Dresdner Seniorenakademie Wissenschaft und Kunst e.V. / EFOS-Projekt / VECU Alltagskultur

My living conditions

1949 was a year full of events: the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic were founded. Because of the soldiers returning from the war, 1949 was a year of numerous births. It was the time a new beginnings, my year of birth. Together with my sister who was seven years older, her father was killed in action, I grew up as a miner's daughter in the Erzgebirge. We lived in a duplex with seven people. My grandparents owned two rooms on the ground floor: breakfast-kitchen and bedroom, about 45 square meters. Great-grandpa's room was about 12 square meters and was considered a living room as well as a bedroom. My parents and the two of us lived upstairs: breakfast-kitchen, living room and bed room.

All rooms had a roof pitch. Naturally, stove heating was restricted to kitchens and living rooms. The water connections and waste pipes were in the breakfast- kitchens. Later, our parents reworked a chamber of the laundry attic for the two of us. There was just enough room for two beds and bedside tables. In the summer it got hot and humid under the roof and in the winter it got very cold while the blanket was frozen from moist breathing. The jakes was in a vestibule in the foyer, a long way for us in case of nightly necessities. Bathes were taken in the washing room of the cellar. Later we got a gas connection in the breakfast-kitchen of the house. My parents set up the bathroom in the kitchen. But nothing was changed of the construction of the jakes. Our house was situated in the middle of a garden on the hillside of the Schreckenberg. My grandparents took care of the pets, bunnies and chicken. To a large extend, we grew our own fruits and vegetables. I got married in 1969. Only married couples could claim an apartment. In 1970 we moved into our first apartment in Lauchhammer. It was a standard 56 square meters apartment with stove heating of a prefabricated housing development.

We moved into a two room apartment with a small and narrow kitchen. The bathroom was equipped with a tub, a heating stove and a toilet. The city of Lauchhammer industrial city with a lot of many disadvantages:

Gas smell, coals and dirt. When wind conditions were unfavorably, the coal dust and the smell of exhaust fumes of the coal treatment of the brown coal state combine was omnipresent in the houses and apartments.

After my husband was relocated to another office in Strassgräbchen we were looking forward to move into an apartment in the country in 1975.

Our daughter was born in 1975. The three of us moved into a three room apartment of the prefabricated housing development that was 65 square meters big. The living room, bedroom, nursery, bath and kitchen, all rooms could be entered from the corridor. We had a small balcony that was entered from the living room. Nursery and living room were equipped with tile stoves. To have some fruits and vegetables we leased a small garden in the vicinity. After our son was born in 1986 we moved into 69 square meters four- room apartment with a balcony on the 3rd floor in Strassgräbchen. It was an adequate apartment for four people in a prefabricated housing development with a heating stove. The nurseries, the bathroom, kitchen and living room could be entered from the corridor. The small bedroom could be entered from the living room. The living conditions did not change. Fetching coals from the cellar and disposing of the ashes was strained us especially in the winter.

1990, the time of the German reunification was also a time of personal changes for us.

Our daughter went to the secondary school and our son to the kindergarten. My husband got a job in Radebeul. I worked in Kamenz. After finishing school, my daughter went to Kassel for the on-the-job training. Everyday, my husband drove to Radebeul, later Dresden. In 1997 moving to Kamenz was sensible as our son went to the local secondary school. The three of us moved into 78 square meter apartment in Kamenz: district heating, running water-and cold water, a large tiled bathroom with a shower, tub and window. An open terrace with large windows in the living room- perfect. The rooms and the corridor had linoleum floors. We setup the breakfast-kitchen with the tiled floor ourselves. This was a first improvement in our living conditions, no heating stove anymore and we did not have to dispose the ashes. We felt good in this apartment. Later we took over a garden in the vicinity.

In 2004, we decided to move to Dresden, where my husband was working. At that time, our son had began theoretical education. For one year we lived in the south of Dresden on the 2nd floor. There were three rooms, a breakfast-kitchen, bathroom and two balconies, approximately 76 square meters.

We had seen only the ground plan of the rehabilitated apartment when we signed the contract. Conveniently, the apartment was close to my husbands' work. After moving in we realized, that the windows were too small. All in all, it was to dark in the apartment. We found a friendly three-room apartment in Striessen, 80 square meters. The living room had 4 huge windows, parquet floor and a closed terrace. My son moved into a room with two corner windows. The internal bathroom is small with a tub, sink, toilet and small separated shower. We made room for a breakfast corner in the small kitchen.
We like Dresden very much and we have not regretted the change of location.