The Trabant: A Tool of Opression, The Ultimate Expression of Freedom and an #UnlikelyHero

Originally launched way back in 1957 the Trabant almost instantly became the most popular vehicle in East Germany, which is which is hardly an achievement as the Trabant was one of two options (the other being the relatively upmarket and expensive Wartburg) if you were in the market for a car in East Germany. Seeing as there was no competition it’s manufacturer, VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau (catchy, I know), set out on a mission to create the ideal car for the people. They failed miserably as the Trabant is the 2nd most likely plastic box to poison (after dodgy takeaway, of course). The car was fairly advanced for its time. It had independent suspension and a front-wheel drive layout with a transverse engine. However it was let down by an unreliable two-stroke engine which was known for choking the cars occupants with its fumes whilst also looking it was designed by a two year old wielding a crayon. Oblivious of it shortcomings, VEB Stroganoff Absterben Zigglyboo kept the model in production until 1991.

Although I’ve never driven one, and hope never to experience such trauma, I can assume that driving a Trabant is like smoking asbestos inside a Fisher-Price toy. As a car it’s a testament to the awfulness of Eastern European manfuacturing at that time. It was a tool of oppression that reminded East Germans of what they were missing out on. Although, seeing as the car was unchanged until 1989, we can at least give them credit for not believing in planned obsolescence unlike us greedy capitalists.

But the Trabant is most famous for being more than just an awful car it, rather ironically, became a symbol of freedom, a beacon of light that shines great hope upon people stuck in darkness. It was proof of humanities ability to seek emancipation from oppression and reunion with family. An unloved weapon of oppression that stood up to become vessel to travel into better times. It is the ultimate expression of the human spirit of our will as species to thrive and seek our own paths.

East Germany had been in turmoil in the late 80s as many of its citizens attempted desperately to leave the country and find a new life in the West. The number of people attempting to find asylum elsewhere grew and East German law enforcement unwaveringly forced the escapees onto trains and back into the East. Tensions were high and East Germany looked as though it were about to crumble. Over a million protesters would take the streets in demonstrations against the oppressive regime. So great was the pressure put on the government that on the night of November 9th 1989, a press conference was held where it was declared that the border would be open to all who wished to cross it. People left their houses in a frenzy, some wanted to experience the other side of their nation and others wanted to be free of their situation. Millions flocked to borders where they waited to be let through and initially they were denied. The law hadn’t been stated correctly and the borders would open the next day with the migrants requiring visas. Outraged, many started to protest and eventually a few people were let through. This didn’t make much difference to the waiting crowds and eventually the border was open to all. Many people flocked through the gates, some on foot and others behind the wheels of their Trabants.

This was the moment where the Trabant, a mobile gas chamber made by a communist government out of cotton and disappoint, finally transcended its use as a tool and become a means of liberation. It was a tool handed out to people by the leadership they so despised, a reminder of their oppression that redeemed itself by becoming the means by which East Germany found freedom.

The car can be seen as a symbol of the human spirit. An overcomer of atrocities that was stuck with its roll, a dreary reality where hope was distant but stuck around long enough to find its freedom. The Trabant’s Duroplast body was intended to last eternity in a way not dissimilar to the will of mankind.

I’m sure some people on this site can remember fondly hearing or even being part of the event that took place on November the 9th 1989 when suddenly a people who’d been pulled apart for over 30 years had finally found freedom, unity and, most importantly, hope.

If you liked this post please suggest another unlikely hero of the automotive world. I’d love to be able to turn this into a series, thanks