East/West Germany Border Crossing Near Coburg, November 1989

American Forces Network-Munich report on one of four border crossings from East Germany into West Germany near Coburg four days after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. East and West German border guards formally meet for the first time after 10 years of only being able to observe each other from inside their own borders.
NOTE- Please refrain from personal political commentary. This video was intended to be viewed as one part of European history, not an open forum for inflammatory remarks about current European issues. Thank you.

[@erikcortez1611]

That W German border guard sounds as if he lived in the USA for a few years, his English was that good.

[@wyattbenson1490]

Erik Cortez probably from working with so many English.

[@bryanblack526]

I spent 2 years in Germany, from '77-'79. At the time, 4 years of English was required in West German High Schools.

[@erik_griswold]

He has also been dealing with US or British troops depending on which part of the Inter-German border he was assigned to.

[@wuetend9]

We Germans have usually a quite high standard of spoken and written english. :)

[@Ozzymandias493]

Europeans in general know english very well, i lived in sweden for 2 years and I swear they spoke better english than me(an American).

[@Brissieskater1]

His English language skills are excellent!

[@sirendor202]

Yeah, that's what I thought. Really good especially considering it was in 1989 when way less people spoke English here

[@sirendor202]

@traveljetsetter87 Not really

[@TyonKree]

As a border guard he probably had to interact with American soldiers quite a bit.

[@matthewcaughey8898]

@@TyonKree typically your average American soldier is just out of high school and probably doesn’t know a second language. Though I know a great many who made an effort to learn Farsi. Seeing as we just spent 2 decades in those regions it makes sense

[@jimmo42]

@@TyonKree Yep! And I was one of them.

[@dralenvan]

Interesting footage. Love how he said "We should not overdrive this thing" which is a weird way to translate "übertreiben" or "to exaggerate".

[@jesper99]

In Dutch it is ‘overdrijven’, indeed a weird way to translate it

[@gotham61]

I love how some idioms can be hilarious when translated directly. I have many German friends who are car guys, and they will refer to working on a car as "screwing on a car". As in, "that's an easy car to screw on."

[@tedmarakas2626]

Amazing how the border guard can speak perfect English with zero accent. Very impressive.

[@laurenhutton596]

SO HARD to believe that was THIRTY YEARS AGO!!! I remember it like it was YESTERDAY!!!

[@jimmo42]

I knew Killian when I was working at the border offiice in Coburg. Very polite and very professional.

[@yetimuc1000]

Thanks for uploading that video. It was filmed in my parents' hometown, Neustadt bei Coburg. I was ten years old when the border came down. For me it's still a big miracle, I never thought it would happen at some point.

[@ihavenoideaaa1]

yetimuc1000 You’re very welcome. This event was one of the most memorable for me as a U.S. Army broadcaster assigned to the American Forces Network-Munich and stationed in your country. I’m very proud to have served in West Germany and I was so happy when The Wall came down.

[@guidostahl2139]

Very analytical for that time. Real and profound officer qualities.

[@zeero62]

He was wise when he said "we shouldn't overdrive this thing"......of course they thought re-unification would take years, but it was only about 9 months.....

[@olli2591]

No, reunification hasn't finished to this day. Formally it has, but de facto, West and East Germany are still heavily divided when it comes to: politics, socioeconomic factors, infrastructure and culture. And no one in power has really been trying to do something about that. A good example for this is the nazi problem is Eastern Germany that already became evident in the early 90s and has't been tackled until today. On the contrary, nazis are so popular in Eastern Germany nowadays, that they make up the second largest parliamentary group in all but one East German parliaments. This is absolutely unthinkable in Western Germany but completely normal in the East.

[@AbcdEfgh-sq2tf]

Glad that German is reunified peacefully, hope it will be the same for Korea

[@stevenh7973]

I think its to late for korea.

[@AbcdEfgh-sq2tf]

@@stevenh7973 yep

[@AlamoOriginal]

@@stevenh7973 never too late for hope, Kim's regime is hopefully on a path to openness and talks just like in recent years

[@Jan_Hannibal]

@@AlamoOriginal The Problem is not the Border or the re-unification itself. People from former communist states have developed a different mentality. Some people dont want to live in communist states but some people like simple and continious life that they couldnt have in a capitalistic country. Additional the difference in infrastructure, Technology and believes in democratic value. The GDR existed for 40 years and Germany is now united since 30 years and you still have some differences. Even the salary and the pension are lower there. But for compare: the GDR had the best economy of all WTO states. But look at north korea. Its basicaly a 3rd world country, a Museum of the 1970's that exist since nearly 80 years. South korea would need to pay for transforming a whole devasted broken Museum with the size of their own country to the year of 2022.

[@losabias4723]

@@Jan_Hannibal hey, I live in a 3rd world country and our economy is far better than NK's.

[@RudolfKlusal]

I cannot even imagine that feeling; I am 1984, so I was 6 at the time, so I didn't... realized, there were such important days to our recent history... shame

[@robertanderson4917]

German border guard: "We should not overdrive it !" 🤣

[@chvoelker]

Wow, watching german history from the outside.

[@davejoerger8928]

Sein Englisch ist wirklich ausgezeichnet.

[@tim72184]

Lol, seriously. I thought he was American, and I'm American.

[@michaeltheobald1976]

I was interested in and visited both Germanies from 1966 -1989. I have many fond memories of hospitality of Germany on both sides of the Iron Curtain and some stories of what people could and could not do. My crossing points started at Oebisfelde 1966 and ending south of Meiningen in 1989 after attending the WAHNSINN party at the Brandenberg Gate 31Dec/Jan1 and showing the way to the horses at the top for young adults to reach and sadly vandalise. My 'home' town whilst in the DDR was Halle/Saale where Händel was born. I got the Händelhaus to provide a guide in English as Handel became English.

[@Jeeppeeps]

Nice g wagon...

[@darsim6897]

shaking hands with the glove on....

[@folkestender2025]

it was very cold in this winter

[@LesVentilateursduQuebec]

I often wondered if it's considered rude to do. Not just in this context but in any context, especially if the other person is not wearng gloves. Do you have to take your gloves off even if it's cold or it's totally fine and acceptable to shake hands with gloves on even if the other person is not wearing gloves?

[@johno9507]

I know Russians think that is very rude.

[@BS-my6qx]

@@LesVentilateursduQuebec Yes - it is rude. Shows a lack of respect towards the person you meet. Especially as a german officer, you should know better...

[@yurifoxx3983]

The east-german borderguard shows manners and is doing it the right way (0:48).

[@MaraDaCoriovallum]

Dat waren noch Zeiten als deutsche Polizeibeamte noch perfektes Englisch reden konnten..... 🤘😁🤘

[@jimmo42]

Jetzt müssen sie Türkisch oder Russisch reden können.

[@jsm9784]

@@jimmo42 für die russischkenntnisse können wir ja alte DDR-beamte ranziehen

[@jimmo42]

@@jsm9784 Es gibt tatsächlich eine Gruppe auf Facebook für ehemaligen DDR "Grenzer".

[@olli2591]

Heute ist der Polizistenjob prekär und zieht entsprechend gering qualifizierte Leute an.

[@matthewcaughey8898]

Reunification started with understanding that’s how it always goes. Someone goes halfway then someone else goes halfway

[@nlpnt]

Gotta love that government-fleet-contract strippo G-Wagen at 0:27

[@MA-naconitor]

He instinctively gave a salute. So fascinating times!

[@rnman99]

I was there when this happened, at Sembach AB, I most likely watched this very clip when it aired

[@MrSstiel]

Thank you for this footage. Remarkable moment in time.

[@Paul-jz1lv]

This was one of the few times in my life that I realized I was watching history unfold. I wish I could have been in Germany to see this first hand.

[@PeterMayer]

It was a trip! I was there in 1974 as a 15 year old, living with my grandfather in West Berlin, and we went into East Berlin. My family was originally from there, and we visited my grandmother's grave. Then my wife and I went in 1988, visiting cousins in West berlin. I took her into Sunny East Berlin.

[@GermanDieselFanatic]

Something that I've always noticed in this video. Notice how the West German guard never removed his glove, but all 3 East German guards, with the 3rd clearly removing his glove for the handshake. A bit disrespectful from the West German guard.

[@allegory7638]

Wow, that guard's English was excellent and is North American not British.

[@jjj15s]

The West German guard's English is very good! Wow!

[@anthonykatsivalis224]

holy fuck his English! if he wasnt in unifrom and was dressed casually i would confuse him for an american!

[@fredwilliams9264]

BTrp 3/7 Cav 3ID Camp Harris-Coburg 1977-1980 Boder Patrol

[@marcelnowakowski945]

The commander's English is impeccable!

[@Hongaars1969]

Thank you for sharing this clip of the most historical moment in 20th century European and world history

[@TheProfessional15]

ONE CYPRUS AND FREE PALESTINE

[@adammuller9039]

So schließt sich der Kreis. Ganz am Anfang der Zonengrenze haben BGS Leute oft in der Ostzone mit den Grenzern Karten gespielt.

[@autokorrektor8166]

Great video Hank! A familiar voice from AFN.

[@larryg.9187]

As a young man, I volunteered and enlisted in Jan. '72... Served honorably until a month early Christmas exit in Dec. '74... Was assigned to 2/2 Armoured Calvary Regiment in Bamberg, Germany ... Did border duty and patrol in Colberg, Germany for 45 days at a time, for many times per year... I remember the red, black, and yellow posts with the East German markings... When stationed over night at the observation hut... We looked for East German activity... Often we would watch a East German guard in their tower, watching us in our hut, as we watched them ... The actual border area seemed to be about 100 or more yards across, fences on either side, and I was told antipersonnel mines, truck and tank mines, and their towers were placed so each was in view of the neighbouring tower ... I was a 'tanker' ... M60-A1 main battle tank... Loader, driver, then gunner as a Spec 4 my final year ... Scored best score as gunner at Grafenwohr, a NATO training facility ... 1st Sgt flew H 34 crew home, gave us each a case of German bier, and awarded us each a German bier Stine with the 2/2 ACR logo and the date, and our rank and name ... I still proudly own it ... Like most guys, I wanted to go home, and did.. But fondly look back at Bamberg, a World Heritage Site, and the many towns and cities I went to in Germany, as the best years of my life ... ................. 2/2 A.C.R. H Co H34 ................ .................. Tourjours Pret = Always Ready ..................

[@fadhilzakimunawwar]

0:35 mereka bahkan tidak membutuhkan penerjemah.

[@timil64]

I pulled duty at this border in 85

[@liliwinnt6]

see the recent captain Reinhard A. Kilian here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nn6wZp2uiLdrjbM

[@ihavenoideaaa1]

Thanks for posting this link. My German is very limited, but I can understand a little.

[@echohunter4199]

Ah, AFN, the most boring TV network on the planet. Don’t think so? Go look into the show “Gasthaus” or “guesthouse”, in 1984 we nominated it for the milk toast show of the year award.

[@ihavenoideaaa1]

Sorry you felt that way. We who were military broadcasters were dedicated news and information gatherers who witnessed and reported on some of the biggest events in post-war Germany. Fast Haus was a fantastic public affairs program that helped explain the role of support elements in U.S. Army Europe. Cheesy at times yes, but our viewership statistics indicated that a majority of viewers of AFN Europe knew the value of the program.

[@echohunter4199]

@@ihavenoideaaa1 lol, I’m pretty laid back and conservative as a person but it was hilarious watching it sometimes while watching the commentator try to make a extremely boring subject as interesting. We’re aware of policies that were in effect that limited what could be shown on the channel since it was usually dependents and kids but the closest decent show was one about a hotel. So as an Infantryman we had limited options for entertainment were slim since I don’t smoke, drink or hang around in bars. We’d watch tapes, laser disc movies and go to the theater on Jaeager Kaserne for something more current. Shows like “Friday night videos” would’ve been nice or something showing WWII history sites as they are today (for 1984-85) and discussing how the battles unfolded. Even if they showed something better aimed for our demographic aired past 0100 hours so we could set our VCR to record them would’ve been great. But we both know he daily line up was ancient, B or C rated programs that were of little interests to us. Something as simple as having various American cities local news programs would’ve been refreshing for 30 minutes each day. I’m from southeast Oregon in the high desert so something from a medium size city like Medford, OR would’ve been great. Most kids my age love things from our home towns or regions, it would’ve drawn a lot more viewers. My second time in Germany was at Baumholder in 2002-07 and in my free time I coordinated WWII living history events I hosted for our volunteer group where we owned and wore our own WWII uniforms and used the Museum Sherman tank and Halftrack, I used Stars and Stripes for free advertising for the 5 events I did, we had around 13 volunteers all who were Active Duty Soldiers from E-3 to E-9 and they were amazing. If you’re curious, the stories are still on their website, do a search for “WWII Baumholder history” and a couple will pop up. In 2004 we took the tank and Halftrack to Bastogne, Belgium and drove in their annual celebration of the battle and froze our nuts off like our WWII counterparts. What we didn’t expect was how the Belgians treated us like rock stars when they found out we were actual American Soldiers! After the night parade convoy a few of the men went downtown to the bars and I warned them about the Belgian Trappist beer and only have 2 of them or you’ll regret it, one got lucky with a Belgian lady and 3 were hammered the following morning when we had to do cold weather starting procedures, I took some pics of them, you could tell they wanted to be anywhere but sitting inside a frozen Sherman tank, lol. We enjoyed talking with the real Veterans that came to Bastogne each year, i learned a lot of factual history about the battle from them. I spent 6 years in the 2/502nd INF Regt so my interest was the section of the perimeter my battalion held during the war which was a great honor to see and talk with Vets who were in my Battalion. I also met with the Band of Brothers Veterans 3 times when they came to visit units in Germany, they’d always ask for us to come so it was nice discussing sniper stories with Shifty Powers, we just talked about the funny things though. Shifty loved being around other Grunts again and we treated him like he was still in uniform since we know what it’s like since we just came back from Iraq the first time we met with him. So all in all, I’ve led an interesting life while in the Army but I’ve never met anyone that liked Gasthaus, lol and I always ask when I talk with them, we usually bust out laughing and recall the weird guests they’d have on there that made us say “what in the hell am I watching?” Lol. SFC DeVos, Kevin M.

[@katermikesch7722]

Habe Kilian öfters im Dienst beobachten können.

[@Wanderer-uz8js]

@ Bourvil-GoFast its not " Nazi " its the East German Military formed in East Germany in 1956

[@prestngarvey9233]

Major Mingus oh god someone thought they were "Nazi" (can't find original comment) but seriously are they fucking stupid.

[@ehanoldaccount5893]

Those old style German rank epaulettes

[@zymelin21]

I guess both side called the officers "lamettaträger" because of the silver epaulettes

[@alanstrong55]

Glad that barrier was broken. Freedom came to life. Honecker was Charlie Out of Luck.

[@alexschmidt443]

0:41 I brought the AFN with me, we're live in America!"

[@thandrayanpillay4407]

Not even S African English is so clear in terms of brei...

[@elmoblatch7932]

0:35 da konnten die Grenzer auf einmal freundlich sein. Die haben wohl schon geahnt, dass sie evtl. sich einen neuen Job - vielleicht auch beim BGS- suchen müssen...

[@stewtheman2]

This is like the two Koreas, a nation divided unnaturally!

[@TheRantingCabbie]

Got to love those Trabies.

[@manipuliertesvolk6118]

Where is all the time going.......

[@omegavalerius]

Woah, this is one comment section! Do you guys still work at Savunskin street 55 in SPB? Would be refreshing to find a German speaker among you some time. Or are these low view count videos not worth the extra cost of having a German speaker?:D

[@alanstrong3295]

My heart goes out to the former East Germans who dealt with that oppression for 40 years, namely the Berlin Wall.

[@jimmo42]

The Berlin wall was just a small piece of it. The entire border between East and West had guards, fences and watch towers. It wasn't until the very end that the land mines and automatic machine guns were dismantled.

[@martincooke4837]

Next question will Germany rise again?

[@ehanoldaccount5893]

People don’t realize but they were simply occupied, like they had been by the Nazis before. You learn to simply put your head down and go along.

[@adventureguy4119]

Funny how the threat of gun fire kept people acting in line

[@marclayne9261]

I patrolled the Czech border, 1980---81....1st Armored Div......Bamberg......FRG....

[@jimmo42]

Bamberg? Really? That's pretty far away of the Czech border. When I was there a few years later, they were patrolling the the GDR border.

[@MaxMustermann-qy1ge]

Interessant. Seit wann ist Bamberg an der CZ-Grenze?

[@youtubemodsaresnowflakelef7692]

@@MaxMustermann-qy1ge Stolen valor idiot.

[@suspiciouswatermelon7639]

I miss the DDR, I was a border guard and I miss wasting defectors with mein gewehr. By the time I retired I had a verified kill count of 13.

[@yurifoxx3983]

This west german BGS-officer seems to be a bit stuffy and petty-bourgoise. 0:38 "I brought the AFN camera team with me. This is gonna be broadcasted in the USA". Probably expecting the east-german counterpart to be excited like 'wow that's amazing'. Instead the relaxed east german officer friendly replies "well great, (so what)". 😁

[@henryseidel5469]

It is clearly visible that this clip is made for American audience - a piece of subtle propaganda. The West German officer with perfect American English and premade statements, and the Eastern officer with a pragmatical, down-to-earth behaviour.

[@hanfpeter2822]

You think so? I thought it was just a quick Note to the others like: im suddenly in a rather nervous Situation and dont quite now what to do. Lets Figuren it out together"

[@henryseidel5469]

@@hanfpeter2822 Why nervous ? I don't think so ! I am sure there is obviously an ideological message behind this clip. Nothing to do with the one or the other officer. It is made of pre-made effects and intended intentions.

[@hanfpeter2822]

@@henryseidel5469 maybe nervous was the wrong word. To me it just seems like neither knew what to do in that Situation and the west german officer tried toldvthe east german officer just to base his further actions on his Reaktion.

[@henryseidel5469]

@@hanfpeter2822 But the clip is not made for the one or the other officer but according to the rules of political journalism to generate a certain impact on the viewer. It is not a natural conversation but a programme made according to a pre-made script.

[@panpizza5863]

Did all those people know that Germany would become the Bundeskhalifat?

[@elwray3506]

Did your parents know that you were going to be a moron?

[@marcelosedy4703]

Germany ende,now Germuslin!

[@longjohnfredo8367]

Marcelos Edy You brain ende,now Nobrain!

[@MrBraun97]

LongJohnEnno, what about your brain or more an empty head? and blind as a chicken.

[@longjohnfredo8367]

Frans Braun what?

[@marcelosedy4703]

Do you like Muslims? I Do not!

[@MrBraun97]

Can you read or are you drunk?

[@fuckthis81]

0.54 Matt Damon in his new role as a German Border Guard!!!