Forced re-settlements along the inner German border

Рет қаралды 25,597

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 89

@petermumford265 4 ай бұрын

I was a British army tank crewman, posted to Paderborn in the middle 1970’s. Now I’ve found this channel, it’s fascinating how the so called “enemy” operated, both civilians and military!

@davidstrohl Жыл бұрын

I’m so glad I found your channel! I was USAF stationed at Tempelhof Central Airport in West Berlin from 1987 to 1994. I enjoyed having my restrictions on travel (only East Berlin was allowed for western allies due to Allied Kommandatura Rules from May 1945 to Mar 20, 1990) lifted, so that I could finally see East Germany while it was still extant. I took three months paid leave from April to June and drove around most of it-Stadt, Kreis, and Dorf. I visited several areas like the one you talk about here after Die Wende because they fascinate me, it was an exclusion zone not unlike at Chernobyl, but thankfully without any ☢️. All the buildings inside the zone were all falling down. Strangely, the Vopos never gave me any real trouble going in there with my camera to take pictures of it. They were always far more interested in my American Corvette, which I let them drive if they wanted to😊. One Vopo tried to trade his Trabi for it 😂. I declined. I’m looking forward to more great videos, hopefully they’re all as good as this one is. Thanks again!

@eastgermanyinvestigated Жыл бұрын

That sounds like an unforgettable trip. Thanks! Not having switched cars sounds like a good decision. ;-)

@ajayKumarajayKumar-hr7sj Жыл бұрын

Sir, your account is really interesting. It's good that you saw such a sight with your own eyes. I, having been born on 2001, would never get the privilege of the same... I just had one final question. Say, you were getting a GaZ or ZiL (the ones which the party bosses would get) in exchange of your corvette, would you do the exchange?

@davidstrohl Жыл бұрын

@@ajayKumarajayKumar-hr7sj No way my friend. I still have it. I took it to my next military posting in Italy after I left Berlin in 1992, and three years after that I sent it by ship to my next posting in Korea. Three years later I was posted to back in the USA, so I sent it back home to the USA when I bought myself a BMW M5. It still runs great, has over 550000 miles (it’s now on its 2nd engine), and is kept in my garage here in Georgia.

@ajayKumarajayKumar-hr7sj Жыл бұрын

@@davidstrohl That's lovely, sir. You are truly in love with your car.

@unclestuka8543 Жыл бұрын

Being in the U.S. military in the 50's & 60's based in Europe was a "Hollywood" posting, plenty of money, superior uniforms, taking you car from base to base, px food, and tax free petrol !! What a life you Guys had.

@emmcee662 7 ай бұрын

Fascinating! Thank you

@christbanner3219 Жыл бұрын

Τhis is a piece of history that is scarcely explored and reported in the West. Thank you for the information. I have been watching your videos one after the other in the past few days and of course I have subscribed.

@PeterMayer 19 күн бұрын

My family left East Berlin, thankfully, around 1950.

@davidlally592 Жыл бұрын

Mm interesting. BTW I've always been int in the borders between the eastern countries eg DDR and then Cz and between DDR and Poland and of course between Poland and Cz. I'm told they had barbed wire fences between them also. And one needed a visa to travel between them. This of course also applies to Poland and then USSR, Hungary and Romania etc. Oddly enough whilst in Vienna in 1979 I discovered then, unusually, that between Hungary and Austria, no visas were needed!! Of course no Hungarian could go any further (eg into West Germany) or Austrian (eg into Cz) without a visa.

@eastgermanyinvestigated Жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing this!

@ottosaxo Жыл бұрын

At least the land border between GDR and Poland, around the city of Stettin, was marked by a double line of barbed wire fence, not as high as the "Iron Curtain", but nasty enough. No border crossing "by mistake" was possible. Keep in mind, that free-living wolves didn't exist in Western Germany, until 1990. After that they spread westward again in a couple of years.

@dx7388 Жыл бұрын

I was in Hungary in 1989 and asked a Hungarian citizen about requirements to cross the border into Austria: No visa ,no passport needed, just the national ID booklet with an additional piece of paper. Also, citizens could buy the Austrian currency for a better exchange rate that the black market rate. Generally no visas or passports were required within the East Block countries. Just their national ID booklets with a stamp inside: Permitted to travel to: USSR, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, DDR. The most relaxed policy was between East Germany - Czechoslovakia and Hungary. Their citizens could enjoy virtually no restrictions on travel. The stamp itself didn't mean you could travel to the Soviet Union. Apart from the stamp there were several other requirements and the Soviet Union the most difficult to get to. Poland - Hungary: in the 80s no restrictions, additionally you needed a currency booklet confirming you purchased the currency from an official state owned source. From Poland to DDR: an invitation letter stamped by DDR Polizei and a currency booklet with at least 200 Mark exchange . DDR to Poland was easier: No currency booklet required, and the invitation letter was simpler. Romania and Bulgaria were very strict at that time.

@telluwide5553 9 ай бұрын

Well done! Thank you!

@hibernianperspective6183 Жыл бұрын

Great video and channel. I had heard of the post war Soviet 'relocations' but I had not heard of these, but it is something I assumed must have taken place in order to build the inner border fence. Did something similar happen to the tenants of buildings in Berlin when they built the Berlin Wall? Thank you for sharing.

@nematolvajkergetok5104 16 күн бұрын

The Commies did this in Hungary too. "Class aliens", "politically suspicious elements", but even people with German ancestry (because, you know, they started the war!) were often resettled from Budapest and major cities to somewhere in the Great Plains, where they had to dwell in dilapidated agricultural buildings, or the less lucky didn't even have that. A very accurate and somber movie titled "Soha, sehol senkinek" (Never, nowhere, nobody) depicts the calvary of such a family, loosely based on the filmmaker's own families.

@Thebibs Жыл бұрын

Eviction and Transportation by trains at night. Some things never change.

@brucedanton3669 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for this of course!

@tonybaker55 Жыл бұрын

Having watched this, it makes me think of what the people of Kherson might be going through, with their deportation by the occupying Russian forces. Very similar in that Soviet/Russian controlled government was in power in the area.

@kasugaryuichi9767 Жыл бұрын

Soviets and russians never cared about the suffering of their own people, let alone others. Disgusting regimes, hope we'll see a complete dismantlement of russia in our lifetime.

@Tobi-ln9xr Жыл бұрын

No it’s not similar. And that’s the reason why channels like that are so important because people in the English-speaking world have no understanding of the eastern block. The DDR was a mostly sovereign and separate country. The Berlin Wall was planned and built by the East German government. The Soviet Union had nothing to do with that. The only reason why Soviet soldiers were in East Germany was because allied troops didn’t recognize East Germany as a separate country and therefore weren’t willing to take orders from East German authorities when they were crossing into the DDR through the "Transitautobahn“. And Ukraine was also a republic of the USSR, like Russia btw.

@prideevaine1725 Жыл бұрын

@@Tobi-ln9xrOh dear... "The only reason Russian forces..".. The Soviets were there to prop up the communist divetntmrnt as they were in Hungary and Czechoslavakia... The communist governments of Eastern Europe had a lot of autonomy but the regimes needed the soviet military to stay in power.. Look how soon the regimes collasped as soon as the USSR collasped..

@maxsonthonax1020 2 ай бұрын

@@prideevaine1725 Er, for one, most "Iron Curtain" countries changed their form of government in 1989-1990. The USSR was only legislated out of existence in 1991, AFTER.

@christopherellis2663 Жыл бұрын

I have met people who left, under the barbed wire and machine guns. No one was happy under Communism.

@jean6872 Жыл бұрын

You exaggerate.

@kasugaryuichi9767 Жыл бұрын

@@jean6872 OK tankie

@christopherellis2663 Жыл бұрын

@jean6872 Okay, the Party Members were satisfied with their lot. Other people were happy to risk their lives to escape oppression. Happy?

@jean6872 Жыл бұрын

@@christopherellis2663 Your use of the word "Other" people needs qualification. Some others wanted to go to the Bundesrepublik but millions lived their lives in the DDR without getting involved in politics. They were not SED party members only but ordinary working class people with trades which afforded them a reasonably comfortable lifestyle, having families, bringing up their children, fed and clothed and with a home for everyone and full employment with free health care. Professionals too were represented in engineering, education, architecture, the arts, etc. Many people like those in other European countries grew up in loving homes, had friends at school, and thought the sun rose and set in the home towns and cities from small industrial Heimatstadt in the valleys of the Erzgebirge to Städte with bigger populations. Von den Ruinen aus schien die Sonne über Deutschland. They did not all want to live in the capitalist rat race that was West Germany.

@dalegribble1560 10 ай бұрын

@@jean6872 Yeah tankie F### Socialism, DDR was a shithole, I believe Hate Speech is Free Speech, I believe in privacy and right to Religion, and I own A LOT of guns what you gonna do? Send me to the Gulag? LOL

@Unfurled127 11 ай бұрын

I'm searching for my relatives from the Mecklandburg area. My ansestors emingrated from there in 1871. My 23&Me shows little population from that area, however large populations in Poland. Is there a DATA base of document I could search for relitives?

@kmestre9253 Жыл бұрын

After the fall of the DDR any of this People retorned to their homes??

@eastgermanyinvestigated Жыл бұрын

Good question! When people were allowed to visit their former home towns again after the fall of the Wall in 1989, they were often shocked: - Their former houses were dilapidated or torn down. - Everything looked differently from how people had remembered it. - During their absence, life had continued one or two generations. Neighbours and friends had died or left. In some cases, distrust between the resettled and the ones who had stayed, resulted in tensions (‘The ones that had to leave were all criminals’ / ‘The ones that were allowed to stay are all fanatic members of the communist party.’). On top of that, the former border regions were (and partly still are) not very economically attractive regions where you can easily find a job. Therefore, only very few people went back to their former homeland.

@TheYizuman Жыл бұрын

People that lost their homes and property from various reasons, were there lawsuits filed against the former government? How much property was recovered by former owners or by family of deceased former owners?

@dalegribble1560 10 ай бұрын

Hundreds of Thousands fled to West Germany? GEE I WONDER WHY???

@familyandfriends3519 8 ай бұрын

That's what they get for murder millions and starting ww2

@mmaedits2002 5 ай бұрын

@@familyandfriends3519 nobody asked. Hating germany wont get your grandpa back

@renaatsenechal 19 күн бұрын

Their land was plundered and exploited by stalin

@renaatsenechal 19 күн бұрын

Their land and material were plundered by stalin

@PeterMayer 19 күн бұрын

I hate the bloody DDR.

@TheRichardSpearman 14 күн бұрын

Blame the division of Germany on the same power that split Korea and Vietnam.

@bluebear6570 Жыл бұрын

Why do you use all those meaningless generic scenes taken from the internet? Serious research and investigation looks different!

@yellowgreen5229 Жыл бұрын

Stalin should have taken all of Germany.

@familyandfriends3519 8 ай бұрын

And got rid of germs

@barryjm Жыл бұрын

Great video. Just too bad you speak fluent "Dinglish." As you're clearly Dutch, you don't even realize how bad your English is. There is a real language called English, which is not spoken in in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Please ask a native speaker to sit down with you and correct the mistakes in your video. I realize it's impossible to change your mind, as the Dutch are convinced their English is better than any native speaker's.

@patrickmccutcheon9361 Жыл бұрын

I am a native English speaker but can attest to the fact that Dutch people generally speak excellent English of a higher quality than most native English speakers. They don’t make mistakes like saying “I was sat” or use expressions like “Aw rye mate”.

@briangross Жыл бұрын

Why so bitter? This is a guy who’s making interesting videos provided to you for free. Yep, he has a Dutch accent. And English is the primary language of global communication. I’m a native English speaker and every day enjoy videos from all around the world in my native language made by non native speakers and it’s a god-damned blessing. I have lived in The Netherlands for 11 years and know that many Dutch speak fluent English, indeed often with a heavy accent, and with imperfect grammar and vocabulary choices, and also with self confidence and a lack of the odd British constant need to apologize which is characteristic of their very successful society! There are many spheres such as large companies, and universities, where English is the daily language of work. This means English is simply acquiring new regional versions such as it already has across the Commonwealth. So the real question is…why the F does this BOTHER you so much?

@TheRichardSpearman 14 күн бұрын

Nonsense.The presenter's English is very good, clearly understandable,with very few errors. If you do not like it, do not watch.

@barryjm 14 күн бұрын

@@TheRichardSpearman He's speaking Dinglish... In the first few seconds... "Let me explain you what happend..." OMG... LOL...

@charlescole3040 Жыл бұрын

During the late 1960s, I spent two years on the border monitoring Soviet military radio communications. I saw "up close and personal" how brutal the East German regime was. Tatsaechlich Ungeziefer! I was thrilled when it fell apart in 1989. Auf Nimmerwiedersehen, DDR und Stasi.

@wdizard Жыл бұрын

Forced relocations of ethnic German citizens in Prussia, as well as parts of Czechoslovakia and western Poland (current borders) were, frequently, even more violent in the years immediately after mid-1945. It was a complex situation, but that doesn't excuse the fact, for example, that Churchill decided to agree to return thousands of members of the Polish Army stationed in Scotland in 1945 to Stalin's control. Those people knew that the Soviets were going to put them directly into the gulags.

@RMmilitarymiscellany Жыл бұрын

Superb videos, I'm really glad to have found your channel.

@pzgreni282 3 ай бұрын

Your videos about the GDR are superb! Much of this information has been available on KZbin - but only in German. Your channel makes the GDR's history accessible to a much larger audience. I also commend you on your very clear presentation style, without dramatic or emotional commentary. The irrational and inhuman nature of the SED regime becomes crystal clear when you describe its actions and their results. Lastly, as a Dutchman, you have much higher credibility than any German or American historian. Your content can't just be dismissed as pro West Germany / anti GDR propaganda. Thank you for your work, and for sharing it with us.

@1258-Eckhart Жыл бұрын

The definition of "Unrechtsregime".

@TheRichardSpearman 14 күн бұрын

Usual high standard. The role of the USA in the division of Germany (and Korea and Vietnam)is never mentioned. The FRG encouraged GDR citizens to migrate there....

@mpetersen6 Жыл бұрын

I looked at the thumbnail and saw "landgrabben". Just how many of the personel in the Stasi were former Gestapo.

@RoNPlayer 4 ай бұрын

Landgraben ist german for countryside ditch

@Clint-zs4rq 21 күн бұрын

None you clod. The commies were diametrically opposed to the former Nzi regime. Only a brainwashed American would think that the former would seamlessly fit in with the latter.

@malcolmbrooke3703 7 ай бұрын

I visited Jahrsau in 2022....how many villages along the 1377km border were abandoned and demolished?

@fedepetit Жыл бұрын

How could MÖDLAREUTH survived ?. I visited this place a few years ago and it was in the middle of the border.

@eastgermanyinvestigated Жыл бұрын

Good question. A video on Mödlareuth is planned!

@jean6872 Жыл бұрын

Mödlareuth had a permanent military presence with watchtower and a wall. So, it was guarded 24/7.

@no-damn-alias Жыл бұрын

Well it could be seen from the west and the GDR minded what the west public actually thought about them. So they didn't wanted a scandal. Not the only village as close to the border

@peterpeterholt Жыл бұрын

Very interesting. Thank you.

@DarkbaseTTV 11 ай бұрын

After all of this I'm still surprised we do not have more of a libertarian mentality in Germany and a lot of people still seem to favor a big state and state intervention. It has never turned out well for us and has lead to disasters in the past. I'm afraid we don't learn

@mfbfreak 8 ай бұрын

Because libertarianism has already failed multiple times too. The only thing that works, is state intervention for life essentials like housing, education, infrastructure and medical care - and no state intervention for the rest, aside from keeping an eye on monopolies. Free market monopolies are just as bad as state monopolies, and are guaranteed to happen if you don't keep some power over the market. The only system that works, combines the strengths from one philosophy, whith those of the other. Just take a look at the USA as an example of libertarianism/market liberalism that won't work: they pay hundreds, sometimes a thousand dollar per month for medical insurance. A proper education is unaffordable to many. Roads, bridges and railroads are crumbling, and owned by private companies that hinder passenger travel on the railroads. Violent crime much higher than in any western european country. Droves of adult people forced to live together in a shitty apartment, while paying as much for one single room as western europeans do for the whole apartment. Western Germany is an example of a system that has worked reasonably well for the past 5 decades or so. A combination of large corporations that are running well, good worker's rights, good education, relatively low crime levels etc etc etc. While absolutely not perfect, it is more functional than many other countries. OR take a look at the netherlands, where i live: housing coops were allowed to become for profit companies which has resulted in rents absolutely skyrocketing. Health care and insurance was privatized, which has resulted in a dramatic increase in cost as well as many more rules that exclude people. Education gets more expensive each year, and so does public transport ever since that was also privatized - while reliability goes down. Homelessness increased by a factor 3 since the year 2000, helped along by liberal (for the USA'ians, that means free market driven, not socially liberal) governments. We are doing the shitty market liberalism thing and trust me, it is NOT good at all compared to the social democracy thing we had going from the 1960s till the early 2000s.