Life Behind the Berlin Wall - Full Video

Why did people risk their lives to escape East Berlin? Take a country and its capital city. Cut them in half. Build a wall through the middle of the capital to keep the parts - and the people - separated. Now install a command economy on one side and a free market on the other. Which side will provide a better life for its people?
Following World War II, Germany and its capital, Berlin, were divided exactly like that. What was the result of this economic experiment? Learn from people who lived on both sides of the Berlin Wall about how vastly different life was from one side to the other and discover why people were willing to risk their lives to escape East Berlin.
Subject Areas:
■ Business
■ Economics
■ Geography
■ Government
■ World History
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[Ralf Zwanziger]

Videos like this should be obligatory to every child to see. Best place for that would be the history lessons at school. Thank you, Mr. Zitelmann, for your explanations.

[Brett Thomas]

Exactly!!! Especially in all our western society universities!! Here's your "perfect workers" paradise!

[Scott Harris]

showing it in my classroom today

[Marc Roy]

I agree 100%

[Next]

Yes, but also must not be forgotten what germans did in WWII. So when the kids get taught about the tough conditions of DDR, they should also be informed at least how germans destroyed european part of the Soviet Union. And its people. Maybe kids learn that every action has a reaction.

[Haeuptling Aberja]

I once hitchhiked across East Germany, in 1985, which my West German friends told me was impossible, not to mention insane, but then again, I was an idealistic young American hippie and I did a lot of things that they wouldn't have dreamed of doing. (They still shake their heads in disbelief when we talk about it today, almost 40 years later, long after reunification.) Anyway, it was like one of those movies, or a Twilight Zone episode that switches from color to black and white, a deeply surreal and rather frightening experience. The East German police immediately detained me at the border, but didn't seem to know quite what to do with me, as if they were as confused by my behavior as my West German friends. Eventually, after many phone calls to higher authorities, they decided to release me, saying that I could enter the country with certain conditions, such as reporting to a local police station every night. They also said that I couldn't just cross the border on foot, because it was illegal to walk on the Autobahn, which is where the border crossing was. So, I started hitchhiking, which they also didn't like. Really getting frustrated with me now, they said that I could only catch a ride if I stood directly under the machine gun in the guard tower, which was not exactly the most inviting place for anyone to stop. I stood there for almost 4 hours, until finally a beat up old Trabant pulled over and picked me up. Turned out that the driver was completely drunk, but we made it all the way to Berlin, where I stayed for a week, crossing over into East Berlin everyday on day passes to explore that strange grey world where many of the buildings were still pockmarked by bullet holes or hastily filled in. And I swear that after the first day I was always followed, and none too discreetly, like in the spy movies. As if they wanted me to know. They did take my picture when they detained me at the border crossing, after all, so I suppose it's possible that they had been keeping an eye on me from the beginning. When I was hitchhiking again, out of Berlin, back to the West, I hadn't gotten far before an announcement came over the radio in the truck that had given me a lift, telling us to pull over on the shoulder of the road. A few minutes later, a small truck full of my old friends, the East German Police, pulled up and a bunch of them started checking everyone's passports and searching some of the cars and trucks. The truck driver who had picked me up started freaking out when I handed the cops my American passport, which they took and then walked away, with no explanation, and the driver started complaining to me for not telling him I was an American. (My German was really very good back then, he never asked where I was from, and it just never came up...) A little while later there was this great droning in the air and suddenly the sky was full of the biggest planes I have ever seen: absolutely massive Russian military planes, which landed right on the Autobahn and proceeded to disgorge a great many tanks, trucks and thousands of soldiers. They were conducting maneuvers! Meanwhile, the cops returned and ordered me out of the truck, telling the driver not to move, that I was his responsibility, which did not make him any happier with me. So then these cops interrogated me, asking all sorts of questions about what I had been up to for the past week and wanting to know how I knew about the military maneuvers, which I obviously knew nothing about. After maybe two hours of this, and clearly not believing me, they finally took me back to my cheerful truck driver, and we drove the rest of the way out of East Germany in silence. Truly one of the strangest places I ever visited. Never went back.

[Sharon Rigs]

Thanks for the great story! Sounds crazy

[Suresh Mukhi]

@Haeuptling Aberja thanks

[Haeuptling Aberja]

@Suresh Mukhi No, not that I saw. He was mostly mad at being delayed, I think. Okay, not so happy about the attention from the Polizei, but there were many kids hitching from West Berlin to Hamburg at that time, and a lot of truck drivers did pick them up, probably out of a mixture of kindness and boredom. I don't really know why the border crossing in the South, from Bavaria, at Hof in 1985, was so different, but it was.

[live in ms]

I had an interesting conversation once with an east berliner. She said freedom meant so much to her parents because they remembered freedom. She was born into captivity and became free at age 12 She had to Learn how to be free. Watching the berline wall come down was the most emotional historical event of my lifetime

[David's Radio Room]

I lived in Germany when the Wall came down. It was one of the most momentous times in my life. I will never forget it.

[Sam evans]

I went through the Check point Charlie, before the wall came down. The guards where a frightening experience, or should I say living in a free country, the experience was frightening. I remember being on the train from Frankfurt to Berlin, the train travelling through East Germany. The Eastern Guards came on the train before Berlin, and checked passports. Then in Berlin in the West, the passengers who lived in the East where not allowed to get off the train. I still can see the face of a lady looking out the window, the empty sad feeling she had on her face. I think if any person defected, their families still in East Germany were chastised. I think that is how it was, I have that trip for ever in my mind. It is so sad, how the World today persecuted people, it will never change. I pray that God will return, as He will to end this persecution. I was very sad to watch a KZbin video in relation to China and the “one child” policy. The little girls in these orphanages, because they are girls, was in human, disgusting, and the Chinese Government push it under the mat. I wanted to go and adopt all of them. I am going to Israel in August, I want to do a 10 day Christian tour of the holy land, and put all the visitation place into my Bible knowledge. I have researched the people, the food, the culture, and I know there is political issues, not my problem, but God will guide me for the right reasons. It looks a beautiful place, I cannot wait. And I am going to fly on El Al one way, the Jewish Airline. (I hope).. Revin Evans Queensland Australia.

[476233]

I cannot imagine. At the border with Mexico coming back to the states, I was drenched in sweat. My uncle said I was looking suspicious because I couldn’t speak right and my face was all white. I couldn’t imagine going from east to west Germany and vice versa

[Toosiya Brandt]

Hi! Shalom to us only in Christ Yeshua returning soon to reign over the world from Jerusalem!

[Michael Mattern]

I had same experience as a boy. They doors of the train were locked in the East and guards with machine guns checked your passport. It was frightening to see at 13. Stasi everywhere in the East watching. My Mother went to talk to a elderly women on a bench in W. Berlin. The women wouldn't speak. Across the way, was a man in long black leather coat watching, Stasi.

[Guy Morris]

Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, designed China to be the pilot program for the one child policy and the US will be the final exam. I learned this in War Againdt The Weak by Edwin Black.

[Ricky Low]

You are a good person

[Kevin Festner]

Your coverage is excellent. I lived in Germany (West), specifically Heidelberg, in the 1980s. I went in and out of the East more times than I could count. I recall visiting the East German Kaufhalle, and there were shortages. In Leipzig, there was this huge 'department' store void of any merchandise, except for jewelry. It was odd, musical instruments were inexpensive. In East Berlin, I recall the Bier was rancid, food quality lousy. I recall visiting the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier guarded by the Soviets. The general infrastructure was in complete disrepair. It was an unique experience to have traveled in and out of the old Eastern Bloc.

[George Tunstill]

I was stationed in West Germany from 1979 to 1981. I wanted to go to Berlin on a day off but the only way to get to Berlin was by Army troop train from Frankfurt and you could only travel by night. I'm so glad that in my lifetime, the Berlin Wall has fallen and Germany has been reunited. And, I like to think I had a small part in that happening.

[Juan Murillo]

No, i drove to east berlin,. went there at least 5 times took my family once.

[gary mathena]

Gary Mathena 40th Armor and 2/6 Inf 1979-81. Amen Brother

[SilentEcho9194]

I was there in '91/'92 for Operation Silent Echo. I still carry my challenge coin in my pocket every day.

[douglas shriver]

1974 - 1975 16 dpu . nellingen barracks

[darkWorkOne]

Great video! I lived in Germany in the late 1980s as a child and hope to revisit in the next couple years. I got to experience the Fall of the Berlin Wall in person...an experience I'll never forget! My family lived near Giessen (Langgöns) and we just happened to be visiting Berlin when the Wall fell, a very lucky coincidence. My Father had a camcorder at the time and recorded our experience! Thanks again for your video!

[Murray Dean]

If you revisit after all these years you will find yourself in a very different country. Germany is now a modern, efficient country. However the population demographic will quite probably come as a shock and may sadden you.

[S&W Roading]

I almost certainly have left during the "Brain Drain" period when people could move to West Germany. Thank you, Mr. Zitelmann, for your poignant rendition of Germany's history.

[Arne]

As German who was born in the former area of eastern Germany, i just can confirm what is said in this video. Sadly some people in Germany, especially in Berlin like to deny the disaster socialism has done and think, that this was not the "real socialism"... NEVER EVER SOCIALISM AGAIN!

[Dale Gribble]

@John Hatchel They'll apparently let us keep our guns THIS time LOL

[John Hatchel]

American socialists say the same thing. It's never been done right! WE are the ones to make it work!

[Вадим Вадимович]

you expect anyone to believe you with a name like arn?

[Thomas Ludwig Kelley]

same here !

[Mingus Thurber]

Having been to W. and E. Berlin a couple of times, I always thought how absurd the wall was. It was like an inside-out prison. I knew something that absurd couldn’t last. It didn’t. What joy I had when I watched the fall of the wall in November ‘89. I so want to go back and see Berlin now.

[Finanzen-im-Griff]

Die Unterschiede der zwei Systeme wurde richtig gut erklärt und gezeigt, vielen Dank 🙏 Ich hätte schon gedacht, dass Dr. Dr. Zitelmann anfängt zu Weinen 😅

[Hanzee Dent]

There was a very informative article about Berlin - both East and West - published by National Geographic in their January 1970 issue. In the very last sentence of this article, the author quotes a Czech refugee then living in West Berlin who said, "Berlin, remember, could also be the place where the Cold War ends." Those words proved to be remarkably prophetic. The Cold War ended when the Wall fell.

[hazchem]

Thank you. Like the solid historian, I too watched the demonstrations, although with great anxiety, thinking that the police would close the streets, and I imagined these wonderful people going to the Gulag ..... Nobody was more surprised than me (staring at the tv with mouth agape in disbelief) that the people peacefully achieved their liberty. Practically a miracle, and in dazzled wonderment, I remember marvelling whether these young east Germans were angels :)

[Nicola Horst]

Wenn sowas in Schulen gezeigt werden würde, dann hätten viele junge Menschen ein ganz anderes Verständnis von den Unterschieden und Auswirkungen von Sozialismus und Kapitalismus! Sehr gutes Video!

[Xavier Puth]

@Zanti Das ist noch Ostalgie. Die Wahrheit ist also das Gegenteil...

[Zanti]

@Nicola Horst ja Quellen habe ich. Vergleiche mal meine Geburtsstadt Eisenhüttenstadt mit früher und heute. Damals das blühende Leben überall Kinderwagen 53000 Einwohner. Heute 23000 alte Menschen und Hartzer.

[dman030]

Thank you for this. These times should never be forgotten by the younger generations. No heating, not telephone.....imagine how that was.

[Daryl Lamonaco]

I love this guy he is great and delivers his content in a humorous but factual way!

[Maximilian Bieber]

Sehr bedauerlich, dass es wieder eine steigende Tendenz bei jungen Menschen gibt, die sich so ein System zurückwünschen.

[Gregory Drew]

I remember very well when the Iron Curtain began coming down. It was something I never thought I would see in my lifetime. Whenever enough humans come together and say enough is enough, marvelous things can and do happen.

[Kobhe Eg]

This is an excellent video! Everyone should watch it and remember the truth of the former GDR in order to know how a communist leaded country will end. This is nowadays the same critical situation of Cuba and Venezuela. Always the same! Younger people should be educated in true values of freedom, knowing what history tells us about not being free. Thanks a lot for the video and the message.

[Ali Barron]

In 1961 I was in a first alert unit of the U.S. Army, as part of a NATO Force, stationed in Munich, West Germany. Out primary goal was to immediately get to Berlin in case of trouble.. We never really knew what that goal was supposed to be. We received an alert one night to load up and go to an airbase at Furstenfelbruk (sp) , taking even parachutes with us. We boarded transport planes and circled over France, et al for over an hour before finally setting back down. There were a lot of tears on our faces, especially on those who had been in combat before. We slept for a couple of nights on the tarmac alongside the planes before the alert was rescinded. That was in the first days of August and they began building the Berlin Wall soon after. I was eighteen at the time and over eighty now but nearly every detail can still be remembered. All peoples' goal should be to never let another autocrat or dictator rise to power.

[gregory Kelsey]

I'm so glad Germany's doing well... I think the Germans are a great people

[Joanne]

I visited East Berlin when I was a student, in the spring of 1988. In fact, there was a bad smell that permeated the place. I visited twice, the first time with a guided tour and the second time alone. During the tour, I noticed that the guide's suit was worn and stained, and he gave off that same odor. I only learned later that it was the smell of brown coal.

[Barbara Sunday]

When I was in high school I tried to have a pen pal in East Germany that a private party introduced me to. It didn't last long because it was so hard to communicate through censorship, Letters would be opened, "edited" and the envelopes taped closed.I tried to send media items, but those got mutilated and then returned to me. A certain segment of the American population needs to see videos like this one and hear from survivors of socialist reality.

[D M]

I was an MP at check point Charlie 1975. Also Check Point Bravo. I’m sharing my Cold War experience with my granddaughter for her class.

[Bill Olsen]

16:50 😊 I visited East Berlin at age 15 on a group tour of Europe in 1969. Empty streets and unsmiling people, but we had a young tour guide who was brimming with forced excitement about the socialist economic strides being made in the Democratic Peoples Republic of Germany which were going to pay off real soon. We did get to see a Tatra 603 carrying a car full of, I assume, government or commie party big wigs down the Alexanderstrasse where the Alexa shopping mall is now. The Berlin Wall was rather short and at the time I recall being unimpressed until we saw the setbacks on the other side that the East Germans were working on, slowly creating a no-man's-land for their citizens to make the approach from the eastern side more difficult and deadly. Still have mixed emotions about the division of Germany into free and communist since I still think the nation had to be punished for what they did to their neighbors and the 12 million Jews & non-jews they exterminated, but it was mostly the younger generation in the East, who'd had nothing to do with Nazism, that suffered by having their lives restricted for so long.

[poetcomic1]

I remember those days in Poland and Czecho. There is no more glorious feeling than when the secret police and the tormentors are suddenly afraid of the people!

[ChangesOneTim]

Excellent video. Escape: If I were in my teens, twenties or thirties, unmarried, without children and with more than a basic education - yes certainly I would have risked it! Otherwise, I think I'd feel more resigned to my lot, not put my wife and children in danger and try to live each day in hope that the socialist "democratic" state would improve our standard of living.

[ForeverFarang]

Excellent video ! Well done !

[gary mathena]

I was stationed in West Berlin from 1979-81. I traveled to East Berlin several times and shopped in the Zentrum and purchased products made in Eastern Block countries. East Berlin was like going to Mars. People would stare at us like we were aliens. Of course we had to travel in class A's dress uniforms. To look at the city and the building's which had battle damage from ww2, the wide streets to impress visitor's. But, no cars on the streets. Nothing on the shelves for the people to buy. Constant surveillance from the police and Stasi. So very sad, and as history has shown a waste of time and suffering.

[ORIOVALDO LA ROQUE DE MATOS FILHO]

maravilhoso documentário !!

[Augusto Braidotti]

There is a lovely bit of the original, untouched outer Wall near the old railway bridge at Liesenstrasse. Then or course at Bernauerstrasse. The Wall at East Side Gallery was the Inner wall.

[Joseph Taylor]

Great documentary. Love the then and now pics.

[kchall5]

DW did an incredible production on the Stasi, its infamous chief Erich Mielke, and Mielke's even more notorious boss, Erich Honecker. It interviewed several former Stasi officers long after the dissolution of their organization and the country it controlled. To a man they appeared to be unrepentant.

[Sean Whitty]

Yes i like to think i would have tryed to do something about leaveing the east for the west unfortunatly the east at the time had very little going for it great to see it doing well now with reunification 👍👍

[paulwebbiweb]

They voted for"an economy like the United States". Not really. It was what Erhard, the man in charge of the economy in West Germany, called the "social market economy". Free market, yes, but the "social" part meant that it would be a welfare state. Not like the United States.

[Lorna Rettig]

@bob bobbly No. I’m other words, German people largely understand that we’re all in this together, and that brings better outcomes for everyone than immature every-man-for-himself stuff. There’s plenty that’s good about the US, but I’d live in Germany over the US any time, because society and community matter. I prefer community spirit over individualistic, and that’s nothing to do with ‘being told what to do’. Why do so many in the US persist in thinking ‘community spirit’ = ‘you love being told what to do’?! The two are entirely unconnected, and this thinking betrays a very juvenile way of being in the world.

[paulwebbiweb]

@bob bobbly If you say so, but the Germans do vote for the representatives who tell them what to do and everyone has a vote that really counts towards the election results. When I say they vote, the vast majority actually do so. It's a representative democracy.

[bob bobbly]

@paulwebbiweb in other words ,they like being told what to do....unlike other countries who do what they want (with limitations ,of course)

[paulwebbiweb]

@Tom Kastendiek It's not that simple. I can see I went much too far by ascribing the notion of welfare state to Erhard, but I think the word "social" has always meant more than a belief in trickle-down. Admittedly there has been a lot of variation in the interpretation of the word over the decades! I certainly don't think the post-war German electorate has ever subscribed to American-style capitalism and from my long experience of Germany, I know that Germans in general like government and place a high value on social solidarity.

[Tom Kastendiek]

Erhard meant with the „social“ market never a big welfare state. He said that the market itself is social because it creates wealth for everyone.

[SA]

Excellent video, thank you. Makes me believe that the GDR was paradise compared to current day North Korea.

[Der Spreewälder]

Great Video Dr. Dr. Zitelmann.👍 Thanks.

[Ralph O. Michels]

In the meantime, we have two generations of young people in Germany who only know this time from stories told by their parents. No system will succeed in dividing a people in the long run, neither in Korea nor in Cyprus. Time works against the dictators. They can imprison people by force, they can erect walls, but they cannot permanently prevent people from experiencing what kind of world awaits them behind these walls.

[Hans-Peter Stiegler]

I went to east Germany first time in 1986 , I lost all illusions about communism in a moment 😢😢

[Richard Smith]

I spent 6 years in West Germany in the U.S. Army from 1973 to 1979. I served in Armor and Cavalry units and patrolled the border between West Germany and East Germany and Czechoslovakia. I to had tears flowing down my face when the wall came down. I never thought it would happen in my lifetime. Every American child should be shown this video in schools in America. The reality of Socialism is a nightmare!!!

[gary mathena]

Berlin Brigade, 1979-81. I never thought the wall would come down in my lifetime. Freedom will always prevail over slavery. Thanks a lot buddy.

[Tyler's Elevators]

Bravo 👏. Well done

[Bohumíra Kaksová]

Tak jsme žili všichni. Hranice, ostnaté dráty nabité elektrickým proudem, nebo zóny se psy, kteří reagovali na podnět narušení hranice a byli vypuštění k zadržení narušitele. Ovšem spíš k jeho likvidaci.👋Aus🇨🇿

[Glenn Leslie]

Wonderful video!

[Alex Clement]

9:18: That film of the East German guard jumping the fence was taken the day I was born; my mom remembered seeing it in the news the next day while recuperating in the hospital. The man eventually committed suicide.

[Yvonne Rask]

Thanks to my niece I have a piece of that historic wall❤

[Joe Macinnis]

All free men, wherever they may live are citizens of Berlin. Therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words ich bin ein Berliner!

[David Lamont]

I flirted for 5 minutes with the idea of becoming communist in my thinking and it is videos like this one that woke me up and snapped out of it.

[jano192729]

The moment when you 😭 I felt exactly the same. We Went through the same shitshow. All good now

[J PR]

This history is quickly becoming lost on the newest generations

[Alex Clement]

9:51: "Where they could then travel by plane or rail to West Germany".. Partially untrue. If you were an East German fleeing to West Germany (rather than staying in Westberlin), you did NOT travel by rail. All rail lines to Westberlin travelled through East Germany, and East German "Greppos" (border guards) would ride the train, partially to make certain nobody entered or left the train during transit, but also to look for those committing "republikflucht" (fleeing the country), whom they WOULD arrest. Essentially EVERYBODY who fled the east through Wesberlin left by air. The rail links were only used by citizens of West Germany and of other countries.

[Didier GÉRÔME]

Really cool video, thanks a lot. DG

[Alex tea drinker]

Vielen dank für die Untertiteln auf Englisch.

[Current Batches]

3:56 - And, boy howdy, did it ever lead to prosperity! 5:47 - The "knowledge problem"; no one can *know* what the public wants. It is simply impossible and leads to the failure of every planned economy everywhere and always. 8:45 - Yep, the west Germans were just flocking to the east! (sarc) 15:03 - Gorbachev knew that if he shut down the illegal 'courtyard' markets, he'd have riots, since those were the only reliable sources of food for the public. 17:02 - Pretty sure it started as "we are the people", but then became "we are *EIN* volk"", which, to the GDR leadership, had a whole 'nother meaning. 18:16 - If you value freedom, that effect was not unknown when the wall came down.

[Ed Lawn]

Well in "Goodbye, Lenin!" they were 'flocking' to the East, LOL, and the East Germans invented Coca-Cola!

[Ozan 61]

#niewiederSozialismus 🗽🇩🇪🇪🇺🕊

[Al Martin]

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. 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 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

[serdar]

East Germans had to wait for several years for a new car to become available. That reminds me a famous Soviet joke: A Russian guy wants to buy a car, apparatchik says: "OK you can have a new car. Pay for it now and you can collect it in 10 years from today." Russian guy asks: "Morning or afternoon?". Apparatchik: "why would that matter?" Russian guy: "the plumber is coming in the morning."

[David Smith]

Great video.

[Srdjan Kuzmanovic]

Very important thing that helped the West German economy immensely was the money coming from the USA. On the other hand big chunk of East German GDP was going to Soviet Union as a war reparation. So it's not only the free market vs central planning.

[L R]

​@Neil Foster not really, in total the RuZZian ruled East Block had a huge economical potential, but it wasn't possible to thrive because of the flaws in communism. GDR was part of this running catastrophy, not a victim!

[Neil Foster]

Plus, most of the DDR's industrial capacity was also stripped by the USSR as war reparations too. That removed any chance for the DDR to produce things for both home consumption and export. That is a huge reason why the DDR was unable to grow it's economy.

[Christine Tennick]

Freedom is always worth risking your life for,

[Mark Taylor]

Thank you for the history lesson, everyone thinking socialism is great need nothing more than to watch this video.

[Bill Olsen]

With that poison water coming out of the taps in government-provided apartment houses

[Alex Clement]

9:43: "It was a piece of West Germany within East Germany".. No, actually it was not. During the entire life of the DDR state, Westberlin (the way the East Germans spelled the name, BTW) was an occupied territory of Great Britain, France, and the United States. The Soviet Union 'relinquished' control of East Berlin in the early 50's, but still kept a very large military contingency on all sides of Westberlin. During this time, West German citizens who wished to avoid conscription could do so by moving to Westberlin, which was NOT under the control of the government in Bonn. Westberlin only became governed by the greater German state with reunification.

[Current Batches]

@Alex Clement I was mistaken in reading your reply as an 'equivalence' between E and W Berlin. I see it is not. Entschuldigung.

[Alex Clement]

@Current Batches Citizens of Westberlin were usually citizens of West Germany, but not always; some decided to not take WEST German citizens, and thus became citizens of occupied Berlin, and had a passport which stated so. Speech limits varied by the laws of each sector, the French allowing almost anything, the U.S. similar, and the British having certain unique laws, such as not insulting the monarchy. Westberliners could cross into the east at the Friedrichstrasse customs station on the U-bahn, and generally had the same 1-day limitation which American visitors would have, unless they got themselves a travel visa. Travel to any communist nation was always a difficult, but not impossible endeavor, whereas travel to and around western nations was relatively easy. Travelling out of Westberlin was often accomplished by train from Friedrichstrasse in sealed trains for westerners, which had armed East German "Greppos" on board until the West German border. Automobiles were readily available for sale, and were shipped directly from the nations which built them; all highway freight destined to Westberlin had to travel through one of 3 autobahn corridors, with in-transit carnets and seals. As far as propaganda, I do not understand your question. I'm only posting the reality of the political situation during the entire occupation of Berlin, and they way things actually were every time I used to visit there.

[Current Batches]

"...Westberlin (the way the East Germans spelled the name, BTW) was an occupied territory of Great Britain, France, and the United States..." Exactly how did the citizens of W. Berlin experience this "occupation'? Were they limited in their speech? Prevented (by the occupiers) from traveling to E. Berlin or to other nations? Did they have to wait for years to buy an automobile? More importantly, did you hope your position as a lefty propagandist would not be noticed?

[Graz]

Beautiful video..

[Ed Lawn]

I don't anyone denies that Capitalism can be bad, it's based on human nature and all that it entails, the good and the bad. The problem with Socialism and centrally-planned economies is that it denies certain aspects of human nature, which is why it can only be enforced via a Police State, as was the case in the DDR. Which is why we believe in the form of Capitalism called "Free Enterprise", which puts more Capital in the hands of the individual, as opposed to in the hands of a few "oligarchs", which is what is occurring more and more in the West these days.

[strfltcmnd.]

I grew up in the 60's and we were reminded of life under communism.

[Suspicious Watermelon]

I miss the DDR. I was a border guard there during the 80's. Nothing feels better than to waste a defector with a war surplus K98 mauser. I had 13 of them before I was forcibly retired in 1989.

[Pete Jay]

Not funny dude

[Lorna Rettig]

… and then everyone clapped? Grow up 🙄

[Ryan Wissmann]

Nice to see one of these documentaries that isn’t completely simping for the commies

[BigBenn]

Perhaps the WEF should watch this and learn the lesson and keep their noses out of everyone’s lives.

[Hans Hartfiel]

Mr. Zitelmann fails to say that after over 30 years of unification the Germans are still not equals in their own country. Wages are lower in the former East, unemployment is much higher than in the West. The list of differences between the two parts is endless.

[Pete Jay]

And how is that West Germany's fault? The finger should be pointed to the Soviet union and the system that was forced upon Eastern Europe. That is exactly why the successor state of the Soviet Union, today's Russia should be paying those countries reparations for lost profit...

[Nermin Hadzimejlic]

"Behind the wall" - depends on which side you look from

[Lorna Rettig]

Yes. I know several people who grew up in east Germany, east Berlin, or Eastern Europe in general, and none of them thought their lives were dreadful, thank you very much.

[Simon Gardiner]

It is well attested that the DDR had THE HIGHEST STANDARD OF LIVING in the Communist block, including Russia. When we visited Moscow in 1989 - the shops were EMPTY and people had to QUEUE for bread! Only the Black Market operated, little businesses thrived, but you had to be very cunning and risk coming into conflict with organised crime - dangerous!

[Steve Rossbach]

Hungary was for east german people like a paradise. It was not allowed to drive to Hungary every year.

[Simon Gardiner]

@L R Well I SAW IT and it is true! Hungary had less efficient border guards and a long border making escape into the West much easier. But Hungary WAS very repressive, having been "revisited" by its "fraternal comrades" IN TANKS.

[L R]

I'm not sure if that's true. Hungary had a less oppressive system, which is why thousands fled that way to Austria. Economical they were better off as well.

[Кирилл Надточий]

Нельзя забывать, что разделение Германии случилось из-за того, что так называемые союзники не захотели, чтобы Германия была мирной и нейтральной, только в ответ на выпуск западногерманской валюты и образование ФРГ возникла ГДР.

[Philipp Garynov]

@Steve Rossbach я как раз и живу в этом так называемом мире «свободы» и прекрасно вижу, какую чепуху тут несут местные СМИ. Возможно в эпоху холодной войны было иначе, но сейчас вообще никуда не годится - факты либо жестоко перевираются, либо просто замалчиваются. И к сожалению свободная рыночная экономика никак делу не помогает: кто за всё платит - тот и заказывает музыку 🤷🏻‍♂️

[prajakt0789]

Yes missed another great war by a whisker.

[Lev Teplitsky]

Ну, безусловно, они хотели, что бы Германия начала ещё одну войну.

[Philipp Garynov]

Об этом они конечно же никогда не скажут! Также они никогда не скажут, что сейчас по какой-то странной причине куча людей ностальгируют по этому "аду на земле" и тд и тп. Клише, та же пропаганда только в другую сторону и двойные стандарты - классический набор западных медиа //

[ross]

Sad thing was it made things worse in Germany at the time and started the Arib spring because they copied what was happening . Now we have lots of people running to other country's with no papers and no passport emigrants they are called

[Dino Alberini]

That’s why Ukraine doesn’t want to be with Russia.

[Dino Alberini]

@Pascal Gotlib the Eastern European states wanted to be in NATO precisely because they were under Russians. Your “if” is irrelevant, nobody wanted to attack Russia.

[Sten Hård]

You are confused about the status of West Berlin. It was NOT part of West Germany nor was it the Capital. It wasn't until unification (Not reunification) that it become part of Germany again. The title of capital came later when it was moved from Bonn.

[Norman Boley]

Danke für die infos und einen schönen tag.

[Sten Hård]

@Norman Boley Absolutely not! Berlin was explicitly excluded from the Constitution of West Germany. The laws were generally harmonized but only after they were passed by the Berlin Senate and approved by the allied occupation council. For example there was no draft in West Berlin because the Berlin Senate didn't approved it. Also no West German taxes because W. Berlin was NOT in W. Germany. So rather than just going backwards and forwards on what you think was the case you could just search some history then you won't just have my version which you don't seem to accept. Nice chatting tho!

[Norman Boley]

I was stationed at Tempelhof for 4 years. It was technically occupied by the US Army but I think Bonn was in full control of the day to day operation of the city.

[Sten Hård]

@Norman Boley The governing body was the Berlin Senate which derived its authority from the Allied Occupation Council minus the Russians who had withdrawn after the creation of the DDR. Berlin was de facto and de jure an occupied zone until Unification.

[John Smith]

This is the small picture, the big picture tells us that the Germans in east Germany were very lucky to be alive and not gassed in the same concentration camps they used for killing the Jews. Knowing Stalin, anybody would've expected all those Germans in east Germany to be killed as a revenge for the 20 million Russians killed by the German army. And not to forget the celebration and adoration of the furrier, whenever he occupied a new country.

[John Smith]

@L R of course, Stalin wasnt some vindictive dictator. Do your research bit more to find out how Churchill stopped him from doing that.

[The American]

We should have kept the American sector as American territory.

[Murray Dean]

0.59 is a very brief image of a London bus blown against a building in the City of London. I wonder how much of this video contains images from other countries or cities rather than images of the subject matter?

[James Walker]

Hmm….perhaps a slightly over simplistic view of how “great” capitalism is. The profit before people mentality makes me sick to my stomach 😢

[Lorna Rettig]

@Bill Olsen Yes and no - I went to government funded school, on public transport, on taxpayer-funded roads. When I’m sick I use the centralised health system, which has better outcomes than the US. I’m educated to PhD level and didn’t (personally, upfront at the time) pay for any of it. None of those basic human rights was supplied by capitalism. I make a very good living now and I’m happy to contribute taxes so that other young people have the same chance as me. And I don’t even have or want children. Capitalism is fine if we all start out on an even playing field, but unearned generational wealth ensures that we don’t. Capitalism should be meritocratic, but unearned generational wealth means it isn’t, because some people get a huge head start.

[Bill Olsen]

Eventually you will learn how the real world has to work in order for a nation to prosper in this imperfect world. You've been living off of the benefits of capitalism all of your life. Ever visited an oligarch country? Try Mexico, for instance, and not the resorts. Working class held down by the upper classes and forced to live in slums without running water or electricity.

[James Walker]

@L R Certainly don’t disagree with you there. I just think it’s lost it’s way a bit, and unfortunately greed has run rampant and a lot of people get left behind in a system that seems to have become quite unfair. I’m wondering if countries like maybe Denmark and Norway have struck a happy balance? Again, I know no system is perfect, but the Nordic model does seem to make sure everyone can be looked after and have a decent life

[Erik Griswold]

You haven’t lived until you’ve had an early morning in the GDR with the Lignite coal smoke and a still-cold-smoking Trabant passes you by.

[L R]

Did you experience the open fire placed at street corners, to help people navigate through the dense industrial smog? Simply unbelievable such happened

[ChangesOneTim]

...and light up a cigarette after breakfast on your way to work!🤣

[Erik Griswold]

@Neil Foster First thing in the morning when they hadn’t warmed up it was quite a plume of blue smoke.

[Neil Foster]

I have a 1988 Trabi P 601 Kombi. If you mix the oil correctly and use decent oil, they hardly smoke at all. Early Trabis needed a higher oil mix, and I guess decent oil wasn't always available.

[Rod]

We can tell they are speaking German, but why not let us see the translation, instead of covering it with a message announcing that we can't understand what they are saying?

[Philip Buckley]

das ist ser gut.....danke...

[CO CO]

Dang, if life in east berlin was that bad then it must have been much worse in the rest of east germany. That place must have been a hotbed of espionage.

[Lorna Rettig]

@Jay Dan I know that. But it simply isn’t correct to assume or conclude that everything about Eastern Europe was dystopian and awful. It wasn’t. There were millions of normal people who had a perfectly nice life that they were very satisfied with.

[Jay Dan]

@Lorna Rettig they don't speak for all of them

[Lorna Rettig]

I know several people who grew up in east Berlin or east Germany or Eastern Europe in general, and none of them feel that their lives were dreadful. They were all perfectly happy growing up.

[Minnie Fantasia]

Arhanghelul Mihail e patronul Berlinului că și în multe alte state și orase

[Orion 59]

Who wouldn't?!

[vranco]

W O W!

[RUHappyATM]

Isn't that what Singapore did? HDB that looked the same. Very expensive to buy a car.

[George]

And now it goes back to the east.

[Carlo Torrina]

Not enough!

[Frank Morgan]

SO WHY ON THIS WORLD THERE're STILL SOME PEOPLE DEFFENDING COMMUNISM REGIMES ???? WHY ??? I lived in Berlin in 1988/89/90, I helped to destroy the Berlin Wall, hugged the Ost Berliners coming into West Berlin through Checkpoint Charlie, crying for their FREEDOM !!!

[Bill Olsen]

@Frank Morgan Yup!

[Frank Morgan]

@Bill Olsen Don't forget, their wives are outside in the cold, queuing up for bred and butter !

[Pierre Flauss]

Ludwig Ehrard never decided about the DM or the economic way ( decided by USA), he just support as oportunist, just for history.

[Michael Gilbert]

Ich weiss nicht is my answer for your closing question... ? Iggy Pop and David Bowie injected their bodies with heroin. Herr Marwell gave me a "nuggie" that pained my kopf for a good reason... He understood me as a 7th grade student some reminder as went forward ➕ good grade on my German Regents exam.

[Fred Walker]

Starting to look like America divided

[Bill Olsen]

That's what happens when your schools produce more lawyers than anything else.

[Srdjan Kuzmanovic]

I find this (kzbin.info/www/bejne/haqbdKWfr89-npY) point of view much better explaining the situation.

[Rochester Johnny]

the worst part of it all for East Berliners is you couldn't buy bananas anywhere

[Simon H]

@L R I know they were disgusting and hypocritical. One of the films I looked at ''Sonnenallee' kind of does romanticise it, the other one, ''Das Leben der Anderen'' shows it in all it's darkness. Unfortunately there is a thing in Germany called Ostalgie, nostalgia for the east. There's even a GDR hotel with all the paraphernalia in it, which doesn't sit right with me, if there was a 3rd Reich hotel with Hitler busts and swastika flags there would be uproar and rightly so. What concerns me is that if you dig into the current German chancellor Scholze's history he too went on regular trips to the GDR even though he was West German, and worked together with ''socialist'' youth groups. It's well known that Merkel was born into a family in the West which defected to the GDR when she was a toddler, and she was a high up member of communist organisations. As far as I'm concerned the last chancellor of Germany was Schroeder, I don't count those two, and the last good one was Kohl.

[Simon H]

@Ed Lawn Thanks for the tip, I've actually found that on yt in German. Also via the wiki entry I found another DDR film ''Sonnenallee''.

[Simon H]

@Ed Lawn I haven't seen that one yet. Thanks again.

[Ed Lawn]

@Simon H That and "The Lives of Others".

[Larry]

Levi's sold for a fortune

[Roger McIntyre]

I don't blame East Germans trying to go into West Germany!

[David Kemplin Jr]

Under Russia we pretend to pay you and you pretend to work in America you go to party and Russia party go looking for you

[dancalm peaceful]

I have actual pieces of the Berlin Wall....I keep them as A REMINDER why Communism and Socialism is horrendous.

[Moose Bme]

"LET'S ALL JUST KEEP STANDING IN LINE, SERVING DOUCHEBAGS and waiting FOR THEIR GARBAGE... IT'S GOOD HUH?! JUST A FEW MORE YEARS! YOU SHOULD BE HAPPY, LIFES TOO SHORT! Because: Mocking, smiling, laughing, threatening, "Abject-Superior-Equality... " IS NEVER WRONG... !" Yep, eeeeverything is a mystery! Good luck and BEST REGARDS TO ALL!