To the surprise of many West Germans, many of the East German visitors spent their DM 100 "welcome money" buying great quantities of bananas, a highly prized rarity in the East. For months after the opening of the border, bananas were sold out at supermarkets along the western side of the border as East Germans bought up whole crates, believing supplies would soon be exhausted.[175] The rush for fruit made the banana the unofficial symbol of the changes in East Germany, which some dubbed the "banana revolution".[176]