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I never went to Berlin before 1989, but I'm pretty sure that happened afterwards. There was a period of maybe 10 years that changed East-Berlin. Take a look at this article: https://medium.com/matter/our-own-private-germany-6ce44ac93a...

Well you're comparing today's former East Berlin to todays former West Berlin. In the context of "oppressive thought police" it would be more meaningful to compare the pre 1989 state of the city.

I'm not entirely sure (I was only born in 1989 and thus haven't had a chance to visit the DDR) but I'm fairly certain there weren't a lot of graffiti back then.

Before the wall came down, there was no graffiti in east Berlin. It was all gray in gray. Graffiti came only later.

The communist states I have seen were very gray. Almost no colors.

>I love East Berlin (massively prefer it to the sterile shopping malls of West Berlin). Covered in graffiti, with all sorts of bizarre creative communities and flea markets, it's an awesome place. Is this a result of oppressive thought police, or despite it?

There's no East Berlin in the Cold War sense since 1989. There's only the eastern part of Berlin (and also poorest and more neglected). So this might explain that.

ah ok, that makes sense, so an explosion of creativity and anarchic expression since the wall came down. cool thanks :)