Because apparently I am subconsciously trying to make up for laughing at Ossi haircuts twelve years ago by reading all about people in East Germany in the late '80s and early '90s, I found this absolutely brilliant site, in which you can see and read about what various people bought with the 100 West German marks which was given to all Ossis crossing the border into the west. Don't worry if you can't read German - I linked to the image-only section (you can click on the images to read the captions). If you can read German, check out the text section. Fascinating stuff.