American Defector: Victor Grossman (East Germany GDR / DDR Documentary)

Victor Grossman defected to the Soviets from the US Army in 1952. To this day he still lives in what used to be East Berlin.

[@YUGOPNIK]

Woah what a life

[@jalisco-kallisto6216]

Glad to see you here, love your content!!!

[@vrth0mas]

Fancy seeing you here Comrade, just realized I wasn't subbed yet

[@feliche2292]

Nice to see you here comrade

[@franzupet4406]

Pozdrav tovarish!

[@oldmansportsog2514]

He a traitor. Communism sucks. I like having my freedom and not getting arrested for having my own thoughts

[@thomaslaconico6039]

Damn and wow, now this is such an underrated documentary. It's nice that this existed.

[@American-Motors-Corporation]

It's not a documentary it's one of the J's over glorifying their betrayal of America the country that's fought all of their worst for them and his turn to Communism well at the same time years later he gets to come back with no repercussions yet at the same time gee how about this American boys who defected to North Korea they had to wait many more moons before they could come back to America funny how the J's always get their way!!

[@henryseidel5469]

Mr Grossman does not represent the old cliché of fighting for this or for that. I have never heard any violent remarks against his homeland from him, he just compares the conditions as they were to be found. The good is here, and the good is there. The evil is here, and the evil is there..... What a great documentary free from stupid propaganda or fanaticism. Very close to the truths on both sides. Totally without any bias. Great !

[@donsteitz6034]

Given his reasons, I can understand how he got himself into that situation. I am glad the government did not grief him too hard about it years later.

[@steve3131]

One reason the Rosenbergs were a Cause Celebre in the Soviet Bloc was because there were antisemitic purges ( the Slansky trial in Czechoslovakia. The purge of Ana Pauker in Romania and the "Doctors' Plot" and campaigns against "Cosmopolitanism" and Zionism).

[@BushyHairedStranger]

Excellent interview-reporting, thank you for sharing.

[@tmurrayis]

very interesting. Such a shame this video has so few views.

[@Ocinneade345]

Comments: such an authoritarian state. America: state you’re not a communist or you’re going to jail.

[@ghostramen6134]

even if they did state they were a communist they'd still go to jail lol, or at the very least they'd be spied on

[@Ocinneade345]

@@ghostramen6134 tru

[@Liberty-rn4wy]

B.S.

[@getstuk87]

The difference is American lives have continued to improve tremendously, the same cannot be said for the Russians. Just one example is that the statement you made is no longer true today @Ocinneade345

[@henryseidel5469]

Very 'democratic' !

[@henryseidel5469]

In the GDR when I saw a building being constructed, whether it was a school, or homes or whatever, I had the feeling that is mine too. When I see a building being constructed these days I can only wonder who is making money on it ....That is a big difference...

[@Liberty-rn4wy]

I feel that way here in the US when I see a public building and the bonus is they won't shoot me if I try to leave like they did in the GDR.

[@henryseidel5469]

@@Liberty-rn4wy About one hundred seventy thousand people left the GDR officially by filling in forms, repaying debts, and paying for their education papers for that had all been without payment. As a small country East Germany was not able to educate everyone, finance schools and universities, and then let everyone rush off. That would have ruined the country much earlier...So those who wanted to leave had to repay a certain sum.

[@Liberty-rn4wy]

@@henryseidel5469 If you have to build a wall to keep people in then it's a great indication that your system sucks. Glad the wall fell.

[@globalinsightuk]

@@henryseidel5469 That is certainly what the East German government claimed. Generally you don’t shoot (or maim with dogs and boobytraps) hundreds of people who are trying to emigrate from a country, regardless of what they ‘owe’. It would be like getting shot for trying to go on holiday to Canada with US student loans outstanding.

[@3506Dodge]

It wasn't 'yours too." That was a lie.

[@MrDgo4life]

Based!

[@Ulf-qg1vd]

Yes western propaganda has been convincing stupid people to believe it and in a capitalist system that has never worked!

[@lepetitchat123]

A truly unbiased perspective of the GDR. Thanks Victor

[@oscarstrokosz2986]

It does conveniently ignore some details, like why the wall was built. I definitely recommend watching SocialistSwan's videos on the GDR

[@victorseger6044]

Unbiased ? There's a building in the former GDR that has enough file's to heat the country for decade's.. The Roots of the stasi ran deep you had a negative opinion of the GDR? your neighbor will rat on you your brother will rat on you your parents your wife your husband.. this guy is nothing but a traitor no better than the 6 US service member's that defected to the DPRK.. oh and I almost forgot one important FACT and that is Grossman was a STASI INFORMANT.. which is as ironic as it gets

[@zorakzoran1]

a loser 🤣

[@dexculpepper-py1jr]

Then why did they have a wall to keep them from fleeing.

[@umbreonstop-motion5780]

@@dexculpepper-py1jr I saw a video on it, and of course it’s because of the CIA, among others. Sending in saboteurs and paying people that got free education from the east to defect to the west. Another instance of the CIA creating problems and then blaming socialism for it

[@mindfulskills]

Fascinating, and well done!

[@VanquishMediaDE]

I was born in West Poland which was at that time DDR, my home village is close to the (East) German border, not a long car ride from Berlin. I miss East Germany, we had all that we needed and the culture was thriving. It was the time to be alive. There is something about Berlin, she calls my name at night, the city pulls me in; part of my soul is forever trapped there. Berlin ist so Jung und doch so alt, Arm Aber Sexy. Lang lebe die DDR!

[@Leonard-td5rn]

There is always somebody like this. No matter how much the government tries they can't tell.you what to think

[@frustis]

What a fascinating video. I just recently bought his book, A Socialist Defector, and what an experience his must have been. EDIT: Where is the footage of the GDR at around the 11:30 mark from?

[@SociatalEffecta]

Looks like Leninplatz I think

[@kidmack1121]

I will have purchase his book. Sounds fascinating! I recommend "The Autobiography Of Robby Robinson" The author, a machinist by trade, lived as an non communist ex patriate in the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1984

[@guccipucci3941]

It’s all East Berlin, a spot known as “Leninplatz” or what is today called “Platz der Vereinten Nationen”/“Plaza of the United Nations” and after that follows the Alexanderplatz

[@prieten49]

I have read Mr. Grossman's latest book and it is a fascinating read. About half of it describes the American leftist scene in the 1930 and 1940s. His description of East Germany emphasizes the positive, understandable given his background. He was able to live a full life commensurate with his intellect and ideals. In America, he would have been blacklisted at best, imprisoned at worst, for being a Marxist. Of course, KZbin is full of other testimonials by East Germans which detail their experiences with the Stasi and their imprisonment under inhumane conditions. East Germany was a failed state, and today's Left should ask itself why, learn from the East German experience, and try to imagine a better version.

[@desotaku5202]

Exactly. There was a lot of good, and a lot of real bad that happened there. It was already one of the better socialist countries, despite the reparations and missing national ressources. And with todays knowledge of it's shortcomings, we could build something even better.

[@Deathtrip420]

I mean one thing to thing about is the fact that there were so many ex-Nazi's in power in the west. How much of the information that we have on the DDR came from "ex" Nazis? The Cold War may have been cold in the USA, but in the DDR, a country that was 1/3 of the German state, the breadbasket and not the industrial core, and a country that purged the Nazis from leadership positions or specialized labor positions, the cold war was very, very warm.

[@prieten49]

@@Deathtrip420 Thanks for your reply. This is a recurring theme in Mr. Grossman's book, that there were lots of ex-Nazis in West Germany intent on discrediting the East. But I mentioned the countless KZbin videos of EAST GERMANS who described their ordeals under the Stasi and state terror of East Germany. An undeniable fact is that the GDR (East Germany) is no longer with us. We leftists should ask ourselves what mistakes were made and learn from them, instead of clinging to our rose-colored glasses version of history.

[@ericvantassell6809]

and of course the eastern block was so different. gulags were much more pleasant than a blacklist.

[@Dutch_Uncle]

This is what Wikipedia has under their Victor Grossman entry: In 1954, Grossman was recruited as an informant by the East German Ministry of State Security (MfS, or "Stasi"), codename TAUCHER ("Diver") I think that that he is a valued witness to the times, but I also think that he could/should have been forthcoming about this status, or denied it.

[@KooShnoo]

Wie schön und interessant! Gut präsentiert!

[@stephanielaurenbounds4958]

DDR Ostalgie.

[@sharonrigs7999]

Great mini documentary, wish it was an hour longer! Im sure he's glad he didn't go to NorK. A German prison would be vastly better

[@joeschmoe9154]

There are some videos on here about James Dresnok, a GI who defected to the NORKs, He was a Shitbag who was about to be Court-martialed. He ended up having a much better life as a propaganda Tool for the NORKs then he would have had as a slacker in the US. He lived better than 99.9% of the North Korean population, made movies and taught English to his Commie Masters.

[@Bruno-tm3xo]

Fantastic

[@darkWorkOne]

Very interesting video!

[@soggmeisterlasagnagarfield]

Affordable prices and universal high purchasing power are the highest form of democracy yet. What’s democracy worth if I can’t afford living?

[@cormboy4177]

what a king

[@Curry_Communist]

Fr

[@melloangelwolf8611]

Karl Marx university sounds interesting

[@Liberty-rn4wy]

For each one of these people there are 10,000 East Germans who would have moved to West Germany but could not because of the Berlin Wall and they would have been shot trying. I have been in the GDR, probably unlike most poeple commenting here. So I know what it was like. I also wrote a 55-page paper on it in college and am fluent in German.

[@timonurcikan8196]

If the wall wouldnt not be constructed the situation in the east germany would be worse

[@exploitationsupporter2455]

When People say that only people from eastern bloc defected to west.

[@ohayoch.]

Ya thats propaganda mate there's alot of western germans or any western people defected to the east

[@RJStockton]

Nobody says that. Who have you heard saying that?

[@ohayoch.]

@@RJStockton do your research theres alot

[@RJStockton]

@@ohayoch. Source: Dude, trust me.

[@fdsman]

And how many can you count that defected from west to east vs. east to west.

[@zdenekoldrichmarek2867]

Congratulations upon your adjustment to the change of culture and different life.You were a victim of post war fear and lack of knowledge and understanding for sure. Be Blessed.

[@LCdrDerrick]

Wow, I recently read his Stalingrad novel! Or let's say I listened to its Audible version. It's not that hard and brutal to read as Plievier's (either recommendable) book of the same name, but has more tactfulness in dealing with the smaller people's sorrows.

[@willwhiteman7396]

You're thinking of Vassily Grossman the Soviet novelist surely? He died in like the 60s I think from stomach cancer.

[@michaelgray1776]

Wow!!! What a full life!

[@stephenwalker850]

What a life indeed

[@muslimsocialist9310]

I noticed he has Islamic calligraphy on his table in the back right hand side of the screen 😮. This guy is awesome. Is he still around???

[@ghostramen6134]

yes he is. He is currently 93 I think and writes books about history and leftism

[@bruceday8464]

I'm on the opposite side of the political spectrum, but have to agree about the US Government being a place of damned-if-you-do and damned-if-you-don't. I'm a retired Federal employee, and I can honestly say I gave them a fair day's work for a fair day's pay but have very few - if any - good memories of my time in Federal employment. Bureaucracy is bureaucracy.

[@mr.ranger9679]

Ever thought of joining our side? We welcome everyone with open arms

[@punishedgloyperstormtroope8098]

@@mr.ranger9679 the left who wants to turn 10 year old boys trans and make Germany an African country and wants to destroy everything that brings joy and reminds us of the past and eradicate all culture, yeah no thanks I would prefer fascism. Fascism and natsoc provide the same economic benefits of socialism without the negatives and with more freedoms

[@jakekaywell5972]

@@punishedgloyperstormtroope8098 Fascism requires a perpetual underclass to pin the blame on, exploits the workers even more so than neo-lib capitalism, and also requires the exploitation of the Third World to line the pockets of the top 10%. No thanks to that, I'll stick with Marxism-Leninism. The only way to make an equitable society for as many people as possible that doesn't foot the bill to other nations.

[@jamesbarker4752]

Fascinating!

[@leftistadvocate9718]

"north korea wasn't that appealing" ya don't say.

[@lochlannblack7699]

That's because in the 90s with the collapse of the soviet union a huge famine occurred in North Korea as they were blockaded and sanctioned from importing food and agricultural machinery

[@aburyan19]

Interesting.

[@DanielJohnson-vr9mw]

Thanks for this vid. Comunism was a good try for a better world. Many things turned out badly. Lets go for the next version. Never, ever give up!

[@TheDarkIllumination]

There is not going to be a next version. A wise man once said governments are shared delusions. The cease to exist the moment people stop believing in then. No one believes in Marxism anymore except for zealots or fools.

[@DMS-pq8]

The millions of victims of Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot could not be reached for comment

[@blitz8221]

@@DMS-pq8 and who took down Pol Pot? the communist state of Vietnam

[@franzupet4406]

What a nice story

[@Derek032789]

Interesting!

[@TrueSpace61]

Fun fact: no, they were not "walled in," and west germany spent much more money per person on police.

[@niallmartin9063]

American hero, like Dean Reed!! Auferstanden aus Ruinen . . . . some day!

[@arnbo88]

I'm glad that the US Army exercised forgiveness for this man. It's pointless to prosecute someone for having belonged to organization generations earlier. Unfortunately, evil Nazis were never forgiven and the propaganda war still continues.

[@oldcremona]

We should forgive those who enabled the Holocaust?

[@arnbo88]

@@oldcremona There was an Australian WW2 veteran who was a POW of the Japanese in 1944. For the next 40 years he absolutely hated the Japanese until a cathartic moment at the Sydney airport in 1984. He saw a trio of Japanese school girls who were nothing like the Japs who tortured and starved him in WW2. He came to the realization that these girls were not guilty of anything and that his own bitterness prevented him from internal fulfillment. The Holocaust ended four generations ago. The criminals who committed these horrors are long gone. Monsters have come and gone since then. Hatred of Germans won't bring back the victims.

[@RevolutionarySM]

East Germany was the product of Stalin's delusion of a neutral capitalist Germany. He wanted Germany to be united, neutral and not socialist. But the western allies refused, they wanted a anticommunist regime in the western state. When the German Democratic Republic was formed in 1948, it kept up the facade of a bourgeois democratic republic, not a socialist republic of the working class. This is why it kept the colours of the Weimar Republic and did not spoke of socialism in its first constitution of 1948. It was only after 1959 that the GDR emblem was put into the flag and in 1968, the nation fully declared itself to be a socialist republic by a new constitution. Naturally it was not socialist since the workers were not in power. The East German working class were slaves to a regime that deluded itself. Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honecker were die-hard believers in Stalin's model. They isolated themselves in their closed elitist: Forest Settlement, far away from the lives of the proletariat. When the working class rose up against Stalinist rule the Socialist Unity Party of Germany dumped Honecker, but that could not save them.

[@drill6739]

[@francescogorbechov4192]

If he got his passport after he traveled back to the US how did he travel their in the first place????

[@yogscastwilson]

You don't need a passport if the military is sending you somewhere.

[@KooShnoo]

@@yogscastwilson yeah if they could stop you from entering because you didn't have a passport there wouldn't be any war lol

[@stgr0186]

An embassy can also issue a temporary paper that serves as a one time passport just to be able to return to your country when for some reason you don't have your passport.

[@patrickmccutcheon9361]

He must have a German passport.

[@josephhudson8829]

I was in West Germany 83-85 Front line combat soldier 1st Armoured Division

[@_shebang]

Based

[@buckwylde7965]

Excellent documentary! The DDR has always fascinated me, it was a real freak of history! Speaking of freaks, look at the statue @ 9:20. Is that King Donaldo?

[@Strongnurgling]

That's why a lot of people in eastern block nations miss the soviet union

[@davida.bishop4024]

America, some democracy. LOL

[@oldcremona]

And yet more people who immigrate or flee political persecution choose to come to the US more than any autocratic country.

[@tfrf0042]

💕

[@Asger21]

Interesting and fascinating story. He kepts his free thinking throughout his life. Full respect though I don't agree. We're all different and there should be a living space for ALL of us. Say no to hate!

[@Skirkly]

He talked like everyone had everything they needed but I've watched other interviews of people from east who said they didn't have a bathroom and had to share as well as ordered a vehicle and still hadn't received it when the wall fell like 12 years after. You couldn't trust anyone because they may tell on you for anything. Doesn't sound like everything you always needed to me. They said it was rough and scary.

[@maxboehme2918]

My grandparents always send some western things or food to family members in east germany. My grandfather got out of east germany in the 1960s

[@ulfljung4630]

Interesting indeed!

[@wattsbelco2308]

Membership led to Moscow's ComIntern - he *was* a foreign agent.

[@werre2]

from now on whenever I make poor choices I think of mr Grossman and tap my own back

[@Ocinneade345]

How do you mean? He seemed very happy.

[@francescogorbechov4192]

I love the Cold War so much

[@asoggycracker8773]

A desperate attempt at forward. Such that the only way to make progress is by force. The greater and faster the progress the more violent and aggressive that progress is both made to arise as well as is post established management.

[@WhiteRoseYorkshire]

At least someone knows that Communism is the best. Keep the red flag flying

[@oldcremona]

It's odd how the vast majority of people who immigrate choose democratic countries (US, Western Europe) over autocratic countries.

[@realcanadiensneverdie]

@@oldcremona It wasnt about autocracy or whatever you claim, its material conditions. After the downfall of the eastern bloc, shock therapy and the abolishment of a command economy in Poland food prices increased 400-500%, thats why they immigrated to the west, better living conditions

[@Kzummo]

Nazi oppression was horrible but MY oppression is equal!

[@Tbone1492]

Yes he would rather have them all taken out. America should've sided with Germany. The world would be better today🙏

[@thomasfx3190]

America didn’t choose not to side with the GDR, it was a hostile foreign state occupied by the Soviets. All the smart Nazis fled to the west and kept their lives fairly intact. Every businessman in the east lost everything.

[@davidleonard3887]

if it was so great why isn't it still around

[@erfantavoosi100]

Both good and bad things will eventually come to an end.

[@TrueSpace61]

It was not authoritarian at all.

[@andrewelie8687]

Repression is NEVER a move forward.

[@_shebang]

yeah throwing people into jail for not signing some stupid paper is definitely not a step forward.

[@dexculpepper-py1jr]

You shouldn't be able to come back.

[@laugesteffensen8768]

Well.. Rhodesia was also more better than Mugabe's Zimbabwe..

[@punishedgloyperstormtroope8098]

RIP Rhodesia

[@DMS-pq8]

He would be a mainstream Democrat today

[@blitz8221]

Democrats aren't communists. They're (mostly) liberals. Liberals believe in capitalism and laissez-faire policies. Communists believe in, well, communism.

[@mothmanyt]

for the nazi police bit, the main reason the soviets had less ex NS officers in the government was because many german Communists went to the ussr after either the 1919 revolution, or when AH took power. the allies had far fewer "clean" people to give administrative roles, and so resorted to former German employees.

[@felixnuwahid9879]

Why deserted in the first place? Freedom is the way 🤔

[@MrHeiner96]

The Freedom of being put in a Prison cell for years for being a leftist?

[@jackrosario9990]

Why didn't he just stay in Germany?

[@feministadentata4041]

He said he had family in the US, my guess that this is the reason.

[@ohayoch.]

​@@feministadentata4041 he misses his family basically.

[@davidleonard3887]

gdr great unless you speak out against it

[@victorseger6044]

Which is exactly why it wasn't that great... When Honecker came to the conclusion that people (young professional people) were fleeing in droves that's when the door was slammed.. it may have even started under Walter Ulbricht

[@thomasfx3190]

Victor may have liked the DDR but it was an economic disaster, completely inefficient, bread lines, 10 year wait for a car. In eliminating poverty they made everyone poor. Not for me.

[@Eric0816]

@averyannoyingdudewithadesktop Actually, during the Cold War, the West German military was three times as big as the NVA (East German Army).

[@dalegribble1560]

I'm as ANTI Socialist as they come, but I actually have some respect for this man. Why can't many more American Leftists follow his example and change their situation rather than staying here and bitching about it? If you want Socialism, I'm ok with that. Go to a country that suits your beliefs like this man did. What I'm NOT ok with is Socialists thinking everyone else has to accept their system, that's where things like Civil War is guaranteed to happen.

[@trumpisaconfirmedcuck5840]

But the DDR doesn't exist anymore :(

[@dalegribble1560]

@@trumpisaconfirmedcuck5840 Cuba, North Korea, and China still do though.

[@yn-uj2ov]

I love my country, why should I allow capitalism and liberalism to degenerate its culture and traditions? I want communism for my country not for someone else’s

[@jackbain2404]

@@dalegribble1560 I wouldn't say those countries are at all socialist they just claim to be

[@kathycaldwell7126]

@@yn-uj2ov As Dale Gribble posts above you have options where to live, hopey. Unlike the former GDR/USSR there are now transportation alternatives and nary a wall to keep you prisoner. Go forth-whether by bus, ferry or foot. Best to you and yours.

[@1polonium210]

Hier haben wir den Film "Das Leben der Anderen". Herr Grossman wird den Film nicht mögen. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bIm5gKVuhMx5p8U

[@xasthurwithin4178]

Because the movie is an ridiculous exaggeration and pure propaganda.

[@prieten49]

@@xasthurwithin4178 For starters, the movie is fiction, but even fiction can accurately capture the pervasive atmosphere in a society. It is common knowledge that the Stasi absolutely did have one of the most thorough surveillance apparatuses in the world. Over 80,000 "unofficial collaborators," basically snitches, reported diligently to the Stasi on the sayings and doings of their friends, co-workers, and even family members. The sophisticated surveillance measures shown in the movie were also realistic. The movie was actually criticized in some quarters for portraying the main character, a Stasi officer, as sympathetic to the intellectuals he was supposed to spy on, quickly disposing of damning evidence that would have gotten the intellectuals many years in an East German prison. The complaint was that this was completely unrealistic and too sympathetic a portrayal of a Stasi officer.

[@1polonium210]

@@xasthurwithin4178 And the deaths of the many who attempted to cross the "Berliner Mauer" to West Berlin are also "an exaggeration and pure propaganda{?

[@hansulrichboning8551]

and you are whitewashing a dictatorship that collapsed by the hands of its own population(the soviet bayonets did not backed up the GDR-regime anymore)@@xasthurwithin4178

[@Liberty-rn4wy]

Communism killed 100 million people and all he got was this stupid t-shirt.

[@bobdollaz3391]

Complaining about Nazi atrocities while defecting to a Soviet satellite state? How ironic!

[@joeschmoe9154]

He should have at a minimum been given an Administrative "under other than honorable discharge" for desertion from the Military East Germany was a Shithole compared to West Germany and it took years to build up their infrastructure to Western Standards..

[@provost5752]

I'd love to see him in North Korea.

[@romanrodriguez3643]

He made a friend

[@douglasrobson3875]

He has to know all that construction and all those jobs had a human cost to them. The Russians had to make the GDR look successful in the westerners eyes so they had to put their best foot forward there in East Germany. Not only that, he had to know about the secret police and what they were doing. I find it hard to believe that such a well educated man closed to his eyes to all the evil around him and was actually happy with the way things were going in East Germany.

[@Ocinneade345]

I mean, the East German government was quite successful in itself. Just judging on scholarship.

[@douglasrobson3875]

@@Ocinneade345 They were successful because the USSR was dumping truckloads of money into their economy to keep up the facade of being successful. That success also came at a human cost too. Even with the backing of the communist government it failed so how was it successful. The West German government absorbed East Germany all at once and it’s still going strong. Communism tends to favor the people in the inner circle and if your not in the inner circle you are considered meat for the grinder.

[@realcanadiensneverdie]

You're in denial, just listen to the old man! He lived here almost all of his life.

[@davidleonard3887]

this is great he is a jew supporting a country that was waging a war against israel

[@huswsimonbla]

10:50 does he seriously think that in East Germany they werent all old Nazis or at least Wehrmacht Officers? The Stasi came out of the Gestapo as well as the BND. Interesting video but very biased world view..

[@natesofla8891]

The thing is nothing belong to anybody in the east.

[@oldmansportsog2514]

Traitor. Became radicalized in College. That still happens today

[@randlemcmurphy4594]

You know at some point when he was standing in a line hoping there was a loaf of bread left on one of the shelves he regretted his decision to defect

[@rosaburgs6019]

He literally said there was always food in East Germany, more than when he visited the USSR in the 80s in an interview