Exploring The History of The Berlin Wall

In this video, we're in Berlin exploring a strange chapter in German history where two versions of the nation existed at the same time divided by an inner German border. Specifically, today's video will focus on the country's capital, and the Wall that sliced it in two. Cold War history is endlessly convoluted so I cannot promise that we at Decades are the best suited to give it a go, but regardless we shall.
Welcome to our history channel, run by those with a real passion for history & that's kind of it.
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Ethan's KZbin channel: / fizhy
Ethan's Twitter: / ejwoodgates
Ethan's Instagram: / fizhyee
Connor's Instagram: / railpicturesuk
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[@Fizhy]

Soviet beans

[@iceyyz_freeze]

So true

[@Mario5380]

Very enjoyable and intriguing video all the way through. Cool to see locations in today's time. Great video, Ethan!

[@DecadesVideos]

Cheers Mario!

[@gamerboy6787]

Thank you for this here video. I've never had the Berlin Wall and its associated history explained to me in this much detail before. Thank you for all your hard work!

[@DecadesVideos]

This is only the broad strokes really, it's far deeper than one youtube video but we did our best!

[@eurasian73]

Great video. My wife and I visited Berlin in November 2023. We were impressed with the city and found the history to be quite interesting. We too wanna visit again and German beer is fantastic!

[@DecadesVideos]

Thank you for watching! I'm headed back to Berlin next month and I covet the beer.

[@Jipwell]

Hope you enjoyed your visit! It’s a great city

[@DecadesVideos]

It is a fascinating place!

[@Longshanks1690]

I forget the exact details but apparently when Reagan was travelling to Berlin for his Brandenburg speech, he was told by his German policy experts and advisers not to bring the topic of the wall up. So far as everyone was concerned, it was a settled topic and he shouldn’t cause unnecessary controversy by bringing it up. Not being German, Reagan heeded their advice. Then when he was in Berlin at an event of some sort, he was speaking to Berliners and the topic of the wall came up, and it was here Reagan realised the truth - it wasn’t that the wall was accepted, everyone hated the wall, they hated what it was and what it represented and wanted it to come down, the only reason they didn’t talk about it was because they’d given up hope of it ever happening. It was apparently these conversations that made Reagan change his mind and made him determined to make the Wall a key focus of his upcoming speech instead. One may criticise Reagan and the United States more broadly for many things, especially in the 20th century and the Cold War, but there should be no doubt that in the matter of Berlin, Reagan was unequivocally on the right side and did the right thing. And while his admirers tend to overstate his influence in ending the wall, the Cold War and the Soviet Union, it’s nevertheless undoubtable that his words and influence brought immeasurable benefit to the German reunification effort. It’s not hard to see why this point was described as the end of history, the beginning of the spread of liberal democracy to every corner of the globe as it was an unstoppable force of good and justice. A feeling which lasted roughly until about September 2001. Regardless, that initial optimism when the wall came down was evocative of a genuine euphoria which spread throughout Germany and Europe at that time in the wake of the collapse of communism and Reagan’s words in the right place and the right time played more than a small part in helping bring that into reality.

[@oldthrasbarg641]

A great vid. Well put together and presented. A big well done, I look forward to seeing more of your work.

[@DecadesVideos]

Cheers!

[@jungleee_7]

So happy VTH recommended your channel to me. Now one of my favourites

[@DecadesVideos]

[@mattgeorge90]

Thank you for sharing!

[@DecadesVideos]

Thank you for joining us

[@bardiaozzie]

Hyped to go there myself in three weeks! Awesome video.

[@DecadesVideos]

Absolutely glorious city!

[@suecrowhurst4393]

Love the history thankyou

[@DecadesVideos]

Thank you for watching!

[@attilay2k224]

Wow those 41 minutes flew by, great work guys. I can't wait to see what's coming next.

[@DecadesVideos]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@piercehawke8021]

On another KZbin channel; 3 days after the Wall opened, the VoPos and Bundespolizei set up at least one direct telephone line so both agencies could handle crowd control, AKA mundane police work. Also the BuPos parked a string of police vehicles right in front of the Wall at the Brandenburg Gate with their now VoPo colleagues handling things on their side. Around then; 2 new checkpoints were opened by each end of the Gate.

[@guitaristanime]

Great video, well done.

[@DecadesVideos]

Thank you for watching!

[@chipmunkhunt]

I was stationed there for 3 years. 1984 to 1987. Wish I could get back there to walk thru the Brandenburg Gate

[@DecadesVideos]

This was my first time visiting the city, beautiful place.

[@witoldknitter4995]

I was lucky to be in West Berlin. Amazing city!

[@DecadesVideos]

Indeed, quite fond of Berlin

[@connorjonesdecades521]

Oh yes this is going to be a goodone

[@DecadesVideos]

This is the beginning of a long saga of visits.

[@hawtozer]

I once heard that "Ich bin ein Berliner" actually roughly translates to "I am a doughnut" in German, because the German word for "Berliner" is different. Could be BS though.

[@DecadesVideos]

Yeah Berliner can mean doughnut.

[@giovanni8199]

Really cool to see all these places I have been to aswell I just thought it was a shame that there was so much grafitti on the berlin wall. I don't understand why they don't just remove it.

[@DecadesVideos]

They actually do remove any that crops up on the Eastern side, but graffiti on the Western side is considered authentic I think.

[@gavinhirst3136]

Have I just done the mental arithmetic correctly? AIN'T NO WAY Fizhy is only 23 🤣 You must've had a tough paper round lad

[@DecadesVideos]

What makes you say that? And I'm 22 until 5 days from now.

[@gavinhirst3136]

@@DecadesVideos Nothing physical brother, your humour is just so dark and cynical I assumed you were at least 30 and fed up with life 🤣

[@DecadesVideos]

​@@gavinhirst3136 good to know that by 30 I'll be spinning some really unhinged jokes then.

[@gavinhirst3136]

@@DecadesVideos Cannot wait, I'll still be here, keep up the good work man

[@DecadesVideos]

@@gavinhirst3136

[@Longshanks1690]

I wonder how the car park over the Furherbunker is regarded by Berliners today. Is it just another place you don’t really think much of, or is it somewhere you consciously try to avoid going to unless you don’t have much other choice? Either rationale would make sense but humans are superstitious creatures by nature, and I really wouldn’t blame any German who wants to avoid any association with that time as possible, even if it’s something as irrational as not using a car park because of what it was built on top of.

[@DecadesVideos]

I think it's a private car park and residents just use it to park their cars as all the buildings around appear to be apartments and there are barriers. I don't think locals think about it, though. The city itself isn't shy about it as there's a plaque identifying it for what was there before it. When it comes to the dark side of history, you'll find car parks serve as the ultimate insult. Removing the symbol of what came before and replacing it with nothing meaningful, such as a car park, goes to show what the Germans today think of the Nazis. To answer your dilemma, the car park is just that, a car park, and that's the point.

[@ugfpandas007]

Oppenheimer

[@DecadesVideos]

Him