From a "Times Insider" account by Katrin Bennhold that appears in the Times under the clickbait headline "A Once-in-a Lifetime Reporting Dilemma: Should I Take My Clothes Off?":
Nudism, I discovered, was not just a quirky lifestyle choice. For many people from the former Communist East, it is among the cherished traditions that have faded somewhat since the Berlin Wall fell. Nudism had been a mini-rebellion against a Communist dictatorship, and it also represented the egalitarianism that now makes some Easterners nostalgic.
"There wasn't the social jealousy there is today, because no one was rich and nurses and engineers were paid the same," said Thomas Bandelow, a 40-year-old teacher swimming farther down the beach. "In an economy of scarcity, everyone is equal."
Nudity, too, is a leveler. And it, too, was changed by reunification.
In other words, everyone had to line up for the bananas when they were available in East Germany. But everyone could afford them.
I understand the distinction between the Times itself being nostalgic for East German Communism and the Times reporting on the apparent reality that some Germans are nostalgic for Communism. But given just how brutal and evil the East German regime was — for example, it shot people who tried to escape the "egalitarianism," and also tried to maintain control by an elaborate secret police system in which people spied on each other — there's nonetheless something downright cringe-worthy about this whole Times passage. In addition, it's inaccurate. East Germany wasn't really equal at all. The top people in the Communist party, elite athletes, and the secret police got better food and apartments, while people who ran afoul of them were sent to prisons where there were barely any bananas at all. Anyone with any experience in a Communist society knows this, so it's odd for the Times to promote the equality myth without a reality check.