18 years after German reunification, the Wall that once divided the country in two has all but vanished. In Eastern Berlin, memories of the former communist state remain vivid – as evidenced in one local pub.

The bar's sign, which reads "come to us or we will come to you," is a slogan once used by the East German secret police. The interior is decorated with East German uniforms, documents and souvenirs. Wolle Schmelz, owner of the bar "Zur Firma", has a somewhat unconventional point of view: "We tend to associate East Germany with the Berlin Wall, barbed wire and the Stasi. But socially the state had a lot of positive aspects that we should try to keep - such as health care or the education system.”

Some parts of the state are still alive and well in Berlin, such as the Free German Youth (FDJ), scout groups that were loyal to the regime. They have now launched an information campaign to restore the reputation of the country they grew up in.

Ringo Ehlert, spokesman of the FDJ, says that “East Germany was a democratic state which allowed its citizens to live without fear for the future. No-one had to worry about not having enough to eat.” Eva Gerlach, a passer-by, is less enthusiastic. “A schoolchild seeing this exhibition would think that East Germany was a completely normal democratic state. That is the message here, and I think it’s crazy.”

According to one study of 5000 schoolchildren from all over Germany, the majority of those from the East view the former communist country positively, and don't see it as a dictatorship. Professor Klaus Schröder, director of the centre of research of communist East Germany, admits that there is a lack of objectivity. “Knowledge about East Germany is slowly fading and the subject is not seen objectively. The reality of life back then is idealized or simply forgotten. Very few people are interested in finding out what exactly happened.”

Klaus Schröder says schools hardly deal with this period of history and people usually think of cool kitsch rather than the regime's brutal reality. Indeed, one tourist attraction in Berlin is a city safari in an authentic trabant. And at the end of September an exhibition of official East German art was opened – including works commissioned by communist leader Erich Honecker.

“Ostalgie”, or Nostalgia for the East, appears to be thriving in the German capital. Guido Sand, curator of the exhibition "Art in the GDR", certainly thinks so. “This sort of nostalgia is a fashion, which like all fashions will eventually fade. But it will certainly be around for the next decade or two, particularly here in Berlin.” Whether it's a passing trend or not, the wave of nostalgia for East Germany appears to have swept away some of the regime's more unpleasant aspects.