Trabant, de kunststof kameraad

In 1991, the Trabant factory in Zwickau, in former East Germany, was closed. Of the 13,000 people who worked there, most were made unemployed. The Trabant was one of the most striking examples of 'Ossie Culture'. Cheap to produce, lacking any luxury, accessible to everyone, a proud export product to other countries in the Eastern Block. Immediately after the Wende in 1989, the 'Trabi' was out. Cars from the West - mostly second-hand - soon pushed the Trabant off East German roads. Production was stopped soon after that. In Trabant, de kunststof kameraad (Trabant, The Plastic Comrade) Wim Schepens looks up ex-employees of the factory. Many of them are still unemployed, a small group of privileged ones were able to start work for the competitor Volkswagen, which established a production line in Zwickau after the fall of the Wall.