American Reacts to How the Berlin Wall Worked

American Guy Reacts to How the Berlin Wall Worked
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[@kraftwerknl]

West Berlin wasn't halfway between the general area of East and West Germany but was entirely within East Germany. It was an enclave that got supplied by air, so it was entirely surrounded.

[@RustyDust101]

Only during the Berlin Blockade. The air bridge from three airports in the west to airport Tempelhof in West Berlin. After that it was supplied through the reopened three main train lines.

[@Anson_AKB]

@@RustyDust101 nonetheless, he should have looked closely at the map at 16:42 to see that Berlin was completely surrounded by the east, almost 200 km to west germany and 50 km to poland. the (at the end of the war still allied) "Allies" had split the entire country in 4 zones, just as they split our town in 4 sectors because it was the capital, even though its location was right in the eastern zone. btw: Wien (vienna) as the capital of austria was also split into 4 sectors. have a look at the movie "Der dritte Mann" ("the third man") from 1949

[@janharml]

There were also three highways to the west, with East German border guards at the border between east and west. So if you got over the wall, you could get a West German passport and travel further to the west by car.

[@GretchenMuller-uw9sl]

after the airlift and the blockade u also can go by car to West Berlin but it was a big hustle

[@carkawalakhatulistiwa]

​@@RustyDust101It was interesting because west Berlin had to use planes to Bring coal. For power generation

[@dnocturn84]

Other comments already explain this: the city of Berlin is located entirely in East Germany, which therefore surrounds it. It was an enclave of the west in East German territory. The western part of Berlin was given to the western victorious powers after WW2 (France, Great Britain and the US), which later formed West Berlin. The eastern part was given to the Soviet Union, as well as all of the lands surrounding Berlin. Due to this, West Berlin wasn't only split in the middle between east and west, but was also walled in all around itself.

[@la-go-xy]

Result of loosing WWII: The 4 allies occupied different parts of Germany and also devided the former capital. Since the political split between Russia and the other 3 allies developed, this resulted in the sector occupied by Russians being cut off from the others.

[@Anson_AKB]

about the confusion of getting "encircled" : just have a look at any map and see where Berlin is located !!!

[@tkps]

I thought that would've been the idea before making the video.

[@thelotoflower]

Be more kind. Not all people knows some things or forget it. Just explain.

[@Anson_AKB]

@@thelotoflower the USA and the USSR were two of the allies that fought in a world war and had massive amounts of fallen soldiers. And for 45 years after the war, there was the "Iron Curtain" between west and east, with a few more "turbulent" years afterwards in the east, including more war, involvement of the UN, etc, for a total of more than half a century of world history. Thus i would have thought that someone whos country was involved in it, and who intended to make a (reaction) video about something related to germany and especially berlin, would either already know some basics (he seems to be more knowledgeable than many others and even had looked at wikipedia before watching, already there wondering about the "encircling"), where germany and berlin are located in europe, or take a short look at a map before watching the video, or at least take a short break during the video to look up a map instead of stating over and over and over that he can't understand how a town can be encircled. there are more videos to react to, eg 3-4 months ago by the "fat electrician" about the airlift "the biggest flex" and about the historical and political part of the berlin wall that explains those aspects in more detail (in contrast to this video that concentrated on the technical aspects of the wall). _maybe i also have a somewhat "strong opinion" on it since i spent more than half my entire life on that "island in the red sea" ..._

[@imajinallthepurple]

Dane here.... I was part of a student exchange program that meant I went to live with a family in East Germany, not Berlin though, for a period of time in 1989. The second we crossed that border with its barbed wire and heavily armed guards (one boy was half American and had a dual citizenship passport; that was a fun experience 😅) it was like stepping back in time technologically speaking and we were advised to always remember that *anyone* could be a spy for the regime and to watch what we said so in some regards you're not completely wrong when you compared it to North Korea though it wasn't quite as dire circumstances. But despite the constant distrust lurking beneath the surface the people were welcoming and always willing to share what little they had. The wall came down only months later.....on my birthday. Best birthday gift ever. ❤️

[@leenorman853]

I was arrested by the Volkpolizei on the wrong side of the wall on 7.7.77: Verstoss gegen Passgesetz. Scary as hell.

[@imajinallthepurple]

@@leenorman853 Yikes, I can't even imagine the fear. 😯 We all used the bathrooms at the border and our teacher asked the last *girl* if she was the last one which she confirmed. Seconds after we headed out a *boy* comes running after the bus while fixing his zipper. He was intercepted by the armed border guards and held back. No bag, no passport, pre-mobile times, nothing... Thankfully some of us saw it through the back window and yelled to stop the bus. We were 12-14 years old at the time so that must've been scary AF for the poor kid. 😰

[@RustyDust101]

Berlin had been the capital of Germany since 1871. But it had been captured solely by the Soviets during WW2. However, the American troops had advanced deep into the east south of Berlin and Brandenburg. Most of Thuringia, Sachsen-Anhalt, and even parts of Saxony had been captured by American troops. But during the treaty of Yalta the four allied forces had decided on the occupation zones of each sector of Germany which gave the largest part of eastern Germany to the Soviets. This included the sections of land captured by the American forces I mentioned above. A second part governed that the capital of Berlin was supposed to be split and goverened by the four allied nations together. Now the western allies had the choice: fall back further to the west, relinquish control over the eastern territories they had captured, and gain control of their designated sectors in Berlin; OR retain their captured land area, anger the Soviets, potentially directly entering into a war with them while the pacific theater was still hot and active (Japan hadn't been defeated yet, not even the first nuclear explosion had been tested yet). In addition they would loose access to all the files in Berlin. Those files from science and administration both America and the UK wanted to get their hands on. So in essence the western Allies agreed to uphold the terms of the Conference of Yalta, regroup back in the west, release their captured territories to the Soviets, and gained access to their sectors in West Berlin. Edit: 17:08 Yes, West Berlin was completely surrounded by the Wall, not just between East and West Berlin. Only certain access roads guarded by watch towers allowed access to West Berlin on the ground. Dito for three major train lines leading into Berlin. All of these so-called transit lines were heavily guarded and under constant surveillance by East German guards. Everything else leading into or out of West Berlin was blocked off. There's even a video documentary about how the Wall cut the otherwise incredibly well developed tram and subway system of Berlin in two.

[@Herzschreiber]

this is the best explanation I have seen in the comments so far!

[@patlegarsmeur]

my old man was a journo (photography) and he and his writer for observer magazine a guy called David Blundy, they had a job over on the west side, he told me i think they had hassle from the east side since he was pointing a camera at them and being a french/british shooter and an english writer they werent appreciated! so they sat post job oppositie one of the checkpoints with a case of oranges and ate them in front of the guards on the eastside to wind them up since fresh fruit was a massive luxury on the east side

[@AnthondeVries]

i believe it was also called the iron curtain. look it up, there's way more than this video reflects.

[@winny4765]

When the GDR started to build the wall, people fled by some houses, close to the wall. They jumped out of the window and landed in the free West. So the windows were shut by bricks.

[@H.A.Bleikamp]

The round shape on the top prevents for a hook thrown with a rope. Although too there were automatic selfshooting fixed gunboxes at the fence. If you had thouched one of the upper wires top of the fence, the autogunboxes starts to shoot automatically until their shrapnelmagazin was emtpy They had shot along the fence with little very sharp metal shrapnels and not with regular ammonition. Anti Personal mines there were also. etc

[@Klaas_Kruik]

These "selfshooting" devices and anti personel mines were on the border between east and west Germany, not on the Berlin wall.

[@flomalheur7467]

After the Second World War, Germany was divided between the victorious powers. There was an American, a British, a French and a Soviet occupied zone. Likewise, Germany's capital Berlin was divided into four sectors. Since the Soviets had quite different plans for defeated Germany than the three Western powers, the GDR was formed from the Soviet zone and the FRG from the zones occupied by the Western powers. Berlin was now in the GDR, but there were still the three sectors of Berlin occupied by the Western powers, which now - like an island in the GDR - formed "West Berlin".

[@germankitty]

I was in Berlin on a school trip in 1972. Riding the underground trains from our youth hostel into the city, especially at night, was almost like a horror movie. As the train tracks predated 1961 and went through the whole city, there were stations that aboveground were situated in East Berlin and the West German trains obviously couldn't stop at. Passing through those stations, the trains would slow down to walking speed, and there'd be armed, two-man teams with automatic rifles, TAC vests and an attack dog at their heels patrolling each platform to prevent anyone from jumping on the train -- or getting off. And if you were riding that train, you *knew* that you were directly below the Wall and the death strip. Quite an eerie, sometimes even scary experience -- yet daily life for many West Berlin residents.

[@Wilmer778]

Thanks! Finally I know why, in Pink Floyd's The Wall film, the animation for their song Empty Spaces is showing the wall going straight through houses, flowers, cars; etc; etc. Never knew about that and I'm living 20 minutes ayway from the German border, fhs :O 6:55

[@Klaas_Kruik]

Pink Floyd's album the Wall was not about the Berlin wall, but about some sort of psychological barrier.

[@Wilmer778]

@@Klaas_Kruik I know, lol.... It's sorta metaphor as well. Artists LOVE to use metaphors in their music. Come on. Yes it's about Pink starting to psychological wall inside his mind, but the actual war's also got everything to do with the album as a whole. Just look at the images portrayed in the film throughout lol

[@winny4765]

And not to forget: that mortal frontier with mines and soldiers separated East and West Germany too !

[@Why-D]

Germany was divided in four occupational zones, so was Berlin as the former capitol. As the Soviet occupied zone became the GDR, the three other zones became West Germany. As many East Germans fled to West Germany, the had to stop that, with the wall. Despite the the wall around West-Berlin, there were also massive fences, with landmines and self-firing systems. between the GDR and West-Germany.

[@SheratanLP]

The balloon pilots came from my town and lived only about 50 meters from my house. They weren't the only ones who fled through the air. Others made it to the West on fertilizer planes.

[@marfel7613]

A big difference between Germany and the USA. Germany has overcome its wall (between 2 political systems), the USA is building new walls.

[@melchiorvonsternberg844]

Yep! And they should have asked us, how to built it right...

[@martingerlitz1162]

I recommend the movie "Balloon" describing the exciting flight to the west. Also I recommend the story of the Bethke brothers taking flight to west Berlin

[@berlindude75]

Splitting the country and its capital into four occupation zones (US, UK, Soviet, French) did not only happen in Germany, but also in Austria and its capital Vienna. However, the Allied occupation of Austria already ended in 1955 with the signing of the Austrian State Treaty and Austrian promises of permanent neutrality (and thus no NATO membership) in exchange for restored sovereign independence.

[@myfavoriteplanet3247]

It was in 1989. I remember our washing machine broke. This German lady who owned the laundromat down our street was yelling at her husband. She was very upset they tore down the Berlin wall. She was saying she didn't want the East Germans and the West Germans to be mixing together.again. I remember feeling a little shocked because everywhere else people were happy about it. They were also selling pieces of the wall at the mall..I was young so I didn't have my own money at the time. I remember begging my mom to buy me a piece of the Berlin wall. She wouldn't buy it. They were selling pieces of the wall at the mall for $9.99.. ea. for about a 4" inch chunk. . All of it is so strange when you think about it. From North Korea, people in cults, Palestinians, whatever the case may be, people who aren't hurting anyone deserve to be free.

[@lorrefl7072]

I'm from Belgium and went to West-Berlin on a school trip during the Easter holiday in 1990. Most of the wall was still up then and next to Checkpoint Charlie there was a guy hacking off chuncks of Berlin Wall with graffitti on it and I bought a chunch. I had it for over 20 years but sadly I dropped it while dusting and it was shattered into little bits, too little to glue back.

[@James-wp5po]

You had to walls. The “iron wall” and the “Berlin wall”

[@carkawalakhatulistiwa]

Mexican wall

[@berlindude75]

Just to add: Before post-WW2 Germany was divided into "East" and West Germany due to Cold War political reasons, the area around Berlin used to be the geographical center of the country until the entire previously actually Eastern part of Germany beyond the Oder and Neisse rivers had to be ceded to the Soviet Union (northern East Prussia with its capital Königsberg, now the Russian Kaliningrad exclave) and Poland (Farther Pomerania, eastern Brandenburg, Silesia, the southern half of East Prussia, and whatever remained of West Prussia including the city of Danzig after WW1).

[@3deverything690]

Berlin was surrounded by the GDR, that's why.......O, I'm just reminded by "Checkpoint Charly" to get to West Berlin. In this case, "Carley" is phonetics for the letter "C" in the military.

[@melchiorvonsternberg844]

Hi Charlie! The walled city was a very special place. She was unique! Nobody who hasn't experienced it themselves can understand it. I loved being in Berlin a lot in the 80s...

[@anouk6644]

My family and I went on a day trip to West Berlin in the mid 80’s while being on vacation in the Harz mountains. Although I was just 10 years old, it was very impressive and I still remember parts of it vividly. Especially the border crossings and parts of the wall where there was a look out tower and crosses for those who tempted to escape. When I went back 30 years later, driving from the Netherlands to Berlin with friends, I recognized part of the autobahn where the west-east Germany border used to be. It was a very weird feeling. In the city I made some pictures in the same spots as before and laid them side by side once I got home. Since then I went back a couple of times and always loved being there, never completely losing the feeling of my first visit.

[@melchiorvonsternberg844]

@@anouk6644 I remember my first vist to Berlin, as well as you do. This will never fade away...

[@martingerlitz1162]

Can it be that geography hasn't been looked up before? Berlin lies entirely far in the heart of eastern Germany. It had been split into 4 zones (Soviet, French, British and American). Only the 3 western allied formed free Berlin (West -Berlin) which later was surrounded by the Berlin wall to inhibit refugees to leave DDR to West-Berlin. Between DDR and FRG (West Germany) there was a broad, deadly border but no walls but fences and all those depicted measurements.

[@dooley-ch]

Yep, I remember when it came down we drove all night to get there, crossed over did a little tour, had a party and returned a few days later.

[@OleDirtyBastard68]

... meanwhile I was on the other side and watched in awe how those people (that is, you ;-)) and their Trabis flooded Kurfürstendamm. An incredible once in a lifetime experience for everybody who was there.

[@secondtimearound2539]

I remember news reports, sometimes on t.v., during the 1960s, '70s and '80s, about poor souls who had tried to escape and been shot dead by guards around no-man's land. It just seemed so very sad and brutal, just as the western world was becoming brighter after the dark times of the first half of the 20th century.

[@pekingdragon]

Dear Charly... if you are interested in this topic, then I would like to recommend the following video..."Walled in"... It is a detailed animation about the border fortifications in Berlin as well as the former inner-German border... it shows the village of Hötensleben, whose former border fortifications are still completely preserved as a memorial kzbin.info/www/bejne/hai0pIewfNCVn7s

[@pianta4403]

To my knowledge the wall split Berlin in half. It did not close off West Berlin but people still couldn’t enter or leave because Berlin was in eastern occupied Germany meaning that when they tried to leave West Berlin they were met with border guards not allowing them out or anyone from the east in. Not entirely sure how accurate that is but that’s how i understand it.

[@antitunnelvizie5877]

There is a Documentary about it with personal story s of escape and the building of The Berlin Wall

[@Klaas_Kruik]

Berlin wasn't on the border of west and east Germany. West Berlin was an enclave deep (>100km, >60mi) into east German territoty. So the GDR encircled it with a wall entirely on their own territory. This same geografy triggered the allied aitlift of Berlin some 15 years before the wall was built. The GDR tried to bring west Berlin down by cutting off all traffic between the west and West-Berlin. This triggered an allied airlift flying in all supplies for a city of over 2 million and west Berlin held strong. The aitlift involved an airplane every 2 or 3 minutes, 24/7. After almost a year the GDR gave up and lifted the blockade. I suggest you study this heroic feat as well, it is as fascinating as the wall. Most airmen involved were American, English and French soldiers. Just search "allied aitlift of Berlin", and you'll find a ton of videos. Nice channel you have -- Klaas :)

[@Klaas_Kruik]

And there's one more animation about the Berlin Wall that you shouldn't miss: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hai0pIewfNCVn7s

[@blodekont5458]

15:55 Klein Orkest - Over de Muur..het ijzern Gordijn ( beyond the Wall, The Iron Curtain) ..the subtitled version tells you the story... Love to see you react to it. Billy Joel - Leningrad.also about he paranoia between West and Russia.. 2024.. I go with Russia to be honest..

[@gerbentvandeveen]

Berlin was in East Germany. And I think there was only 1 way to it. Which went from West Germany through East Germany to Berlin.

[@AHVENAN]

The city of Berlin was situated entirely within the East German territory, but for some reason that I can't remember of the top of my head, West Germany still got a piece of the city which became West Berlin, that is why it said "encircled" because they built the wall going all the way around West Berlin, it was'nt just a wall that cut straight through the city. I actually think that it's a pretty major oversight of the makers of the video you reacted to here to not in any way show or inform the viewer of this fact

[@attackegg50]

IIRC each of the allied forces got a sector of Germany but also Berlin specifically. The Russian sectors became East Germany and East Berlin, the others later formed the West.

[@Anson_AKB]

this video was only about the physical wall, skipping all the history between the end of the war, the berlin airlift (where the town was supplied by planes only for an entire year, one plane every 60-90 seconds 24/7/365) and the start of building the wall. many reactors recently reacted to documentations about these important details.

[@ChristiaanHW]

the video only shows the Berlin part of the wall, the part most people know about. if they wanted to give the full picture they had to include the whole border between the West and the Soviet occupied nations in the east. because the wall wasn't just a Berlin or German thing, there was a border (often just as heavily guarded) all throughout Europe. and that wasn't the topic of the video. so for people having questions about how the divide used to be, look up a video (or several) about the whole East - West divide during the Clod War. it's really sad that for so many years Europe was split in two and so many people died trying to get from East to West. luckily since the wall(s) came down Europe gets closer together every year.

[@53113Bonn-DE]

I am German and was lucky enough to be born 11 years after unification, but my whole family's home was in the middle of the American occupation zone, so they were not forced to migrate to a western occupation zone and later became citizens of the Federal Republic of Germany. But if I had been on the eastern side of the same nation and I were to migrate or flee to West Germany or Berlin (West) - I would never have crossed the Inner German border or swum across the Baltic Sea to West Germany or other western countries. As a single man in my 20s, I would have traveled to one of the brother countries of East Germany and gone to the embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany. I would have stayed there for the rest of my life, because according to the West German constitution, GDR citizens were not GDR citizens but were always legally regarded and treated as Germans since the division. No West German embassy abroad has ever extradited Germans who wanted to leave East Germany for West Germany to the East German authorities. I would have stayed in the West German embassy for 5, 10 or 20 years for all I cared and would have said to the ambassador: "My name is (,...,), I come from the GDR and I'm not leaving here now." - Until Berlin (East) said: "We'll let him leave for West Germany". The nice thing was that when the GDR system crumbled in 1989, 4,000 GDR citizens took heart and fled to the embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Prague in the Czech Republic. The West German ambassador once said: "And if 7,000 had come, we would have taken them all in". The West German government exerted pressure on the United Nations in New York to remind the world community of the human catastrophe that was unfolding in their embassy in Prague. East Germany was then forced by international pressure to allow 4000 Germans to travel to West Germany by train. In 1990, the Federal Republic of Germany will integrate the territory of the East German state into its own, bring the West German authorities and regulations into force, absorb the territory economically and socio-politically by treaty, restore 5 formerly abolished federal states, integrate capitalism in the form of the social market economy, restore the environment and make billions available to rebuild and reconstruct the former communist territory according to Western standards.

[@PotsdamSenior]

8:50: It took weeks or months to evecuate so many buildings and make them part of the wall. The wall wasn't built on one day.

[@thelotoflower]

When the powers divided Germany after WWII, Berlín was in East Germany geographicaly. Berlin been the Capital was divided too, even been in the East. So the 3 parts of Berlin that went to USA; Britain and France's parts were sorounded by the East Germany. That how the wall sorounded West Berlin... The city territory was in East Berlin, but the parts that went to USA, Britain and France, govern by the West.

[@NormalWalterBrooks]

Berlin is over 200 old city's on the outskirts, and was pretty rural between in the gaps

[@NormalWalterBrooks]

More canals than Venis

[@dksilber9500]

They could only make people leave the house if the house was on East Berlin soil and part of East Berlin. That doesn't worked for houses directly on the border on West Berlin soil.

[@micade2518]

And to get a full picture of that episode, see how that dark chapter of our History ended: "German reunification - a short history | DW Documentary" Enjoy!

[@frankishempire2322]

"When this is a german city, why is part going to france..." Because they were freed.

[@AnoshterHaar]

Being grown up in the Netherlands, I can't grasp the fact that people in the us or outside the eu do not know basically anything about what happened during and after ww2. In education I got crushed with this info again, again and again. I'm not joking if I say that I got a ww2 lessons from my 9th year. Then again in my 11th and 12th. Then yet again in highschool for at least two or 3 more years of history lesson blocks. Not even mentioning all mandatory trips made to both germany, camps and important ww2 places in the Netherlands. All this information is like second nature for me. But very interesting to see that still loads of people should get to know more about all what actually happened. Go to germany some time! Very interesting. Especially berlin, where you can clearly see the remains of history. It may get you to better realize the extreme and harsh nature of these events. (Im dutch so no nationalism here haha)

[@MichaEl-rh1kv]

Berlin was at the end of WW II occupied by the Soviet army, like the regions around it. Because of its symbolic value the western allies wanted also to have a part of it, so the US bartered Thuringia (at that time occupied by US forces) against the western half of Berlin, which was then split between the US, the UK and France. After the FRG was established, the western allies also merged their occupation zones within Berlin, but the Soviet Union established its own satellite state with (East) Berlin as capital. West Berlin, surrounded by East Germany, was then associated with West Germany without being a full member state; it send delegates to the Bundestag, the western parliament, but those members of parliament elected in Berlin had no voting rights, only the right to speak. Bonn became the seat of government in West Germany. There were three transit routes between West Germany and West Berlin by treaty between the Soviet Union and the three western allies. The same division between the four allies was made in Vienna, but after Austria agreed to declare eternal neutrality the Soviet Union approved the formation of an united Federal Republic of Austria. Beside the Berlin Wall there was also the Iron Curtain / the "Zone Border" between East and West Germany, which was also heavily guarded and fortified against escape attempts, including mine fields and spring-guns. It is now known as "green band" after most of the border strip, for about 40 years deserted from humans, was converted into nature reserves.

[@angelamcginley4948]

Amazing watching it come down in 89,i was 14 at the time. Knew I was watching history. 😊

[@unimerc5116]

Like others said, berlin was a special case. The 4 victorias countries (USA, Soviet Union, GB and France) split germany in 4 pieces after WW2. Berlin as capital although complet in the soviet zone was also split in 4 parts. After WW2 victory tensions grow between the western and soviet partners and the 3 western zones become West-germany and the soviet zone east-germany (DDR). the western part of Berlin had garantied access via heavy guarded routes through east germany (streets and train). in 1948 the Soviet Union closed this routes to starve western Berlin and take it easily from the werstern allies, but the "Berlin airlift" was implemented for nearly a year to supply the people with all kinds of goods. not only food was flown in but also clothes, coal, cement and much more. Checkpoint Charlie at the Berlin wall was venue of an unprecedented standoff in 1961 between US and soviet tanks wich might had ended in WW3. I recommend watching videos about "Berlin airlift" and "checkpoint charlie standoff"

[@lorrefl7072]

I'm Belgian and went to West-Berlin for a week during Easter school holiday 1990 during my last year of high school. Although symbolicaly the Wall had fallen, in real life they were still discussing how the reunification of West and East Germany was going to happen so a lot of the Berlin Wall was still up then and the checkpoints to go into Eastern Germany and West-Berlin were still there as well, you couldn't travel free from one to the other yet. When we arrived with our bus at the West German border to go into East Germany, it was very scary. You had all those watch towers and barbed wire. Two East German soldiers come onto our bus to check passports and they looked very stern, everyone of us was very quiet and nervous. Once past that checkpoint of West-Germany into East-Germany there was one road leading to West-Berlin with high barbed wire fences on both side of the road and tall watch towers every so often. It felt so oppressive and everything we saw along the road was grey and sad! Then we passed the checkpoint into West-Berlin and it was as like we could breathe freely again. Once we were in West-Berlin we went to East-Berlin for an afternoon, to Potsdam for an afternoon and Dresden for a day. Passing the checkpoints to East-Germany remained scary every time. In Potsdam one of our teachers told us to go into a supermarket to see the contrast of what we are used to in Belgium. It was sad... lot's of empty shelves, a lot of things were past their sell date (even baby food!). In Dresden we also saw people wait in very, very long lines at a bakery and butcher hoping there would still be some food left till it was their turn. I was 17 and it left a deep impression on me. I bought a chunck with colorful graffiti of the Berlin Wall then from a guy hacking of pieces of it right next to Checkpoint Charlie (famous checkpoint from West to East Berlin, close to the checkpoint there's a museum that shows how people escaped East-Germany over the years). I had the chunck of Berlin Wall on display for over 20 years on a bookshelf. Sadly I dropped it while dusting and it was shattered too much to glue together.

[@anouk6644]

I remember those border crossings and checkpoint so vividly as well. Just at 10 years old in the mid 80’s it was very scary. There were guards with dogs surrounding the bus and they put mirrors underneath to check the bottom. About 30 years later I drove from the Netherlands to Berlin and i recognized parts of the autobahn from the west-east German border to Berlin. That’s how much of an impression it left on me.

[@lorrefl7072]

@@anouk6644, oh yes, I forgot about the mirrors under the bus. I never went back to Berlin since 1990 so I don't know how it looks now. But I still have a very vivid image in my head of that multi-lane autobahn with tall fences and barbed wire on top, poles with lights so it was never dark enough to climb the fence unseen, and the guard towers at regular intervals. It looked so grim! When we visited East Berlin, Postdam and Dresden we noticed immediately that people living there hardly talked to each other in the street. Even kids and teenagers were quiet. They all walked with their heads down, no eye contact, no one smiling, somber expression on their face. Also no one had any colorful clothes on, it was all grey, brown, black... It had a huge impact on 17 year old me, seeing those people like this.

[@corjp]

West Berlin was in the former East Germany. The border between East and West Germany was one with guards like we had in the old days with borders between countries. After the fall in 1989 that wall was torn down and Eat and west were reunited. I visited a small town south-west of berlin just 2 years after the wall came down and to my disbelieve I found out that due to the opening of the wealth of the west the former East-German people could take out unlimited loans without intrest so to enjoy the wealth of the west. The streets in that town were horrible ( potholes and such) but everybody wore Nike's and had a sattelitedish receiver on their roof and a BIG US -style fridge and if possible a Mercedes or a BMW in front of the house i.s.o. a Lada or Zastava as they were used to. Weird times I tell you.....

[@Anson_AKB]

when consumer goods are rare, it is also easy to save on money, which many people then spent after getting access to those goods. and at the same time we heard complaints from them, and that the old system would have been "so good" because of daycare (where children could be indoctrinated) and youth organisations/activities (including bootcamps and shooting training; not exactly like the boy scouts)

[@markalexander71332]

There's a German movie from 2018 " Ballon" it's a great 🍿

[@sytzedam4506]

I like your videos, but I would recommend to read books as well about these subjects, because you'll find mor indept information than on these videos which are just the tip of the iceberg. You would have known how the allied countires divided Germany in four pieces and Berlin as capital as well. The western countries eventually returned it to the Germans, but the Russians never did. It became a vazal state.

[@helloweener2007]

Berlin is in the East part of Germany, which meant it was in the Soviet Occupied Zone. Like Germany, Berlin was also divided between the allies so there was a French, a British, an American and a Soviet sector in Berlin. With the founding of the FRG and GDR the sectors of the Western allies became an exclave in the GDR. And the USA approved the building of it, they gave the GDR and the Soviet Union the idea and the hint that the USA would not do anything against it. Kennedy said that there are 3 points that are non-negotiable for the sectors of the Western allies: presence of the Western Allies, freedom of the citizens, free approaches to the city. Not a wor4d about the Soviet sector. And his secuirty adviser Wiliam Fullbright said: " I don't understand why the East Germans don't close their borders. A wall is better than war". Also the Secretary of State Dean Rusk said the presence of the Western allies in Berlin must be assured, anything besides this is of secondary importance. Two to three weeks later East Germany started to build the wall.

[@ianbriers5019]

Berlin was the centre of East Germany. Just the sectors which were controlled by the Americans and the British and the French was an island of the West in esat comments Germany

[@mezmerizer9422]

Berlin as a whole was in East Germany.

[@rmyikzelf5604]

West-Berlin was completely surrounded by East Germany, or more accurately the DDR.

[@Nils.Minimalist]

The division of Germany was a consequence of WW2. However, the people in East Germany were punished more for WW2 than the people in the West. The people in the East paid for WW2 with their freedom, while the people in the West were allowed to live in freedom. Even the children born in the later years in East Germany were still punished with imprisonment although they had nothing to do with WW2.

[@blodekont5458]

0:41 Netflix : Tyhe Americans... true story iof what the "cold war" was from 1960's to 1990's... yes that long and true... great music ;)

[@stevennicol5754]

Some say ww2 ended with the falling of the wall

[@melchiorvonsternberg844]

Well... It was the prelude, to a peace treaty, which is called 2+4 agreement...

[@TyonKree]

You can tell that the video already assumes too much A simple map of the entire situation would answer so many questions

[@ianpunter4486]

You don't really 'get it', do you?

[@ROBOTRIX_eu]

.Before WW2, was only 1 Germany...the soviets, defeated the Nazis..they lost 27 million people..but were coming from East, and arrived first to Berlin..As soon the news of defeat, the rest of coalition, moved in direction to Berlin and part of Germany.. Now the problem, when Cold War started, the spoils , had Berlin problem..since Western coalition got to Eastern part, and Soviet union to East, the only solution, was divide Berlin, ... ..A great video, a MUST, is "The Fallen of World War II " by Neil Halloran ... just fantastic numbers animated graph..made by one guy only... ..Unlike Western written History, the Soviet Union, defeated the Nazis..

[@melchiorvonsternberg844]

Of course not... Always the same BS. It was ONLY the muscle power of the US, which made (like in WWI) the victory possible. If you look up the data, it gets fast clear, what an amount of material the US brought to the Bolshevics, by the "lend and lease" act. Let me quote Stalin himself: “This is a war of engines and octane. I raise my glass to the American auto industry and the American oil industry.” And it's not just about the material itself, but also about the men power required for production, but also about the time that production requires. I would like to illustrate this with an example: The Americans produced almost all of the Allied aviation fuel. The Soviet Union, a country that was practically swimming in crude oil, still received a good 60% of its aviation fuel from the Americans because the Stalinists were completely incapable of producing more. Here, too, there is a lack of staff, time and, in many respects, the “know-how” to achieve the necessary production quantities. What good are 1,000 planes if you can only get 400 in the air? Apart from that, the British and Canadians also supplied significant amounts of material. And one more thing about Soviet losses... At the end of the war, when everything was still fresh, the Soviets reported 17 million casualties. After about 20 years, we were at 22 million victims, which I personally think is the most realistic. And today, we have reached 27 million victims of a war whose leadership made this war possible. This allows me to draw two conclusions: 1. The Russians fundamentally have problems with basic arithmetic. Because how can one make such a mistake with the number of victims that it includes more than the entire Swedish population? 2. The Stalinists lie that the beams bend. And this idea is really not difficult for me given my personal experiences in the Cold War...

[@blodekont5458]

end of WW II divided Germany after the visctory of the allies : Russia, England, France and the United States. Right after the victory Western allies got paranoid against Stalin, he got in Space.. and got satelites, living beings, humans, in orbit, returned safe satelites orbiting Earth, First man in space,Fist Spacewalkt.. They won the Space Race... Russia did...

[@micade2518]

Hi Charlie, have you ever heard of "The Yalta Conference" or the Cold War at the end of WWII? Wikipedia is your friend: "At the Yalta Conference, held in February 1945, the United States, United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union [an Allied, in WWII] agreed on the division of Germany into occupation zones. ..., the Yalta Conference determined the demarcation line for the respective areas of occupation. ..." Before commenting on such a dramatic episode of History, you'd be well advised to make a little research. This is no laughing matter! That wall, as any such wall, was a shame and a tragedy! Watch (on YT): "The building of the Berlin Wall: The lie that led to terror and death | History Stories" - DW History and Culture As to compare the splitting of Germany with Amsterdam's red light district!!!!!!!!!!!!! What on earth do you learn of History - even recent one - in the USA???

[@MrStartrek73]

all of berlin was inside east germany so west betlin was surrounded by east germany and there was only one road from west germany into west barlim that went through east germany

[@Anson_AKB]

to be exact, one road to hamburg in the northwest, and one Autobahn each to the west and to the southwest. similarly there were three air corridors and three train lines. he should watch other documentaries about berlin and the airlift and the wall that also many other reactors did recently.

[@PotsdamSenior]

There were 3 roads between West Berlin and the FRG leading to 4 border crossings. To the south (to Hirschberg/Bavaria), to the west (Herleshausen/Hesse) and Helmstedt (Lower Saxony), and Gudow (Schleswig Holstein).

[@Mike-po2gx]

Why do you ask questions at beginning what the video will probably answer 🤷‍♂️

[@elisabethvos7604]

It's wrong to say socialistic it is and was communists there is a big difference

[@laziojohnny79]

If a unified Korea under South Korean rule means more K-pop and Gangnam style, I'm rooting for Kim...

[@flitsertheo]

Kim is probably watching those in secret.

[@laziojohnny79]

@@flitsertheo Are you seriously doubting the man's sense for style and good tatse?? Have even ever seen his outfits and haircuts?

[@flitsertheo]

@@laziojohnny79 It's also possible that North Korean prisoners are being tortured by having to listen 24h/24h - 7d/7d to loud K-Pop in their cell.

[@klausklausen1700]

West Germany was not divided between America, England and France because they were the allies, but because these countries had won the war against Germany and divided Germany into occupation zones. So Germany was not only occupied by the Russians.