East Germany (1949–1990)

German Democratic Republic

Founded in the Soviet occupation zone in 1949, the GDR spent four decades behind the Berlin Wall. When the Wall fell in November 1989, the state outlived it by less than a year — reunifying with West Germany on 3 October 1990.

The waiting list for a Trabant — the GDR's tiny, plastic-bodied people's car — could stretch past ten years, so a used Trabi often cost more than a new one.