East Germany's trusty socialist van still has a loyal following

The last of East Germany’s Barkas vans to come off the assembly line is now on display in a museum. But many earlier models are still going strong. Photo: dpa

The bug-eyed Barkas van was a socialist mule. There are still 3,800 of them on the road in former East Germany where enthusiasm for the old-school commercial vehicle runs high.

The van never attained the popularity of the VW transporter of hippy fame, but then again eastern Germany had little counterculture. The Barkas was, above all, the people’s workhorse.