cars and had a surprisingly high level of success: Heinz Melkus, race car driver and founder of the company, was the 1958 German champion in Formula 3 and the 1960 East German champion in Formula Junior. Overall, he won 80 of the 200 races he competed in throughout Europe.

But producing the race cars was not easy, since the Dresden-based manufacturer was only permitted to use materials from East Germany. About 90 percent of the Melkus' parts came from Wartburg cars and some of its parts came from the Trabants. Still, Melkus was determined to see his vehicle on the streets of East Germany. Alongside his race cars, he also produced sports cars for everyday use,

known as the Melkus RS1000. These sleek and stylish cars could reach speeds of about 112 miles per hour. But they never gained the popularity of the Trabants or the Wartburgs, and the company stopped producing its Melkus cars in 1986.

As we remember the 30th anniversary of the fall of the wall, we like to look back at the things that differentiated East and West Germany, as well as the things that united them. The Trabi is a symbol of the East, but the Melkus was one of the GDR's prized creations: a race car that was made in a region with very few resources.

To reflect further upon the fall of the wall, we also have a series of videos in which colleagues tell us about their experiences in the weeks leading up to November 9, 1989. Be sure to check out two new videos in today's TWIG!


Nicole Glass, Editor, The Week in Germany

... and here are two Trabis from our book The Berlin Wall Today!