Christmas cakes, cathedrals and communism

DRESDEN, Germany (CNN Traveller) -- A group of middle-aged Germans is standing in a room full of underwear. No, this isn't the preamble to a joke. The location is the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) Museum in the eastern city of Dresden --- an Aladdin's cave of Ostalgie, the term coined to refer to nostalgia for the days of the communist system.

One of the men points to a substantial corset-type undergarment and turns to his wife.

'"Your mum used to have some like that."

"She did not!"

"She did. She used to hang them on the washing line."

"No she didn't!"

A brief pause. The man whispers loudly to a friend next to him. "She's probably still got them, you know."

Everyone roars with laughter and the group moves on to the next room.

I presume these people had lived in the former East Germany, but unable to distinguish one regional German accent from another, I couldn't tell you for sure. The thing is, many of the objects in the museum are probably recognizable to anyone who lived through the 1970s or 1980s. They are also a reminder, perhaps, that the DDR did export to the West --- in a room full of cameras I spotted my first SLR, a Praktica ---made in Dresden.

If you want any in-depth insight into the machinations of the communist system and what it was like to live under it, however, you will not find it here. Instead, you will pass through room after room of everyday objects and reconstructed interiors, some of them intriguing, but often only in the way a reconstruction of your grandparents' house might be --- spindly furniture, heavy sideboards, excessive ornaments, pictures of Lenin... (OK, your grandparents probably didn't have that).

In among the bric-a-brac are displays of DDR uniforms, most rather curiously lacking in footwear, and an intriguing room dedicated to the realities of the days immediately after the end of World War II. Here you can see a literal rendition of swords into plow shares, with cooking pots and colanders made from steel helmets and cups and bowls carved from spent shell cases.

There's a particular poignancy to the display because Dresden suffered so heavily in World War II. Between February 13 and 15, 1945 the city was extensively bombed and an estimated 25,000 people were killed. Among many other buildings that were destroyed was the Baroque Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), whose huge, sandstone-built dome had been an integral part of the historic city's skyline.

Rebuilding began in 1994 and the church finally reopened in 2005 --- the task having cost €130 million. Some 3,800 stones, many of which had lain untouched where they had fallen over 50 years previously, were incorporated into the new fabric and dot the honey-colored facade with dark reminders of the cost of war --- at least until their newer brethren change color with exposure to the air.

Inside, the Frauenkirche is spectacular --- the Baroque recreated in all its glory with light, air and pastel colors providing a marked contrast to the hushed gloom of many ecclesiastical buildings. The eye is drawn initially upwards to the great cupola then, via windowed galleries and the gleaming steel pipes, golf leaf and yellow plasterwork of the church organ, to the cluster of figures around the altar. The depiction of Christ survived the bombing, and when recovered from the wreckage it was said to be flecked with molten metal that had dripped down from the roof --- the droplets looking like tears on his face.

Over the festive season the Frauenkirche is a central part of life in Dresden, with regular services, concerts and recitals. It is also a recurring motif amid the city's famous Christmas markets --- the largest of which, the Striezelmarkt, lies just north of the church on a large square known as the Altmarkt.

Christmas markets are big business these days. Stall after brightly lit stall tempts locals and foreigners alike with traditional toys, handmade decorations, gingerbread, Glühwein and --- particularly in Dresden's case --- Stollen.

The city lays claim to being the capital of the famous, sugar-dusted fruit-cake, traditionally shaped like a baby in swaddling clothes, with each bakery having an individual numbered gold label they proudly attach to their creations.

At the Grundmann stall in the Striezelmarkt, veteran Stollen master Frank Ludolphy stands surrounded by specimens of all shapes and sizes. What he does not know about this famous cake isn't worth knowing --- he has been baking them for more than 50 years.

"We put in candied lemon and orange, nutmeg, sweet and bitter almonds and raisins that have been soaked in rum --- added as the last ingredient so they don't darken the mix. It's all a very traditional process. In theory, you wouldn't start baking Stollen until 31 October, but that's changed a bit now with some people starting to bake in August."

Over the years, though, ingredients have not always been easy to come by, he adds. "In the final three years of the DDR we couldn't get candied oranges, so we used candied tomatoes instead --- cut up and soaked in lemon juice. Our mission was to create a Stollen that tasted like a Stollen so we did everything to achieve that. We didn't want to let our customers down, you see."

While Ostalgie may be flourishing, surely few of those who today enjoy the memories at Dresden's DDR museum would feel nostalgic for such eccentric ingredients in their favorite Christmas treat.

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