The Stasi and the Berlin Wall | DW Documentary

For one group, at least, the erection of the Berlin Wall on August 13, 1961 was a stroke of luck. Over the following decades, the Wall would be the lifeblood of the East German secret police, known as the Stasi. By the time the Wall fell, in 1989, thousands of Stasi agents were employed with a single goal: to make the Wall insurmountable.
The film tells the story of this existentially symbiotic relationship from the perspective of the Stasi under its notorious leader Erich Mielke. It’s the first time this most sensitive chapter of East Germany's history has been told in such an exemplary and coherent way: including the deaths that took place at the Wall, and the cover-up and concealment of many of those murders.
We learn about the arrests and imprisonment of tens of thousands of refugees, as well as the Stasi’s elaborate construction of tunnels and underground listening stations to track down tunnel diggers. From the billion-dollar business of selling GDR prisoners to West Germany, to the "filtering" of Western traffic at border crossings to recruit unofficial collaborators, Mielke's specialists were everywhere.
We see how Mielke's power grew, as the Wall and the border system were perfected, and how the walling-in of the population created more and more work for the Stasi. The Wall became the Stasi’s main field of activity, and its daily bread.
The fall of the Wall brought an abrupt end to both East Germany and its security apparatus. An irony of history is that, on November 9, 1989, it was a Stasi man who opened the first barrier on Bornholmer Strasse and thus initiated the fall of the Berlin Wall.
#dwdocumentary #berlinwall #documentary
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[@davidcronan4072]

I visited Berlin in 1994 and our tour guide told us this joke - "many ex Stasi agents are now taxi drivers. This is good, because all you have to do is to tell them your name and they already know where you live"

[@speedygonzales2052]

Hahahaha

[@philippepanayotov9632]

Mega joke 😂

[@7otto666]

Hahahaa great one!

[@corinnem.239]

Ouch , that is a joke in bad taste

[@chuckselvage3157]

GOLD 🤣🤣

[@marksman314]

The Stasi's behavior provides a solid example of what happens when you proceed logically and rationally from an insane premise

[@johnbowman1076]

To ensure freedom... strict surveilance of the populace is always a necessity.

[@destubae3271]

@@johnbowman1076 To ensure privacy, toilet cameras are always a necessity

[@Dickusification]

To ensure peace, mutually assured destruction is necessary

[@victoriasmith815]

Brilliantly put-what you said is going into my favourite quotes book that I have. ❤

[@bunk95]

Are you attempting to market someone/some group with that material?

[@CaptainRon1913]

An old friend of ours was a Stasi border soldier when he was young. He told us when he saw someone attempting escape, he and some of his fellow soldiers would look the other way on purpose. The night when the wall came down, he burned his East German uniform and helped cut and clear barbed wire

[@cd0u50c9]

This was the same with a fair few occupying Nazi soldiers in Eastern Europe, German and Italian. They would break into people's houses, shoot at the ceiling and pretend that they shot people, but would later secretly bring food. I got told this first hand...

[@garymccreath2773]

Yeah, sure most of them would say that wouldn't they

[@garymccreath2773]

@@iwillnoteatzebugs your grandad is a liar

[@ShinyProspect]

@@iwillnoteatzebugs are you trying to sound funny? You lack attention? Cuz that was lame af dude.

[@JamesBond-so1of]

@@iwillnoteatzebugs do they taste the same as communist dogs? Asking for a friend.

[@8rickey]

It's wild that all these ex-Stasi officers are basically like "Yeah we committed human rights violations and now are like 'whatever' about it."

[@kapawtaw]

Everybody is quite forgiving. Germans live in the present. That's why germany recovered very fast from so many political setbacks. Now it is one of the world's leading countries.

[@spivackl]

What I find fascinating is that this happened just a few years after WWII. All of the adults could remember the nazi era. And certainly everyone was told how bad that era was. But they couldn't comprehend that they were doing the same thing for a different master.

[@kitten-inside]

Oh, they knew. But the orders or "suggestions" from Moscow were clear. To this day, various customs and even language parts remain as traces of the Soviet influence in the entire bloc. It's difficult to imagine how deep the oppression ran at the height of USSR power.

[@raijinenel3116]

same with anyone who supports blm, lgbtq, Ukraine today..

[@jrmckim]

A lot of people back then believed the Germans deserved that fate in East Germany.

[@daffodil9075]

No!--The Berlin Wall went up in 1961, sixteen years after the end of WWII in Europe.

[@JJA_88]

Precisely

[@SchutzeAmon]

'The Lives of Others' is a great depiction of life in East Germany and how the Stasi went about their business.

[@jaikumarjadhav6575]

Absolutely brilliant movie

[@mjstbnsn6294]

I like the joke about Erich Honnacker and the sun.

[@PeterMayer]

That movie nailed these pricks.

[@tomfrazier1103]

I saw that movie about ten years ago for some reason, or one similar, with people being wistfully nostalgic for the DDR. Yeah, whatever.

[@Brusselsniels]

Life in GDR was depicted pretty accurate, but there was one big mistake: a Stasi agent could never change sides. They were ingeniously controlling eachother as well to prevent this happening.

[@reddrabbit505]

Those old Stasi dudes really drank the koolaid. Years later - they still view their perverse mission in a positive manner.

[@mrrolandlawrence]

indeed. just like the dudes in the 30s.

[@minhducnguyen9276]

@@guyfaux5010 Ho ironic. In the quest to destroy authoritarianism, they created their own authoritarians

[@normamimosa5991]

@@guyfaux5010 What garbage!

[@d.cypher2920]

@@normamimosa5991 can you elaborate, genuinely curious madamé.

[@doublestrokeroll]

@@guyfaux5010 Propaganda works. Everywhere. Russia. China. The USA. The U.K. Australia. Canada. Germany. Spain. and on and on and on. The vast majority of people in every country thinks their shit doesn't stink. And they're all wrong.

[@janeck.8695]

My friend's uncle died at the wall trying to escape. What was it all for. A few politicians' egos and self-importance.

[@richardhenderson3149]

Hello Jane how are you doing hope you’re doing okay ✅

[@DarkShroom]

you scapegoat politicians really when the division was the result of a war.... when we both invaded Germany, we couldn't have just given it all to Russia we couldn't also have declared war on Russia over the other half of Germany so what did politicians get wrong exacly? how where we supposed to deal with Nazi Germany? you could i guess blame Adolf Hitler

[@stormywindmill]

Unbekant.

[@brahmburgers]

The wall was one of the stupider things done at a time when many stupid things were done in the world. Khmer Rouge, Mao, Stalin, Nazi generals hiding in Argentina, McCarthyism, Bay of Pigs, on and on. Humans are a crafty species, ....but mentally, we're lower than wild dogs (and more prone to depression and cruelty).

[@xancypillosi9497]

@@brahmburgers ur a fool

[@andrewmastrandonas5123]

At his sentencing, Mielke started to cry. In pronouncing sentence, Judge Theodor Seidel, told Mielke that he "will go down in history as one of the most fearsome dictators and police ministers of the 20th century."

[@tainewarner5752]

May he rot in hell

[@KandiKlover]

But this video said the proceedings were abandoned

[@Tina06019]

I visited Berlin with my parents, in the 1960s. The Berlin Wall, which we only saw from the west side, was terrifying.

[@geoffgane7550]

Erich Mielke was one sick individual. For those poor people it was a case of "Meet the new Boss, same as the old Boss".

[@factchecker1980]

Today this still goes on in NORTH KOREA and in the RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

[@asullivan4047]

What was so terrifying about it??? You were on the west side of it.

[@nathanlewis42]

@@asullivan4047 I didn't see the Berlin Wall but I remember how scary the cold war was. You felt that a nuclear war could break out any day. I can imagine that the Berlin Wall was a very visual reminder of that the tense standoff between East and West.

[@margeryk000]

If you need to build a wall to keep your citizens from fleeing, then maybe you need to rethink your form of government.

[@growingmelancholy8374]

some people just aren't grateful for what they are given.

[@morzik12345]

maybe if the US and the UK allowed Germany to have neutral election like Stalin proposed along with removing all Allied Soldiers, the wall wouldn't have existed. BTW, what is democracy when it needs to be spread through terror, death squads, color revolutions, useful idiots and bombing campaigns

[@flatoutt1]

@@growingmelancholy8374 another classic comment from one of the gifted who can say so much with such elegant words . thanks

[@growingmelancholy8374]

@@flatoutt1 Thank you my love. I am glad you appreciate trolling. With all my love, your mother.

[@fattahk-hashi8260]

@@morzik12345 🔦extremely intelligent individual😎

[@georgejob7544]

I,m 75 years old, I still remember this like it were yesterday,Vopos shooting escaping teenage kids! I never expected to see it's demise!!

[@cedriceric9730]

That's truly great

[@jleeblackmon5340]

You are history my friend and you have seen alot of it, share your knowledge and experiences with ur loved ones to show what happens when we don't learn from our mistakes.

[@tyrssen1]

Likewise. (I'm 70.)

[@brahmburgers]

Two weeks before the fall of the wall, big shot Kissinger was asked, "do you think the wall will fall in the next 10 to 20 years?" He answered with a grin, "No, that's not possible, ha ha ha." At the time, Kissinger was getting $60/hr for consultations - equivalent to about $400/hr nowadays. Macnamara, Westmorland, ....all those top officials were off base when it came to doing what was right. I resided in Thailand from 1998 to 2019, and one day, while I was working with lovely locals on a building, singing songs together, ....it struck me: 30 years earlier, my elder brothers and their buddies were shooting these same sorts of folks in jungles, a few hundred miles away. Insane. And right after we pulled out of VN, the Viet Cong drove into Cambodia in tanks to cut the balls off the Khmer Rouge who were killing their own people in droves. If humans are made "in God's image" ....then God is some f*cked up mother f*cker.

[@thomasthomas2418]

But the chaos that resulted from the "integration" of East German citizens into West German society has not abated and will not for generations to come. Some of my friends in West Germany referred to all of this as, "eine Katastrophe", a catastrophe.

[@w.allencaddell6421]

As a military brat who lived in West Germany, many of us took trips to the border of West Germany and East Germany. We saw the the walls, the machine gun towers, the areas where land mines were. The only thing that we could see from West Germany was how "black and white" it looked. There were colors, flowers and birds singing on the West German side, but dark, depressive sense you felt. We'd wonder how East German kids were being treated. Years later I returned, this time as a service member. I was there when the Berlin Wall opened and never closed again. There were so many people crying that you definitely felt it yourself, seeing so many families being reunited after years, decades of separation. Unfortunately the South Korean people will never see there kin on the North Korean side. One side has freedom whereas the other has been under 3 different Dictatorships of the same family. The only way for the Koreans to be reunited is for Communist China to end, just as the Soviet Union did to allow Germany to be reunited.

[@ggsay1687]

Actually Soviet Union was in severe economic crisis, and reforms were introduced by Gorbochev so called "perestroika" or "rebuilding", but Soviet Union collapsed 3 years after fall of Berlin Wall.

[@218kq]

Mainland China took much lesson from the soviet case, including the east germany problem and its dissolution. Soo, nope.

[@yaboyflvckor456]

well ur hella right. who dafuck wanted soviets ? look every country now in Europe who was occupied by russians. grimy,dark, grey look on every one of those...

[@wjs010ify]

It must have Been a site my dad was also in the army in Germany but in the early 70s , so wall was still up. I think your hypothesis about Korea is theoretical , but I think it could dissolve in a similar fashion . Maybe not as happy and party like as Berlin (partly due to the actual geography and width of the DMZ itself) , but I bet North Korea will not be around in the next 50 years. Why? We live in the Information Age. Too much info is being disseminated into the country in creative ways… that is fascinating.

[@dejanmilovanovic2413]

They treeated like deserved.

[@SR-pr2xz]

The best escape, I liked, were the 2 Czech guys in the 70s who used wooden chairs and climbed up the high tension power lines, hanging the chairs with rubber belts, and then pulled themselves across to Austria. Now that took balls !

[@johnscanlon2598]

There was an even better one a guy built an ultra light airplane flew into east Germany landed at a park or something picked up his brother and flew back to the west

[@cbailey2376]

How abt the east Germans that flew over the wall in a hot air balloon!! 🎈

[@TylerTheObserver]

My favorite is a person who drove under the barriers. He had a small convertible lowered And had the windscreen taken off then drove straight at the barrier and just ducked. He had his luggage and his mother in law in the trunk. The narrator even said: "the trunk was big enough for more than one old bag." 🤣🤣

[@GaZonk100]

lol@@TylerTheObserver

[@kchall5]

I wonder if those ex-Stasi guys saw the irony in that they were able to speak freely and recount their nefarious deeds without fear of retribution, something they spent their careers denying their countrymen.

[@KandiKlover]

Just like the so called 'anti-fascist' ideals of today. I see now that it's just an authoritarian buzzword for anti-liberty and anti human rights.

[@vauxpedia]

This period in Germany's history is really interesting & DW Documentaries are 1st class

[@awakeandwatching953]

Australia seems to be doing a fairly accurate re-enactment at the moment

[@sutherlandA1]

@Celtic Snow Australia has been ruled by conservatives since 2013 🙄

[@mikeggg5671]

NO - they are not. DW is an arm of the Amerikaner occupation of the Fatherland, and is doing nothing but trying to propogate anti-German sentiment.

[@trishmccarthydavis3425]

@@awakeandwatching953 You mean the QR code?

[@philiptownsend4026]

Not just interesting but terrifying too in that one fascism was replaced by another.

[@TheKositi]

I love these documentaries!

[@DWDocumentary]

We really appreciate your feedback. Thanks for watching and stay tuned for more :)

[@timsummers870]

I love DW documentaries too!! It's always so informative.

[@johndclegg38]

DW produces top level educational videos!

[@muchaim2275]

@@DWDocumentary ❤️ from Kenya, more please.

[@jamesnorseman4863]

Don't love, question it!

[@dtaylor10chuckufarle]

I'm a former Cold Warrior in the US, so believe me when I tell you that I never, ever thought I would go through the Brandenburg Gate. But I did in the mid 1990s and it was wonderful.

[@freedahlogic8368]

I wish I’d asked people like you more questions. I think we are definitely knee deep in a long view influence campaign right now. Please think about starting a channel - anonymously if need be - and recording whatever you’re allowed to record that wouldn’t violate national security. It’s pretty clear young people today don’t realise how their activism now ties into the subterfuge of the 20th century,

[@Speaktruthabsolutely2023]

The stasi’s being interviewed seem so proud of what they have done. They should have been punished for all the deaths they caused. Shame on them

[@eliasbairamis6069]

this is communists

[@MelanieAF]

So true. It could only be because they know that they’re safe from prosecution or any kind of justice for their victims, that they discuss their crimes with such impunity.

[@timetraveler2518]

I visited East Germany and both east and west Berlin in December 1978 for a week when I was twenty years old American traveler. I walked through the checkpoint Charlies freely until the East German security border guard with a submachine gun at the gate asked me for my passport and questioned me for visiting East Berlin. I was nervous and discomforted while I traveled in East Berlin. I was heavily surveillance in East Germany and a few guards and police asked me for my passport and questioned me again. I visited a cigarette-smoking pub for a drink - the Pepsi, and almost all East German patrons in the bar quickly stared at me, but they quickly ignored me when two undercovered police came into the pub. Several of them drank vodka and beer, and smoked cigarettes, and quietly talked to each other. They avoided contacting me. I walked and explored the city of East Berlin in the greying sky and it looked depressing until the end of the day. I walked back to West Berlin via Checkpoint Charlie and I felt relieved and I said "freedom." West Berlin was the oasis of freedom and capitalism. I took a train to West Germany from West Berlin via East Germany. East German guard on the train checked my passport twice. Security dogs walked through beneath the train and the corridor of the train on the East Germany border before proceeded to West Germany. After arrival in West Germany, the West German border guard smiled at me after he checked through my passport and he spoke English "Welcome!" There was a huge contrast between depressed joyless dark East Germany and vividly joy brighten West Germany on Christmas week. I never forget this unique era of Stasi rule in East Germany.

[@MrHowzaa]

are you still 20 years old. you call your self time traveler.

[@timetraveler2518]

@@MrHowzaa no, today in the year 2021, I am over 60s. I never lie and even I abhor lies.

[@mikeggg5671]

You mean you enjoy the Amerikaner occupation?

[@cozy6308]

Didn't the soviets like Pepsi? They even traded navy vessels for pepsi

[@timetraveler2518]

@@cozy6308 Soviets liked Pepsi, but they love Vodka more than other beverages. Vodka was much cheaper than Pepsi and even the availability of Vodka was plentiful in Soviet markets. I remembered I was on the train on the way to West Berlin in East Germany. While the train stopped for a few minute break, I looked out through the train window and saw one drunken older-middle East German man carrying a bottle of Vodka on the train platform in the heavy industrial town in East Germany.

[@JohnTaylor-bf6ll]

The commentator said it exactly - "Mielke's overriding priority was to keep himself and his party in power". Go it in one - tells you everything you need to know about ANY authoritarian regime on the world, communist or other.

[@emjay2045]

the RepubliCON party

[@mickeyh1961]

@@emjay2045 a little confused I would say , just look at the raft of draconian rules the Democrats introduced to America, its looking more and more like East Germany each day

[@americafirst3738]

Like the dems and installed biden

[@terminator8334]

Today in South Africa

[@MrBannystar]

@@emjay2045 They're not currently in power? At least, not at the time of you writing your ignorant comment.

[@daftphil9706]

Another great and classic documentary from what's fast becoming my favourite channel! Insightful, informative and educational.

[@DWDocumentary]

Thanks for watching and for the positive feedback! We're glad you like our content. :-)

[@richardsimms251]

DW documentaries are absolutely top quality, extremely professional and always worth watching. RS. Canada

[@mikeoleksa]

It confuses me how a government can't see anything wrong with the way they are doing things when they have to take such huge measures to keep tens of thousands of people from escaping its control and the people fleeing were even willing to die trying to do so.

[@JesusChrist2000BC]

Because marxists and leftists think they are God. Thats why.

[@cbailey2376]

Oh the government in charge know what they're doing -- they orchestrated it after all. They only care abt their own agenda, not the people. 😔

[@DeVolksrepubliek]

DW has been producing some great documentaries lately. The one on Afghanistan that was released a week ago is probably my favourite DW documentary now. Thanks and keep up the good work!

[@BlackRain_]

DW will keep you on the liberal plantation... please stay at home.

[@DeVolksrepubliek]

@@BlackRain_ Bestie I ain’t no liberal

[@BlackRain_]

@@DeVolksrepubliek I get it. You're an armchair commie! You should get out more - and get yourself a boyfriend or something.

[@colinstewart1432]

They definitely make some good docs. Balanced and informative.

[@voxveritas333]

The record-keeping activity of the German governments never ceases to amaze, whether for good or evil purposes.

[@thinghammer]

And still there are plenty of people who doubt or deny most or any of it ever happened.

[@dm-gq5uj]

I've read the Stasi even had the unwashed underwear of suspected dissidents in their files - trained dogs would be used to find out who was distributing underground persistence literature and pamphlets. If you're going through someone's dirty laundry, digging around for briefs or panties, it has to occur to you that you're not in the right business.

[@DmPmRr1959]

Well put. Thank you.

[@Varangian_af_Scaniae]

The Germans are fantastic record keepers. Everything was documented about WW2 except that which the natsees are most remembered for. It's almost like it never happened. Makes you wonder...

[@marcellocolona4980]

Germans are insane, obsessive record keepers, even if those records incriminate them for crimes against humanity.

[@ralphwatkins9170]

I was stationed in West Berlin in the early 80s. From what I could tell, there was Soviet Communism but the East Germans still had that old Nazi flare to their form of Communism. Their uniforms, banners, marching style, & security was like the Nazis had just flipped their symbols is all. Then again, Communism & Nazism are both forms of Fascism. It was also hypocritical that the Berlin Wall was was called "anti-fascist" to keep the West out of their sector but it was really meant to enslave their own people. Being assigned to Berlin during that time period was like living in some spy novel full of danger & intrigue that you just did not want to stop reading. Many of us who were stationed there back then have very fond memories of that assignment. None of us ever hated the people themselves, just the political system that they had to live under.

[@chilesauce7248]

A pity you did not mention MARGOT Honecker and her role as the Purple Witch in all of that! She never faced justice, living peacefully in Chile, until her death in May 2016. What an awful woman!

[@margritpiepes8242]

And then she went to Hell where she belongs

[@luisibarra5993]

yes, your right. But there's another awful woman in Chile that never been to court to face Human Rights crimes. LUCIA HIRIART de PINOCHET.

[@growingmelancholy8374]

@@margritpiepes8242 Sadly there is no hell or heaven and she just died. The end.

[@SpringLeafWolf]

@@growingmelancholy8374 there is hell on earth tho...Madagascar prison 😳

[@brahmburgers]

All top officers in Stasi should have been put behind bars for 5 to 10 years. Saying "only following orders" is a flimsy excuse for ruining tens of thousands of lives.

[@Duececoupe]

Another winner DW, as simple as that....just love your documentaries, pure quality! Haven't had much chance to watch them all due to the work load, need to make time because they're absolutely worth it! Having loved history since my school days (I'm 52 now), I need to read more about the Berlin Wall, Operation Danube, East Germany in 1953, Hungary in 1956....have you made any videos on those events in history, if not....do you have any planned? Much respect to you all at DW, keep up the phenomenal work! 👍🏻👌🏻👏🏻

[@j.b.4340]

When Communism was so wonderful, you needed razor wire, concrete walls, and machine guns to keep the citizens/victims in.

[@albertmccready478]

Any extremism is dangerous. Look at the dangers of the nationalism of the Stasi people in this film.

[@jonnyenough1531]

@@albertmccready478 Nationalism is a choice

[@CuttySobz]

@@albertmccready478 communism is trash even in nom extreme forms.

[@andrasbodo]

COMMUNISM GREW OUT OF POVERTY IN THE FIRST PLACE...AFTER TWO WORLD WARS, EASTERN EUROPE WAS HANDED OVER BY THE WESTERN POWERS TO THE SOVIET UNION AS A BUFFER ZONE...READ HISTORY AMERICANS, BECAUSE PEOPLE LIKE TRUMP MAY BRING BACK COMMUNIST STYLE DICTATORSHIP...YOU ARE DREAMING OR STUPID IGNORANT IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND !!!!

[@Kekkndslgnlwnh]

@@andrasbodo oh? but Biden that's obviously a puppet isn't a form of communism/dictatorship? he can't even think for himself. who is truly our president? why do they need to hide behind him?

[@tady64]

In 1985 as 22 years old man for the first time, I was allowed to travel from communist Poland and went to West Berlin, and have a look at East Berlin from one of those step towers and the feeling of joy and freedom is still in me today, and I don't think anybody can have this kind of filling unless coming from the oppressing country.

[@josephhudson8829]

I was stationed in West Germany 83-85 Front line combat troops.

[@bertroost1675]

All people are not free unless they truly forgive and work on themselves

[@OysterPir8]

How these men didn't face the noose like the Nuremberg folks did is beyond me.

[@iknow4913]

It was a different world ppl became… “soft” that was considered harsh. I believe those who commit appalling atrocities to the detriment of those who are innocent or undeserving. should be subject to what I call “Trial of Own Indifference” and sentenced to “prolonged physical reeducation” which I consider torture over a period of time resulting in death. the length of which determined by the brutality and severity of the crime (Typical Murder)

[@Alburr250]

@@iknow4913Agree!!

[@jonwarland272]

Great documentary. I love the ones on modern history and politics.

[@ricardosuarez8023]

Thank you DW. It's disgusting the way politicians have manipulated us.

[@Zukalski]

AND STILL ARE

[@shotforshot5983]

They are human.. these behaviors are a part of human nature. Denying that by simply labeling them as "politicians" does not change facts. It only lets people naively believe they are different. Above human nature.

[@ohgosh5892]

And still do, Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Bolsonaro, Erdogan, Putin... fascists do not change their spots.

[@robertandrews6915]

People want power and authority so badly they'll anything to get or keep it. Imagine if they acted for the good of the people

[@andrewm79615]

@@ohgosh5892 nationalism + authoritarianism = fascism. If anything, leftist democrats today are the authoritarians. Which party is pushing for greater and greater control of society, so that things they deem correct become mandated? That’s authoritarianism.

[@postscript5549]

Thank you. Informative. Amazing that this IMPORTANT part of history occurred in my lifetime.

[@DWDocumentary]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment!

[@jaimelima2420]

The furniture of East Germany and government buildings decoration of 1960 deservers a separate video telling its story.

[@StephiSensei26]

Fine educational documentary film. Frightening and horrific. The 60th Anniversary of the creation this disaster is in only two days. I hope many will celebrate to its final destruction and fall. Thank you DW.

[@MrCtsSteve]

It was nice seeing it fall

[@richardhenderson3149]

Hello Stephi hello how are you doing hope you’re doing okay ✅

[@katyu16]

My Mother's family all stayed in the east after the war. Why? I don't know. I have friends that I met in E. Berlin in 1981 and had kept in touch with since then...Their homes were directly on the border of E. Germany and West Berlin. In the the early days / weeks the the wall there was only barbed wire = EASY to escape. I asked them why their parents didn't escape with them when they had the chance. Their answer: This is our country and every year things are getting better and we didn't believe the wall would be permanent. Big mistake!

[@zackabee5498]

Do you believe them? What you think?

[@jimstanga6390]

Well, ultimately they were correct. It is a shame that they had to spend 28 years behind it before they were vindicated…

[@munawarkarim8026]

Angela Merkel's father was a school teacher in Hamburg where she was born. Her father relocated the family to East Germany where she grew up. None of her family, including herself lifted a finger for freedom. An example of voluntary serfdom. Today's Germany is riddled with E. German sympathizers - reason why the reluctance to send tanks to Ukraine.

[@adro894]

I love all the history about the berlin wall, very interesting, especially the trains with the ghost stations etc

[@northernbohemianrealist]

Word has it that Texas legislators and judges are studying the Stasi methods.

[@teutonalex]

Stop eating lead paint chips.

[@helenajennings4912]

Could it be the 3 letter agencies like we have today: FBI CIA ABC CBS.....??

[@bababii4745]

DW never fails to educate viewers so we don't repeat these unbelievably scenes of separation

[@garrisonnichols7372]

Idk man have you seen some of these Liberal Socialist Democrats today! Very creepy! People like AOC and Bernie Sanders have the same mindset.

[@AndyNL]

Remember during end of the seventies I was in transfer a few times to Poland via the DDR and visa versa. Great docu with a lots of explainations, thank you DW !!! You are great !

[@davisoneill]

The Stasi had files on 30% of the population. Google and Facebook have files on 100% of the population. And much much more detailed files.

[@PauloCarnaxide]

I can't sleep at night thinking about it.

[@Holyproperty]

peoples give up the information willingly so that they can have social interaction with their long lost relatives and friend, they are free to leave, that what the freedom mean, learn the different, dont let socialis utopia BS dumb you down..

[@williambrandt9254]

A great book on the Stasi and their power over the average citizen was called Stasiland. Written by an Australian journalist who lived in what was East Berlin right after the wall came down. She interviewed a number of people who had stories. It was chilling. They literally had the power of life and death over you and people just disappeared never to be seen again. And try to see the movie the lives of others. It’s a German film and I think it accurately depicted life in east Germany. I think when the wall came down there was a shock among former East Germans when that headquarters was opened up to learn that their trusted friends and neighbors were paid informants. There was not anything funny about the Stasi. I think in the Soviet union about 1 in 2000 citizens was an informant. In East Germany, it was 1 in 60.

[@Ellen24493]

The movie The Lives of Others was chilling. The Stasi was monitoring every one.

[@TheLadyDiazepam]

I've seen The Lives of Others. Excellent and absorbing film.

[@Ratkill]

The sort of things a weak person is capable of when given an "elevated" position is astounding.

[@stephenkammerling9479]

For all their supposed hatred for the Nazis, the Stasi sure took a lot from the Nazi playbook. Those agents likely would have been very comfortable in the Gustavo. Granted, the Stasi's evils don't even approach what the the Nazis did, but their tactics seem quite similar, like in formats, and disregard for human life for just a couple.

[@williambrandt9254]

@Sheriff Duane Dwayne Not on the Berlin Wall but you will find this one fascinating

[@Je.Suis.Flaneur]

As an American, who, during the Fall of the Wall, had tears in his eyes, I must say how grateful I am for this documentary.

[@DWDocumentary]

Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts!

[@marklynch8781]

@@DWDocumentary Comparing the Stasi with Google woud make an interesting video. Oh and one on converting the Berlin Wall into a low cost Anti-Immigrant Barriade, might be a big hit. (humor)

[@larryb9642]

It is staggering to me that former Stasi personnel are not rotting in prison for life for their actions. They are sitting in their comfortable homes talking about the horrible crimes and abuses they committed under a lawless and despotic regime. I know Germany wanted a minimum stress reunification but a quick trial and execution after the wall fell would have been true justice.

[@ЭрнестЭдуардович-ь9у]

Well seems fact that thousands war crime nazis after wwII ended in their houses all over the western world does not surprise you.

[@spannaspinna]

Should’ve had another Nuremberg trial

[@kchall5]

I'm sure the newly-unified German govt was anxious to let bygones be bygones, and let these old Stasi chekists live out their days without punishment. They had more important tasks to deal with, like reunifying a country. I'll bet the govt even made good on these guys' Stasi DDR pensions.

[@arbaz79]

Thank you DW for this Excellent Documentary 👍.I always wanted to know more about Stasi and their tactics.I love these kind of Cold War documentaries.Keep uploading such interesting & informative documentaries.Love from PK💚.

[@DWDocumentary]

Thanks a lot for watching and for your positive feedback. We appreciate you taking the time to comment and are glad you like our content! :-)

[@thornil2231]

The fall of the Berlin wall was on of the saddest day in History.

[@jyotifraser7439]

Your reasoning for that conclusion, I am interested to read ... hope to learn something new. Please do enlarge on it, and give context. Ta.

[@jamalrobinson8321]

@@jyotifraser7439 yeah me 2

[@michaelahern6821]

Why.,?

[@thornil2231]

@@jyotifraser7439 Look at what is happening today in Ukraine, look at what happened in Yugoslavia. Look at what's happening in Poland and all the other East European countries. And look at what's happening in Wester Europe.What ever it was the Germano-Soviet pack or the so called Iron Curtain, it was a natural division. It has been true since the Roman Empire, Charlemagne's Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and on and on. Also Communism provided a Plan B forcing companies to give something to their workers. Now, globalism is freedom... for the slave owners.

[@charlescole3040]

And perhaps the biggest tragedy of the Stasi era is that now, in America, significant numbers of young people consider that socialism is preferable to our free market system. They preach to us, "follow the science." We should answer: "follow the history."

[@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684]

Well after all, the lefties are really such lovely, "touchy feely", caring people aren't they? Strange how education systems and the MSM around the world never highlight, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao Zedong, Lavrentii Beria isn't it?

[@Davey-Boyd]

There does exist free market socialism you know. And the USA is far from free anyway. It is a bunch of corporations pretending to be a country, that brainwashes its citizens.

[@CBeatty59]

Talk about mixing apples and oranges! You’re mixing watermelons and parsnips!

[@robrussell5329]

You don't know what socialism is. Socialism is an economic system where the State decides all aspects of the economy. What to build and how much. What wages to pay, and what consumer goods cost. Who gets what job and who gets what apartment. Young people don't want any of that. The Soviet Union was, and North Korea and Cuba, still are - Socialist. And many European countries have some socialist leanings, like universal health care and strong workers protection. But their economies are capitalistic, not socialism. Their politics are democratic. At present only a handful of countries - less than five - practice pure socialism. They also are dictatorships.

[@Tolpuddle581]

America has Socialism but not in a good way it's in the form of handouts to big corporations of taxpayer money sometimes called a stimulus or a massive tax break for the already obscenely wealthy. America could easily afford universal healthcare but the masses have been convinced it's Socialism and that's bad so they continue to vote against their own interests.

[@MrWadstw]

Excellent Documentary into this Historical period.

[@DWDocumentary]

Glad you liked the documentary. We upload documentaries regularly so don’t forget to subscribe. 🙂

[@kollusion1]

Thanks to the clever ones, that help to prevent the meaningless commercials from disturbing my peace time viewing! . . . Oh, & thanks to the makers of this doc. . . . . . & Thanks to the channel for sharing - Cheers !!

[@eileenalholinna5310]

I cannot imagine waking up to discover you are blocked from leaving your city. How evil. What was the idea of that?

[@nomdeplume798]

I find it a little eerie that the uniforms are so similar to the ones worn by the Werhmacht for about 20 years after the war ended.

[@toddbrackett4277]

How is it that these Stasi officers are not spending the rest of their natural lives in prison?

[@sriddle3569]

Some former Stasi officers are now powerful like Putin.

[@anngarnsey3622]

For the same reason that many Nazi officers and members were allowed to drift back into the population without ever really being called to account for their actions. Most countries are reluctant to call to account their citizens after a war or revolution. Most just want to forget and get back to making money. Look at the USA, very rarely do they hold themselves accountable for any of their actions when they interfere in another country’s business.

[@ivans7406]

Two days ago my aunt told me a story how she visited east Berlin and after they crossed to west side she felt that even the trees were greener on the west side of the wall. She told me that east was a depressing experience for her .

[@cbailey2376]

Ditto.

[@BentBaniHashimBBH]

The world is such a depressing place .. I pray and hope we can make the future less scary than the past . Thank you DW for your great content .

[@MrSvenovitch]

Hahaha you're funny. It's clearly getting worse every day and you type smth like that...Anyway, keep praying...since doing useless things is high on your list.

[@jamie.777]

Your prayers do nothing, blame Germany for there own mistakes....

[@stevenbrown6277]

In 1995 I took a train from Frankfurt to Berlin. I was sitting next to an elderly and very humorous German man. When we crossed over to what had been East Germany informed me that we had done so. He did not have to tell me as the contrast between what had been West Germany and East Germany was very apparent. All of a sudden the towns looked dumpy and colorless. The farms looked grim.What a sad thing to have foisted Russian stupidity on people. Now the Mongols are at the gates of the West again trying to trample under Ukraine and sap its resources for the needs of the East. Russia never has recovered from WW2.

[@cbailey2376]

The e Germans would paint their buildings only on the side that faced the road for appearance only as very few places were ever renovated. Very weird.

[@atdotcom64]

I took that train trip in 1984. It was something else. But don’t blame the Russians. They suffered too and the Germans were all too happy to lord it over each other one more time. Now it’s the unelected EU turning everything into NWO WEF BS clones. Ukraine is a dumpster fire that can be laid at the feet of Victoria Newland and the Obamabidens. No thanks…

[@aaronkuminski1415]

More like they never recovered from ww1 when the fall of the zcar happend and they then had democracy for a few months could stop fighting Germany so the communist took over

[@glenatkinson1230]

My tante Regina was helped through the burgeoning wall in 1961 by my Uncle Joe who was a British soldier. Heard many stories about the post WW2 period and being separated from family and friends. So sad. Great video.

[@KoeddkHD]

I'll never understand the concept of keeping your citizens from leaving by shooting but letting people in is okay.

[@ashcarrier6606]

The idea that simply wanting to live somewhere else is akin to treason is baffling.

[@robertn2951]

I am glad they were able to live long enough to see the wall crumble and all of their "ideas" being blown away. They died as failures.

[@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684]

You think? "One world" communism is now in the process of taking over the world, are you too thick to see it?

[@robertn2951]

@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 I can't wait for it to happen. It's going to be great. You can fly to Mars with Elon if you're not happy about it.

[@jjwwqq]

This video should cause people to open their eyes as to what is happening in the world today.

[@johnroberts7018]

East Berlin and East Germany as a whole took a real nosedive when the Soviets took control. Like taking a step back into the Dark Ages. The Stasi even had to try doing their new jobs with crappy, shoddy Soviet guns and equipment instead of good German guns or American built guns. It must have been a real bummer to suddenly find yourself on the wrong side of the fence as a German.

[@quangtruong3484]

Fantastic and benifits knowledge for those who want to know the history of Cold War . Between east & west , like an great adventured to the past . Thanks so much for whose was making this video topics and thanks to DW . From asia ! Beloved

[@timburr4453]

Brilliant job with this. Fascinating, informative!

[@blainemason8218]

Fascinating documentary! Thank you!

[@Hamsteren91]

How these disgusting stasi people can live with them selfs is a mystery. They should be jailed.

[@FC-hj9ub]

They tell you and themselves you can be their prey or you can join them.

[@sriddle3569]

Putin was one

[@LemmingAttack]

Can't you tell me what he actually got a medal for? I'm pretty sure no medals have ever been given out for "Outstanding Duplicity."

[@leafsfanforever2896]

East Germany along with North Korea are (tragically) the closest the world would ever get to Oceania (honorable mention to Romania under Ceausescu, China under Xi, Russia under Putin, Belarus under Lukashenko as a lesser example)

[@kchall5]

I thought NK took the cake until I started hearing about the central Asian country of Turkmenistan (a former Soviet Republic). The nutjob rulers of that place make the Kim regime look tame and rational by comparison. The only difference is, unlike NK, it's isolated and not a threat to US allies or interests.

[@Silenced23]

Its sad that stuff like this is no longer on TV

[@realrebel6260]

imagine being gangstalked inside east germany and having nowhere to escape because you are walled in truely hell on earth

[@realrebel6260]

millions of germans experienced zersetzung and died of it

[@humbertoruiz116]

Sadly those responsible for the murder of so many people walked away without any consequences

[@sherminator1617]

Love this documentary, so much work behind it and great footages to. Loved the interviews too with stasi agent.

[@baldingeagle8404]

I liked the documentary too dear leader

[@CaughtMedia]

I did a documentary about German Beer in Texas. As I was producing this school project I came across a East German. He told me he was in Film making. Naturally I was shocked but then thinking....what movie was made in East Germany? I need to interview him, he is the owner of the food truck in this little film of mine. Nice guy and happy he is doing well here in the US.

[@SnowElf_96]

The Stasi are no different than the Gestapo. East Germany wasn't different than Nazi Germany. Other than it wasn't during a world War.

[@juniatapark54]

Really? Did the GDR have extermination camps where millions died?

[@eb9338]

@@juniatapark54 maybe not , but its bosses in the East did

[@dpt6849]

Former gestapo were imprisoned and later put to work in stasi. Because well worker state.

[@johnreynolds5407]

Exceptional documentary and puzzling how anyone could draw comparisons between the Berlin Wall and US/Mexico border.

[@danielbright2916]

Indeed. Or even Brexit: more people than ever before are trying to flee France now to get to Britain. France is in the european union.

[@asullivan4047]

There is no longer a wall that separates US & Mexico. But there is a tall chain link fence. Between Mexico & Guatemala. There’s a reason for border fences.

[@pablopeter3564]

STASI was the equivalent to the GESTAPO.

[@blooskyy7]

A failed and pathetic system before it had even begun, completely pointless. The interviewed officers didn't appear to have any remorse for the suffering they caused to so many, they almost seemed proud!

[@blaquentgruppe6547]

U believe why should you Most committed suicide. A web you would not understand,you weren't there

[@brahmburgers]

Good video chronicle, thanks. This all happened concurrently with the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, and Stalin's gulag madness. The 1960's and 70's were strange times, although in some parts of the world, Flower Power and joy ruled. I'm annoyed that Milche (Stasi's head honcho) and his fellow Stasi heads weren't prosecuted dynamically. They all should have done 5 to 10 years behind bars.

[@larskullberg7292]

@A Fels For your information: The communist party thugs in china have never even tried to put a stop to cruelty and genocide.

[@lolee1234]

Isn't it ironic that in America we are being ruled by the Flower children? They are the ones slowly stripping our liberties away....

[@christopherrutkowitz1350]

War Crimes is what they did.

[@krckozg]

I'm suprised that some of those Stasi officers are able to walk and talk and that people didn't took the justice in their hands. To see a guy walking around free after all this...

[@bogenious8474]

It`s amazing to see these people glee at keeping people IN the country , doesn`t tell you much does it

[@AndrewTubbiolo]

I want to see comparative methods and types of data collected by the STASI in comparison to the social media companies.

[@JundunYashua]

I bet you it would be absurdly similar.

[@logical_human]

@@JundunYashua you have a choice not to have a social media account

[@parus6422]

social media companies collect huge amounts of data that is processed by AI to target ads at you. No human reviews your data or cares. The STASI would bug houses and record every conversation. If they wanted you to be a good citizen then would listen to your conversations for leverage. Like for some Gay men, they would have good looking men have a relationship with them, they would threaten to expose them for being gay if they did not play ball with the government and be a gratefully little worker bee. It's not really comparable. The lives of others is a good moive

[@13strigoi69]

The Stasi would be green with envy.

[@Ice_Karma]

8:39 Captions cut out suspiciously, omitting the line "We saw them as traitors, who were betraying our country." This casts what the guy says afterwards in a different light, absent that line. For shame.

[@ConCon75]

@A Fels what does that even mean?

[@mortenthorpe]

Fairly certain that hardcore communists then, thought of DDR as a haven in a sea of surrounding hostile territory, while we in the west thought of DDR as an eyesore and remnants of WWII… as much in life, it’s a matter of perspective

[@bobapbob5812]

In 1979 I served in a special unit. We were part of a group that celebrated the 4th of July in Potsdam along with British, French and Russian liaison. We drove there in a US Army bus. When we passed Stasi they would glare at us. We passed some Soviet kasernes and these young conscripts waved and cheered. A Soviet officer was fascinated with my wife, a professional actress. I spent most of the time translating.

[@tipene1950]

What a horrible system to live under.Pure evil

[@TheFunnyBone5]

How are these stasi guy allowed to just walk free like this?

[@AmiNa-nw5ld]

Era of paranoia, you can't trust no one.

[@davidhudson5452]

Your papers please, your papers are not in order

[@heavenly.psycho]

While watching this documentary, I also enjoy reading the comment section which provides supplementary info of the situation 😊 I’m glad to be able to virtual meet the people who have first hand experience of east Germany 🤝

[@Bulletguy07]

Brilliant documentary. One of the best i've seen on the Stasi and DDR.

[@DWDocumentary]

Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment. We’re glad you liked the film. We upload documentaries regularly so don’t forget to subscribe.

[@CountryFenderBass]

My Oma said you don’t live in East Germany, you just exist. It’s not life. It’s a grind. No joy, no happiness. Just a bleak existence

[@pgmorrow]

It is disgusting how they doggedly pushed the obvious lie that they were "protecting" the people who were just prisoners trying to escape their totalitarian hell.

[@dalegribble1560]

The things modern Leftists say to defend it are incredibly asinine. It's almost to the point they make it sound like more West Germans defected than East Germans lol

[@vxrdrummer]

With everyone wanting to get out and having to go to such lengths to control and keep people in, how could they not have thought that maybe there is something wrong here with our system? Its bonkers that people could ever operate this way and feel that they ever have the right to do so.

[@BBSr-q2w]

Communists build walls to prevent their people from escaping, democracies sometimes have to build walls to keep people from entering illegally. That is really all anyone needs to know about the two systems

[@tinytonymaloney7832]

Wow, brilliant historical video that. I remember seeing the newsflash on telly of the Berlin Wall coming down. I was in my early 20s but I knew little about it for some reason. I think factual information was limited when we were younger, not as accessible as it is today.

[@JelMain]

As one of the thinkers in the West, it was a time of rejoicing. We will have another soon, when the Russian Federation goes the same way. When the reunion concert happened, replacing Freude with Freiheit in the Chorale section of Beethoven's 9th Symphony nailed it.

[@fredbeach2085]

In Albert Speer`s memoirs he gave an account of his time in Spandau it was split into four quarters of the year, three months of Russian, America, France and Britain being on guard for the Nazi war criminals. He hated the Russian food he had to eat, the French cockiness, he loved the American food, and the Brits he loved. An NCO from the British once let him out of his cell after coming on night duty drunk and told him to watch out for any British officers coming to check and to wake him up if they did. Speer stayed awake all night listening to him snore. Off topic I know but that period of German history is still fascinating, kind regards from England.

[@violette4841]

I read a memoir of a German POW in the UK and he wrote of an Irish guard who was usually drunk and sleeping on duty that after the Germans finished their field work, they carried the guard back to their barracks daily. Of course, it was hard for them to be able to escape from an island back to Germany. Other memoirs talked about the Italian POW's busy flirting and the British land girls working next to them both doing field work. The American soldiers thought the British women were POWs because they had never seen women working so hard. They started sending provisions to the women. An East Berlin professor visited us and his English was excellent even though he learned it in East Germany and never met any English speakers. He was in love with Shakespeare and with flowers. I couldn't understand why they didn't have seeds in East Berlin, but that was what he told me. He loved the British profusion of flowers everywhere. He was a very nice person.

[@fredbeach2085]

@@violette4841 Thanks for that Violette a few German POW`s stayed in England after the war but many Italians stayed my friend John Scarpelli is the son of one and still alive today, kind regards Fred.

[@everyone7679]

Crazy to think how recent this was... and unthinkable that it would happen in a place like germany when you look at it now

[@johnnicholas1488]

Well done. Thank you.

[@almartin4]

Berlin Notes I don’t recall posting a comment here on this issue. My apologies if this is redundant. This presentation is very well done, as always, but seems slanted to follow the high-level events without really addressing the meaning, and primary issues of that conflict. There were citizens of every stripe, on both sides, engaged in these confrontations. I was fortunate (and honored) to serve under President Reagan as a Senior NCO in the US Army, stationed in the occupied city of West Berlin from 1981 to 1984. The Cold War was at its peak then, mostly as a clear confrontation between NATO (commercial west) and the Warsaw Pact (communist east). President Reagan made his first official visit to West Berlin in June of 1982 and spoke initially to those of us in the Allied military forces stationed there. This was long before his famous ‘Wall’ speech. -- “But you're here because you're vital to freedom --the crowning glory of our civilization. America wouldn't be America without freedom, and we can't keep it without you. It's never more than one generation away from extinction. Every generation has to ensure that it will be there and passed it on to the next.” President Ronald Reagan 11 June 1982 At Tempelhof Airfield in West Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany -- That quote applies as much today as it did then: Membership in NATO was formed from western allies voluntarily; France was excluded because they chose not to join at that time. Membership in Warsaw Pact was formed, and enforced by Soviet forces, in countries they invaded during World War II. Any country that tried to leave the Warsaw Pact because of freedom movements (East Germany (DDR) / Hungary / Czechoslovakia) faced violent suppression by the Soviet forces. The members of the Warsaw Pact were not the comrades as the PR often claim. It appeared similar events would happen in Poland during the 1980’s. We were able to see the evils of communism and socialism everyday in the DDR. Oftentimes in areas just across the street or closer. Escape attempts and bloody retribution were pretty common occurrences with blatant and often loud results. Everyone on that side suffered in some form or other from food shortages to constant brutality. I was attached to the Military Intelligence (MI) Detachment as an interrogator tasked with interviewing defectors (Border Guard / Military) and refugees (civilians) from all of the various Pact countries. They were fleeing similar oppression with many vivid stories of their own. We had an almost constant flow during my time there. We were especially concerned about events in Poland as the Solidarity Union disturbances were watched closely by the Soviet seniors. During one of my 1983 interviews with a Polish officer who had defected; I asked him what would happen if the Pact forces invaded Poland to suppress the activities… … would the Polish military fight or not. His answer was both humorous and cynical. He said: “Your question presents a very serious issue for Polish soldiers to answer; do we do our duty to the people and country by shooting Russians? Or do we enjoy ourselves by shooting Germans? No more invasions.” We were pretty certain something was coming soon by that time; just not sure if we would become radioactive dust or the Soviet Union would collapse. I am surprised it took until 1989 for the Wall to actually come down and it looks like modern day rioters are trying to put it back up. Regards

[@michaelmarzano2759]

I’ve been to stasi headquarters and hohenschöhausen prison.This regime deserve to be bought to justice, and suffer what their innocent victims did.

[@DarkShroom]

maybe the Germans could have imagined invading Russia to be a bad idea, but they didn't so what then happened when suddenly the Russians found themselves in charge of half of Germany, well they didn't have any sympathy for them

[@michaelmarzano2759]

@@DarkShroom I think this goes beyond invasion and retribution. Sick little faceless bureaucrats who got power for the first time in their miserable lives. The world should be angered by the fact that these spineless worms didn't get their comeuppance

[@cedriceric9730]

@@DarkShroom have you ears and some processing power between them? IF people were staking their lives to escape east Germany which the ussr wanted to portray as a paradise what do you think was the state in the rest of the ussr?

[@toddbrackett4277]

@@DarkShroom this is incoherent babble. How do you figure that someone born in the 1940s should have been held hostage in a puppet state under a failed system?

[@schepvogelk5971]

Interesting docu. Lot to learn from it.

[@DWDocumentary]

Thank you for watching! We're glad you liked the documentary :)