Last Days of East Berlin: Tense Footage of Protests at Checkpoint Charlie and Berlin Wall (1989)

[@hansmuller1625]

We traveled through east Germany in 1988, when i was three years old. I still remember my father's very clear instruction to remain absolutely still and silent at the border. And i still have my passport with the GDR stamp in it.

[@DaveBoothroyd-ej5in]

What was he worried you as a 3 year old might say?

[@overworlder]

I went through CP Charlie same year. All they wanted was deutschmarks and demanded so many be changed into DDR marks. It was hard to get rid of all the DDR marks in one day, even in the restaurants on the Unter Den Linden - each hosting a couple tables of foreigners - none of the locals could afford.

[@gilescaver8841]

I travelled from Prague to East Berlin in 1988 and was surprised at the differences. The latter’s citizens were as unhappy a people as I’d ever seen. The former’s were optimistic.

[@suzanneterrey4499]

@@DaveBoothroyd-ej5in Anything would set them off. When I sent through the checkpoint, the guard yelled at me to take off my sunglasses.

[@ursulafranke4552]

Lächerlich

[@dasbose4962]

I am from the east side and I was 11 when the wall went down. I remember very well when after few days we walked with my family towards the west, was such a feeling, so much happiness from most people.

[@valicourt]

Fantastic! I was 14 and watched it with interest on the news. I remember the months before this many East Germans going to Prague and on to west Germany. You could feel it was about to boil over.

[@bonjourtoi3894]

Bravo. Lisez mon commentaire plus haut. Je suis très heureux que ce mur soit tombé. L'Allemagne est très belle avec des gens incroyables. Nous avons été très bien reçu lors de nos exercices. C'est pour cela que nous devons à tout pris soutenir l'Ukraine et toute l'Europe de l'Est. Merci à tous nos alliés. L'Europe de l'Est est si belle et précieuse. Liberté pour vous tous. xxxxxx

[@КолтуновСерёга]

@@bonjourtoi3894 English Wikipedia address "Homelessness in Germany" Homelessness in Germany is a significant social issue, one that is estimated to affect around 678,000 people.[1] Since 2014, there has been a 150% increase in the homeless population within the country.[2] Reportedly, around 22,000 of the homeless population are children.[1] In addition, the country has yet to publish statistics on homelessness at a Federal Level[3] despite it being an ongoing and widespread matter. C'est pour cela que nous devons à tout pris soutenir l'Ukraine et toute l'Europe de l'Est.

[@RickTheClipper]

Warum wird dann heute von genau den gleichen Leuten erzählt wie toll die DäDäRä war? Entscheidet Euch mal oder seid Ihr immer noch sauer weil es in 33 Jahren nur einmal Begrüssungsgeld gab?

[@tyskerbarn5171]

die DDR war ein Freiheitsparadies gegen die heutige rot"grüne" Diktatur .

[@alanstrong55]

Those East German officials felt the tension to let their people go. The Stassi knew that its regime was crumbling.

[@GIORDANOBRUNO1969]

Thanks for uploading! These videos are monuments of history! Greetings from Italy! 👋👋

[@McIntyreBible]

These are the sort of documentaries that I like: no commentary!

[@petewarby7158]

Is that because of the AI stuff on KZbin currently?

[@josephpickard3108]

This footage is great. We are fast losing the history of the GDR/FRG times so it's good to see stuff from the time

[@danielfl.9347]

Is it not BRD and DDR?

[@josephpickard3108]

@@danielfl.9347 UK News outlets would say FRG/GDR

[@danielfl.9347]

@@josephpickard3108 Oh, I had no idea. I live in Denmark, so I'm used to the other terms. Thanks!

[@davidgjam7600]

​@@josephpickard3108as a native English speaker, "GDR" sounds so weird. I'd rather use the German acronym

[@valyshknee4203]

yeah i infact checked on the old inner german border this month, some remnants still exist like the patrol roads and anti-tank ditches which were turned into small rivers, you can still somewhat see it though you really have to know what to look for, the border is now called the green line or something like that, its a nature reserve since the DMZ was almost untouched since its construction landwise, you can see it by basically seeing a line of young trees inbetween much older trees, but its sad most was removed, would've liked if the government left behind most of the fencing and some of the towers, but turn the towers into hunting towers, sightseeing towers, or even water/grain towers, maybe even sell them to private companies to make some experience out of it like sleeping in a east german control tower with the area around you looking like how it did in 1989 but the iron curtain itself can still be seen at the hungarian border with serbia, they have been kept in order to form the new border, its still used

[@peterenevoldsen7199]

It was surreal to witness. As a Dane growing up in the 70’s and 80’s, the division of east and west seemed eternal. Thanks to the East German guards for keeping their cool.

[@alexrodgers9247]

I went thru Checkpoint Charlie about a month before everything changed. I served the Underground church in Communist Romania, and those crossings were nerve wracking for a guy raised on the beach in San Diego. But, NOTHING came close to walking thru Checkpoint Charlie, and with your passport on an antiquated conveyor belt. The long drive from West Germany thru East Germany to free West Berlin was so hard to fathom. Saying goodbye to my friend from E. Germany was very difficult knowing what life was like for him and his family. I Felt guilt to be able to go to freedom, but he had to stay. My last words to him on the other side of the chain link fence were, “Next time you have to come see me”, he smiled and said, “If only”! One month later he and his family were FREE!

[@kancelariaprawnaziobroston6613]

Free west berlin in the american sector. Germany are still not free from USA.

[@timeouthumanity2067]

@@kancelariaprawnaziobroston6613 Very true!

[@joeywelander1833]

​@@kancelariaprawnaziobroston6613 Hello Mr Vatnik

[@JML6988]

​@@kancelariaprawnaziobroston6613you oppose vaccines also?

[@fviannaval]

American comments never fail to be amusing!

[@elpresso1983]

Absolutely bonkers how empty and quiet that all looked then considering how built up and busy it is today!

[@tyskerbarn5171]

yes- coloured and unsave.....

[@OrangeTabbyCat]

@@tyskerbarn5171Blah. Doesn’t this ever get old. Racism really is so boring…

[@tyskerbarn5171]

@@OrangeTabbyCat Doesn’t this ever get old. Racism - WOKE really is so boring…😁😆🍌🍌🍌

[@Euer_Hochwuergen]

@@OrangeTabbyCat its not getting old for people who live in the past...

[@kc4cvh]

1:57 The camera is most likely a Praktica. I had one of these in the early 1980s, they were imported from the DDR and sold through Sears, Roebuck & Co.'s photographic specialties catalog.

[@vitameat]

Had one as a teenager...cost was half of a Canon or Nikon. Worked quite well but didn't have the variety of lenses, however it had a bayonet mount that would accept Pentax!

[@AshleyPomeroy]

The giveaway sign is the shutter button - instead of being on the top, it was on the front, at an angle. They were fairly popular in the UK as well.

[@BarringtonRobinsonII]

It's a Zenit

[@bas078nl9]

​@@BarringtonRobinsonII no its not, looks like either a Praktica Super TL 3 or MTL3, most likely with a pentacon made 135mm lens

[@dennissvitak5475]

I traveled by train from Frankfurt, West Germany to Berlin, for a music festival, in 1973. All US military dependent high schools sent music students there. We went by train, through East Germany, and it was VERY scary. We were told we would be shot if we opened the windows of the train.

[@ursulafranke4552]

Wie dumm ihr seid, day zu glauben . Ihr seid Gehirn gewaschen.

[@Time4Technology]

Interesting footage, thank you for uploading!

[@overallgreatidea6433]

Went into East Berlin in fall of 1986. There was a department store near the radio tower that had more western powers servicemen than any other customers. I don't see it on the satellite map now. There was still, after 40 years, the occasional shell of a building, presumably from WWII, fenced off with rubble banked up inside. Lots of statues down the main avenues in typical Soviet style. Drab, drab. Very sobering. I still remember the look on an East German soldier's face when I held out my hand to give him my leftover DDR marks that I didn't need. He started to lift his hand but looked down the street and back at me and simply shook his head. I turned and walked away and looked back where he had looked and saw two officers a block away looking at us. My only attempt at East-West diplomacy had failed, lol

[@AllisterCaine]

Great story. The one story you hear from every tourist to the GDR is, they couldn't get rid of the ostmark because there basically was nothing to spend it on... You propably thought absolutely nothing of it and wanted to be kind but to the other side, it would have looked like you were some spy bribing a guard or something. Really shows how paranoid you needed to be in that abomination of a country. They would have instantly sacked the guy for being gifted some money you honestly had not the slightest use for anymore.

[@colinvespa4709]

The East German marks are now collectable items.

[@flusi2214]

The department store could have been CENTRUM on Alexanderplatz, now GALERIA

[@overallgreatidea6433]

thanks, it was indeed, I used query "centrum" to find some old images. The honeycomb exterior is what I remembered from the 1980s but since it was torn off, I could not recognize it on street views. best2u @@flusi2214

[@GerbenV90]

I went with school to Berlin when I was 16 in 2006. Only 16 years after the reunification. To me it was hard to imagine these two sides had been separated for so long. They were taking down the Palast der Republik back then. Thinking about it: 9/11 feels still like, well maybe not yesterday, but still so vivid in my memory, and that has been more than 22 years. So when I was in berlin east and west had only been reunified for 16 years. The city center around friedrichstrasse, mitte, brandenburgertor, hauptbahnhof, and many other places looked nóthing like as pictured in this video. They started rebuilding the city in no time. Remarkable.

[@tyskerbarn5171]

today the whole capitol is a red- green shithole.

[@billyhynes8429]

I’ve just returned from a visit to Berlin and how things have changed from the video. Beautiful city

[@testtor2714]

Worst city I've ever seen.

[@witoldknitter4995]

I was in West Berlin. Today is hard to believe,that the city was divided.

[@tyskerbarn5171]

today its united Kalifat.

[@henryhiggins6567]

@@tyskerbarn5171 Bullshit!

[@schopen-hauer]

how did the subway worked? did it crossed back and fourth? east and west? could people sneak in through the sewer system?

[@tyskerbarn5171]

Today the whole city is a shithole.

[@henryhiggins6567]

@@tyskerbarn5171 Schwachsinn!

In 1988 i spent several days in DDR..as an latin american tourist ..the differences between the two countries were appalling..we can not move freely ..everything was controlled until the minutest detail..East Berlin got a lot of polluted air..it was an interesting experience for all of us..one year later the wall felldown..but these is another history...

[@Luca-vv1ml]

When America,The west and communism gain power, the world is over.

[@tyskerbarn5171]

ALL is controlled today, worse than under communists.

[@tyskerbarn5171]

today- everything IS controlled until the minutest detail.

[@Euer_Hochwuergen]

@@tyskerbarn5171 you can alaways leave if you are upset, nobody controls that ;)

[@tyskerbarn5171]

@@Euer_Hochwuergen but today- ALL is under controll!😁

[@gerhard6105]

Nice video. I am Dutch. My mothers cousin and his wife visited us in 1988. They were from the DDR. One of these days they were tLki g to my parent about the home journey. As a 15 year old i asked: can i go with them (mag ik mee)? They started talking and it was a yes. It was my summer holiday time. Ofcourse we had to arrange a pasport for me, wich i still have, the visa and an i ternational train ticket. Al in a short time. I was in the DDR already in 1977 and 1983. The 3 of us went into the GDR by train. A full day journey. When i was there, one day we went to East Berlin with my a bit older cousin and two girls in a Trabant, all the way from near Dresden to Berlin, via the Autobahn. We visited the city all day. We went to the wall (east side ofcourse), tv tower, and several other sights. In July 1990 was there again, still GDR but open, and visited both sides with my uncle from the GDR. Both were very good holidays. My father worked for ITT here in the Netherlands and when we went to the GDR in 1983, he was questioned by higher people from ITT.

[@michaelb2388]

I went into East Berlin for the day in August 1989 with my brother who lived in West Berlin. Obviously we had no idea things were about to change

[@tyskerbarn5171]

not changed better....

[@Pintkonan]

if you watch closely in some shots you can still see the holes of bullets or shrapnel that flew around in some buildings. over 44 years after the war ended.

[@johnmacaroni105]

Go to the Ritz Hotel in London, and you'll see bullet holes on its outside walls from ww2 fighter planes. America just doesn't have that experience.

[@thumperpaul]

The Ostie border guards look hopelessly lost and confused. You can almost feel sorry for them

[@darkprince9064]

They are the Stasi

[@AJGeeTV]

Great archive video. I was there, too. It seems like yesterday....

[@PeterMayer]

My family is from east Berlin but eventually made it out to west Berlin. I went into Sunny East Berlin in 1974. When I was 15 and with my wife in 1988.

[@valyshknee4203]

thats a lie, only a couple hundred/thousand escaped during the times of the border wall.

[@adlerarmory8382]

I was stationed in the US Sektor then. My unit was busy in the field training, in Doughboy City and in the Grunewald while these last days went down. I was trying to sleep, curled up under my woobie, in a slight rain in the Grunewald when the radio watch said "The Berlin Wall was opened up" I was like "Yeah, right", went back to sleep until we were supposed to awake at 0300 for a pre-dawn night attack. We finished our training then as we assembled by the Avus, we heard all the cars beeping the horns, the streets were full of Trabis beeping and waving at us. It took over an hour for the bus ride back to McNair Barracks instead of the normal 12 minutes.

[@anthonywalsh7613]

I was there 1988-90 When they initially opened Bornholmer, we went down there the following night. They were still coming through

[@ct6852]

Must've been such a culture shock for East Berlin. I would bet it was difficult to adjust. For a while at least.

[@johnmacaroni105]

I think many were kept occupied, fascinated by computer games, hundreds of TV channels to watch, betting shops and shopping malls to visit and holidays to Spain to go on. I think they felt self conscious with their clothes and hairstyles to be honest but did show off how to make good moonshine which the people of the west thought okayish but dangerous but didn't say in case they appeared weak.

[@ct6852]

@@johnmacaroni105 Oh yeah they probably had a lot of side gigs during those years. Didn't think of that. moonshine would be a good one. Reminds me of the side of my family from TN.

[@directscientific4550]

@@johnmacaroni105 Most in the East already had access to western media. Most did not have enough money to enjoy the materialism of the West.

[@louiskoenig9719]

J'étais militaire 1 an à Berlin en 1976 ( Quartier Napoléon) chaque mois nous allions à l'Est une journée, nous etions '' largués '' à Alexanderplatz, et nous egaillions dans Berlin ( sûrement sous surveillance) , grands souvenirs.

[@RollOnToVictory]

As the WW2 generation begins to exit stage left, its still wild to think there's people in the 30s who were alive in a world with an "Allied Checkpoint"

[@jogi2003]

Great pictures of Berlin and the Berlin Wall in the 80s ❤, vielen Dank 🙏💪👌

[@mathisnotforthefaintofheart]

Excellent footage. Never knew that the Eastern part of Checkpoint C was that that big

[@DIETRICHCICCONE]

"Herr Honecker" My grandad was an Irish diplomat and met him a couple of times. Short, with a bizarre voice apparently.

[@MrZeitgenosse]

Ich war vier oder fünf mal in Ost-Berlin. Jedes mal hatte ich kein gutes Gefühl und war froh, wieder in West-Berlin zu sein. Auch der Transit durch die DDR nach Westdeutschland war nicht angenehm. Man fühlte sich ständig beobachtet und hatte Angst etwas falsch zu machen.

[@Das_Deutsche_Moerdervolk]

Berechtigt, es gab Westdeutsche, die sind in die DDR gereist und wurden verhaftet, weil die Stasi nur die Vermutung erwägt hatte, dass derjenige den Besuch für Spionage nutzen wolte, obwohl man nur die Verwandten sehen wolte. Häufige Fälle waren solche Leute, die aktive-Bundeswehr-Soldaten waren und bei dem es die Stasi auch wusste.

[@Das_Deutsche_Moerdervolk]

Ach du Scheiße, wieder mal so ein kackspackenabgejöckelter Irrer, der terrorausflippen in seiner Spackrübe muss und der seine Geisteskrankheit dadurch zeigt, weil er nicht einmal merkt, dass man sich über damals und längst vergangenes und nicht über jetzt und heute was erzählt. Das Deutsche Beknacktenvolk läuft wieder auf.

[@MrZeitgenosse]

@@sleepmnan22sleepman50 Soso, ich Fantasiere und überschätze meine Bedeutung. Kennen wir uns persönlich? Ich denke nicht! Wie oft waren Sie denn so in Ost-Berlin und mussten sich am Grenzübergang schikanieren lassen?

[@tyskerbarn5171]

Nach deem Untergang der DDR ist es noch interessanter dem Untergang ganz "Deutschlands" zuzusehen.

[@xXOneEight5evenXx]

Ist doch heute nicht anders.😂 DDR❤

[@bradleypierce1561]

I was born in West Germany 20 years after the war. I always find anything about German reunification fascinating.

[@Putko007]

Amazing ! Thank you !

[@markpearson8721]

I visited Berlin twice while the wall was still standing in the 1980s. I then visited about a month after the wall opened. I remember going as a pedestrian through Checkpoint Charlie into East Berlin. The queue was quite long on the western side, but nothing like the length of the queue to go the other way on the eastern side. When I got to the Alexanderplatz I visited the Centrum department store, and eventually found my way to the toy department. It was virtually deserted even though this was barely two weeks before Christmas. When I returned to Checkpoint Charlie later in the day I could see why. The East Berliners were making their way back absolutely laden with carrier bags.

[@pieterbro173]

9:25 Under the lawn in front of the block of flats (visible at the top) are the underground bunker of Adolf

[@АзБукиВедиРазДваТри]

большой привет всем, кто считает себя немцем из ГДР. пусть возможно сегодня вас очень мало, но спасибо что вы были и еще большее спасибо, что вы есть. и простите если сможете.

[@ursulafranke4552]

Большой привет. Да, мы все еще существуем . У нас была российская оккупация .Теперь у нас есть западногерманская и американская оккупация . Спросите нас, насколько мы счастливы и удовлетворены этим.

[@martinigrochoowski8149]

You can go to Russia

[@maxkh17]

@@martinigrochoowski8149 It seems you don't know history well.

[@davidmesserly877]

Very interesting video. Thank you for uploading it. I used to try to explain the Cold War to my kids.

[@flitsertheo]

1:46 Looks like an East-German Praktica "L" type camera, possibly a MTL 5B. Outdated by 1989 (first model in that range dating from 1970) but that's what they sold to their own population. The way more modern "B" types were sold abroad to bring in "hard" currency.

[@masterkamen371]

The Prakticas weren't bad cameras at all. Probably the best cameras the Eastern Bloc produced. They had most, if not all of the features you'd expect from an SLR at that time and were good for their price. They were exported to Yugoslavia and many are still in use by amateur photographers over here. They're decently reliable (try comparing them to Soviet trash, you just can't) and are cheap used.

[@keithatkinson7649]

@@masterkamen371 an SLR, not a DSLR 😊

[@fwnm]

His "nazi trowsers..."

[@BavarianM]

B type Prakticas these days are less desired, since L type uses M42 Lens

[@flitsertheo]

@@BavarianM There are more M42 lenses because other manufacturers used those too but the range of B lenses was large enough for any photographic use.

[@danielfl.9347]

Thank you. Great photos of the city!

[@rockerjonni]

9:38 lock at the parking lot on the left side where all cars except the color are looking the same. This was east germany

[@moromali_minimal]

i guess it’s Trabant

[@rockerjonni]

@@moromali_minimal I think it's to long for Trabi. It could be Wartburg.

[@petermitchelmore2592]

In the days of the Monday demonstrations in Leipzig.

[@larsdrake7634]

And now in 2023 there are a lot of people who admire DDR. What was the Berlin wall needed for if it was such a paradise?

[@michaelb2388]

Really? A lot of people who admire the DDR?

[@uwepomeranus3137]

To keep the masses of hungry and shelterless West-Germans out of the Worker's and Farmer's Paradise .....and the AfD 😅

[@neilfoster814]

Yes, Ostalgie is a real thing (East nostalgia)

[@Greg-r3h5r]

GDR and the Berlin wall are forever a powerful part of history....The USSR suffered an estimated loss of 27 million people defeating the Nazi regime...They had every right to govern GDR however they chose including building a wall around West Berlin.

[@Greg-r3h5r]

@@michaelb2388 Yes

[@PeterRStewart]

To think l rode a chieftain tank down the heerstraasse in 1979 , thanks for the memories

[@1983Corolla]

Hard to believe Germany was split still up until 1989, unified Germany as we know it is so brand new still

[@christophermartin9143]

That last "Allied checkpoint" large hut-type building from Checkpoint Charlie is now in the Allied Museum in Clayallee on the south-western side of Berlin; had the priveledge of seeing it in October 2023

[@m42037]

Just think this was all due to one man, 45 years of suffering after, after he took his life ..

[@johnmacaroni105]

Well, Winston Churchill didn't have anything good to say about Bolsheviks as well in the 1920s, but then he got his huge debts cleared in 1938.

[@tonyf9076]

Served 86 to 91 at RAF Gatow and as a driver i crossed checkpoint Charlie many many times, as we didn't recognise East Germany we only showed our ID to the Russians, fun times...

[@carlcarlson983]

We were stationed in Germany at this time. This was a year before we moved back to the UK. My dad would have worked with the Gazelle helicopters you see in the aerial footage.

[@EdwardNakagawa-q3t]

THANKS, FOR SHOWING THE HISTORY, THAT HOPEFULLY THE WORLD WILL NEVER FORGET *

[@gontzallekzeit2050]

Un muy interesante documento de dos ciudades en las que tuve la especial fortuna de habitar durante un año y que me ofreció la vivencia de atravesar aquel muro en muchas ocasiones. Die waren speziele, schöne und unvergessliche Zeiten.

[@schopen-hauer]

this was filmed the day the wall came down, unreal.

[@flusi2214]

No, one month before.

[@matthewgordon-banks7553]

My first visit to East Berlin was in 1977. I remember it so well and had arrive originally in West Berlin from Helmstadt/Marienborn by train. There seemed no prospect of change then.

[@directscientific4550]

Bars on the windows of apartments make East Berlin look like a prison.

[@arvindsahai552]

This is like time travel.

[@L_U-K_E]

Very interesting footage.

[@JML6988]

You can tell who remembers only prosperity & freedom & privilege by their ignorant comments regarding this period in history before they were even born. Only those who lived oppression can appreciate freedom. Hats off to those who made it through communism & will never return to it.

[@intercommerce]

I do not disagree, therfore I cannot understand why the Russians put up with Putin's oppression?

[@mitrogulf4073]

@@intercommerce Everyone has their own concept of freedom, and even more so of how to live, including cultures and peoples. In addition, the USSR created a crisis of national identity in Russia. Since after the USSR Russia is not even close to the Russian Empire, either culturally or even geographically within the country itself, having created all sorts of so called republics that many supporters of old Russia despise with all their nature, supporters of the USSR and Putin are neutral and the liberals of Russia want to further separate them. That is, to some extent, Putin’s power works like (it’s better to hate me than kill each other). And in a sense it works. If there was true democracy in Russia, then most likely this would lead to disastrous consequences and bloodshed on national and ideological issues, because the USSR simply gave birth to even more of them than they ever were, and Putin’s Russia did not decide, but even gave birth to and preserved even more.

[@dungeon_masster.]

​@@intercommerce Во первых о каком притеснении идет речь? Во вторых в России сейчас капитализм, можно зарабатывать деньги и жить не хуже чем в любой другой стране мира В третьих большинство поддерживают Путина так как западные страны своими санкциями и притеснениями русских подтвердили тезис Путина о том что они являются врагами, а против врага нужно объединяться В четвертых нестабильность в такой стране как Россия очень опасна и не только для самой России

[@trubamaniac]

@@dungeon_masster. В Роzzии сейчас рашизм!

[@maxkh17]

@@mitrogulf4073 Where have you seen real democracy? Everything is controlled by the owners of huge capitals. Most ordinary Russians don't care who will be at the head of the capitalist state if he still works for the benefit of the oligarchs

[@sobelou]

Very interesting!

[@hitriks.l.2745]

Tja, die gute Leute, wollte nicht im roten Paradies wohnen.

[@suzanneterrey4499]

I was fortunate to get to drive through part of E. Germany and got a chance to look at the farmland and farm techniques being used. I noticed the large amount of big rocks in the fields that were not picked up. Farmers in the West would have cleared those rocks out immediately so as to keep their equipment from breaking down going over the large rocks. People in E. Germany didn't care if the equipment broke down so they never picked up the rocks. They had no PRIDE of ownership. That told me that Socialism and/or Communism doesn't work ever, because of human nature and a human's greed to do better to eat better if they lived under Capitalism.

[@lindenbeck]

Missing the old time. It was wonderful to live in Westberlin before 09/11/89.

[@David-mr3gw]

how so? im genuinely interested

[@lindenbeck]

You earned more in Westberlin. You didn't have to work with people who loved tbe GDR regime. And last but least the wonderful Tegel airport was still open. It was closed since the wall came down and the fucking SPD was for closing after the wall came down.

[@davinnicode]

You were literally living right on the border of a possible worldwide conflict. So much happened during that time in West-Berlin. It attracted people who wanted to start a new life or an adventure. Just one of kind. Rents were also relatively low due to the special status of the city.

[@flopunkt3665]

​@@David-mr3gwlots of influences from both East and West. West Berlin wasn't a part of West Germany, it was self-governed.

[@neilwalsh4058]

Guess it was better back then because of all the Western allies billions pumped into it? Was in Berlin in Feb this year, the old East was clean , tidy and interesting. Went to the old West for half a day and couldn't wait to get out , looked shabby and a poor reflection of a false artificially inflated image from an almost forgotten time.

[@saigonexile531]

At 2:15 it was an absolute trip to see written on the wall, NCSU Wolfpack (North Carolina State University) and UNC Tarheels (University of North Carolina) where I grew up lol

[@CrookedNose2131]

Is a university sports team (I assume) all they could think of to write? Small thinking.

[@klf6992]

Clam down Nancy ​@@CrookedNose2131

[@tuvidao2011]

And now, after 35 years, protest in Berlin by farmers...

[@armyman-ig7qs]

crazy to think its almost been 40 years since then

[@stevetorres76]

Would anyone know? How did farming work in East Germany? Was it a collective farm situation like they used in the former USSR?

[@katinsu7700]

Yes, after dividing out the land to smallholders after ww2 it was taken away again and collectivized in the fifties into LPG (agricultural production communities) - very rough description

[@modrisadijans383]

Jā bija kolhozi.Es dienēju padomju armijā 1986-88 gads.Mēs braucām uz kolhoziem strādāt palīdzējām vācu tautai.

[@stevetorres76]

@@katinsu7700 thank you for clearing it up as best as u can. I haven't found anything about it on KZbin. Just videos about east Berlin and Dresden... seems history has forgotten that even East Germans drink milk and eat meat, eggs and even bread. Lol

[@JelMain]

The reason the West never blinked was because we knew exactly what was happening economically - I'd spotted it in 1978, extrapolating the probable implosion, although recognising the possibility of distraction. These didn't happen, and in November 1988 I gave a very explicit heads-up to Wim van Eekelen, the SG of WEU, who was responsible for the major diplomatic line. Within three months, Hungary opened the Austrian border and it became inevitable. My thanks was to welcome East Europe's "Sherpas", the First Secretaries and Defence Attachés, who were wondering if they'd simply swapped one dictatorship for another. I took it very low key, "Found the coffee? How were your moves?" and they relaxed. One step towards the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize!

[@terry2315]

I have a picture of myself standing at the wall on the back side of the Brandenburg Gate. Now the road is open and you can drive through there.

[@543sw]

When we had hope for the humanity....

[@clanmclaren1244]

I went to Checkpoint Charlie in 1989 as a 15 year old Army cadet. We was in uniform and i remember the east German guards taking photos of us. We went to a nearby hill to get a look over the other side and it was drab , grey and very depressing looking

[@MrGuitarPrayer]

The construction site over the then demolished Fuhrerbunker is clearly distinguishable at 16:10

[@AndrewBlazewicz-c7p]

Freedom!

[@spartybrearly7221]

These GDR police look more apprehensive than intimidating. They’re well aware that the end is nigh

[@fremejoker]

The footage is so tense, the protests snapped and desolved themselves so you see just the Wall.

[@vincentadams9569]

At WILHELM Straße on 14:43 you can see the site of where the Führer Bunker once stood and the REICHKANZLER building!!

[@cyberpunk.386]

Great contemporary witness footage! That policeman at 1:44 is still a kid.

[@worldsgreatestdude1784]

Was there an airport in old West Berlin or was the only way to it via train or car?

[@TSinRM]

There was an airport in West Berlin named Tegel. I flew into Tegel on Pan Am Airlines in 1978.

[@samsmith7585]

Tempelhof and Tegel had daily flights from the West.

[@tyskerbarn5171]

today its a islamistic camp.

[@samsmith7585]

Oh please, don't remind me... @@tyskerbarn5171

[@RichardMctere]

I served in west Berlin with the US Army ,however I was not there when the wall went down.I left Germany in 1987 for Ft Benning GA.

[@Paskudnak]

The more things change the more they remain the same

[@Wayne_Schlagel]

That was the day when GDR died. After 9th Oct. nothing was the same.

[@tribinaaux4043]

Not at all, at that time it was very well and alive.

[@Wayne_Schlagel]

@@tribinaaux4043 As you wish.. Honecker was kaput one week after this. Krenz was a joke. Fear of GDR didn't existed after 9 Oct. Stasi and Volkspolizei lost ther power against Volk.

[@Myndir]

9th November.

[@TheRichardSpearman]

Germany was one of three countries divided after 1945; the other two being Korea and Vietnam. The latter was reunited in 1975 after 30 years of division, the former remains divided. None of these three countries had any input into their division. More recently, Cyprus has already been divided for 50 years this summer..... absent entirely from the news.

[@samil5601]

Before all of them, Ireland was divided.

[@Bigsky1991]

" ich war dabei"! I was at Checkpoint Charlie watching the protests and craziness....got it all on tape. That Border tower at Charlie, I have video and photos coming through a crack in the wall, I paid 2 E. German Grenztruppen 10dm to let me enter the tower... ergo, I was the FIRST American Army Officer to ever set foot in a DDR Wachturm....

[@Palanibert]

This would be a lot more interesting with some narration and some context.

[@hieptrancong4110]

Woah so intense much photographing

[@Kostas-1]

There is an incident at the Berlin Wall, at a checkpoint, in the summer of 1989, of a man lying with his feet in East Berlin and his head in West Berlin, and there is tension as he is pulled from one side by East German guards and from on the other the gathered crowd of West Berliners. If you have this file, you could upload it to your channel?

[@rajivmurkejee7498]

It's worth remembering that the DDR never had any trouble finding people who were happy to shoot and kill any of their fellow citizens who were trying to go to the West.

[@flopunkt3665]

Communism is a strong ideology. A lot of East Germans are still full of propaganda from their days at school.

[@michaelaugat1290]

Da müsstest ihr zwei auch recht haben......fehlt nur.

[@TheYizuman]

Probably why employers refuses to hire anyone that lives or originally lived in East Germany. (Not all of them practice that way, but good number of them do, even after all these years) Discrimination against the East German citizens was (and in some cases, still do today) practiced quite often by West Germans. It's hard to forget the lives lost by those that wanted freedom from the East. Not to forget the cruelty coming from the East German prison system. Communism is inherently evil and still practiced today in other countries like China, North Korea, Cuba and so on. Can't say I blame anyone that still harbors resentment toward the East, even after 30 years later.

[@petermoller4447]

You have no clue, mate. Today in Germany crime is through the roof and Germans are treated as second class citizens by the government and fair game by imgrnts. I'd tale the DDR back anytime over western liberalism.

[@TheYizuman]

@@thequietcab Calling it absurd without extrapolating what's so absurd about it? Got ya!

[@valicourt]

I would love to know whether there were actually film rolls in those cameras..

[@TribuniPlebis]

Those border guards, they know whats coming.

[@EdwardNakagawa-q3t]

PEACE AND HARMONY, FOR THE WORLD *❤️🌍❤️

[@BavarianM]

1:11 Soldier using a Pentacon Praktica MTL, Great east german cameras

[@ivescazzola1312]

Le Praktica le ho vendute anche io negli anni 70 80 in un negozio del centro di Milano Italia

[@LoganGames3ds]

A GERMANY FOR THE PUBLIC AND A GERMANY FOR THE PRIVATE!!

[@fft2020]

oh Nikita you will never know

[@biggkoz]

For some strange reason at 9:02 the Hotel Adlon doesnt look like its there

[@DavidGarvinTechnophile]

Until reunification, Berlin was not part of the FRG. It was still part of the occupied territories of the Western Allies.

[@intercommerce]

I did not know that. I knew that Bonn was the new capital of W. Germany. So, no West German flags flew in west Berlin until reunification? West Berliners in the British sector awoke every morning with the Union Jack flying overhead for over 40 years?

[@DavidGarvinTechnophile]

@@intercommerce West Berlin was an odd duck. It was de facto part of the federal republic, but de jure was not. The postal system was integrated with the West, but young German men could avoid conscription by moving to West Berlin.

[@ARIES6181]

@@intercommerce West Berlin didn´t even have German Police if my mind isn´t wrong

[@hepphepps8356]

@@intercommerceindeed, and even weirder, maybe: The local flights from germany were by Pan Am, Air France or British Airways. Lufthansa not allowed.

[@Tobi-ln9xr]

It was part of West Germany. Otherwise you wouldn’t see west German authorities there like the "Bundesgrenzschutz“ or the west German police.

[@Archivist4K]

4:24 Ford Taurus!!!

[@AaronfromEngland1989]

Nice country my grandad was from kustrin he never went back to Germany after the war no one knows who he is.

[@flopunkt3665]

Küstrin is located in modern day Poland.

[@AaronfromEngland1989]

​​​@@flopunkt3665 yeah did come to learn that thanks,looking forward to going Germany.

[@EdwardNakagawa-q3t]

I WAS A BORDER GUARD WITH THE 2ND CAV, DURING THE 1980's *

[@vincentadams9569]

How I remember this all so well hard to believe my first visit to W. BERLIN was in 1988 now 35 years ago! I remember my first visit into East Berlin at Checkpoint Charlie on KOCH Straße and leaving from the East back into the West the PassControl Officer of E. Berlin saying in his bad broken English “ COME BACK TO SEE US WE ARE NOT SUCH BAD PEOPLE” Yea right we only seemed to be followed and had too leave before midnight!!

[@OffendingTheOffendable]

There are two walls in places

[@strfltcmnd.9925]

We should consult the East Germans on how to secure the U.S.-Mex. border. They knew how to secure a border.

[@Poisson4147]

Right, build a massive prison wall with watchtowers and a death strip. Seriously?

[@samil5601]

Yep. That way the Americans won't be able to escape.

[@luisreyes1963]

FYI: That strange letter the Germans use (ß) is called an eszett. It's their version of a double S.