It is dificult for me to answer that because I did not grow up in the east. I think it is safe to say the objectives and means were different. What the Soviets did in every country was to bring a governing elite, educated in the Soviet-Union. Those people were communist refugees and survivors of the pre-war Stalinst purges and terror. Wolfgang Leonhard wrote about that in “Child of the revolution”.
Stalinist regime was for sure extreme oppressive, any slight sign of dissident was punished with enslavement and deportation to Sibiria, even a small school child was not safe. That said the USA occupation force persecuted schoolchildren as “Werewolf” guerillas a mostly imaginary threat. If I'm not mistaken the refugee stream from the Soviet zone to the western zones did not start before the late 40's when the policy of economic repression in the western zones were stopped. Before that the supply of food was probably better in the Soviet zone, because in the west a policy of systematically starving the Germans was enacted, official rations were less than necessary for survival, just most of the time not even that rations were available. That changed in 1948 or so.
Politicaly, the Soviets operated from the perspective of class. So certain class or groups of people were at fault for the “crimes of National-Socialism”, other were just abused. That position was maintained until the wall came down, but was criticized already before by the “west” for “letting the Germans off the hook”.
Official worship of KZ was maintained and was obligatory for everyone, but anyone toying to the party line was a anti-fascist and while not exactly a “victim”, was innocent. Any dissident was an “enemy of the peace”, probably a “fascist”, “literally like Hitler”. Initially that were extremely threatening accusation, meaning torture slavery and death, later after Stalin, the regime did grow milder, would “just” throw you into jail and ruin your live.
My impression was East-Germans learned to keep their mouth shut and pretend, were generally more reserved and quiet than West-Germans who did drink their cool-aid, the loud ones for sure. West-Germans with dissident view had to learn to keep their mouth shut as well, while supporting communist terrorists was acceptable in polite society in the west, I'm not joking, having alternative views about second world war (still) made you are worse outcast than a child molester, again, I'm not joking.
For reasons of saving face would the late East-German regime not persecute people with Nat-Soc leanings as political dissidents, as long as plausible denial was possible and just in case as rowdy or for hooliganism.
So while in the west the Germans were governed by psychopathic foster parents, in the east they had some bigot brutes as foster parents.
There was another perspective the Soviet regime had, a ethnic and racial one. That one was applied towards those who were unfortunate to live in the Soviet-Union or in a place the Russians or other Slavs claimed for them self. The Soviets had ready-made plans for deportation and destruction of the German minority already before the war with Germany. Before the war, deportation in SU meant certain death, during the war deportees were needed as workforce and kept alive. Exceptions were Germans living in big cities close to the front, like Odessa, they were shoot with many other “undesirable” people in quarries and ravines like Babi Yar, just days or hours before German troops arrived, example is the father of pianist Sviatoslav Richter.
After the war, the Soviet-Union demanded reparations in the form of slaves from its former enemies (like France and Great Britain* as well). Romania provided tens of thousands ethnic Germans as slaves for the SU. Literature Nobel price winner Herta Müller, ethnic German from Romania, did write about it.
*according to the “Guardian” newspaper German slave labour was used in preparing the London Olympics of 1948, well probably better than the coal mines.
I see this connection as well, forced on collective guilt for an imaginary crime, nobody has any connection too, in essence the guilt of being “white”, in modern Orwellian language this “guilt” is “privilege”.
