Since my wife was born in the German Democratic Republic ("GDR" or "DDR" in German), I once started collecting items from the GDR. Either items that are really from that communist country or things like models of cars, trucks and tractors that have been built in the GDR. Models/brands like Trabant, Wartburg, IFA, Fortschritt, Barkas etc.
Please don't get me wrong: None of us wants to be back in the times of communism. We are happy and glad to live in a free country. But after the "Länder" of the GDR joint the Federal Republic of Germany, so many companies and products of the GDR disappeared - I guess more than in any other former communist country. Of course, those products have been influenced by politics, but they have also been part of the everyday life of my wife, her parents, grandparents etc.
So I want to keep some of the items for us and for my son so that he can remember that he has ancestors that once had to live a life that maybe in some aspects was easier than today's life but in many aspects harder, more restricted, more limited and in some aspects really dangerous.
Most of the models of GDR vehicles I own are in scale 1/87 (H0), many in 1/43 (0) and some in different scales between 1/32 and 1/150 (N). Of course, most of them have been built after 1989, but some models like the Wartburg (from that you can only see the back in the left) have been "made in GDR".
In addition we have approximately 7 brick models of GDR-cars from COBI (a Polish producer that produces brick toys compatible to LEGO.
Part 1: The Christmas present
Part 2: The petrol station
Part 3: How it all started
Part 4: My model car collection
Part 5: The farm