Life in East Germany | Animated History

[@TheArmchairHistorian]

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[@pyeitme508]

Meh!

[@ifureadthis_urgay]

‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎ ‎

[@luibr1880]

I like to drink honey, thanks!

[@officerfriendly1230]

Anyone else hear the Call of Duty WaW sounds every video?

[@rexdaylawn1609]

Can I get a discount on anime body pillows on honey

[@arkansasvinny]

As an American soldier in 1984, I remember standing on a rise looking over the wall at two East German guards on the other side. One with binoculars and the other with a notepad as they were gathering names and patch info. from our uniforms. the road beside us ran straight through the west German neighborhood, ended at the wall, then continued on the other side into the east German neighborhood. Couldn't help thinking,, just because you lived two houses down, you were doomed when the wall went up!! I threw a pack of Marlboro Reds in a box across the wall and it landed at their feet.. one of guards picked the cigarettes up, looked at them, looked at me, smiled and waved...

[@badarfarah4736]

Nice

[@albertoperotti6510]

Kudos to you for being so nice

[@markuswichmand3255]

Thank you for your service, and I commend you for showing that ddr soldier what peace time could be like

[@williamsanders2348]

That's a cool story. Humanity doesn't see borders, they're artificially made.

[@german-americanmapping6766]

That‘s really cool.

[@christopherwebb3517]

Another strange legacy of a divided Germany: Deer who lived along the border between East and West Germany quickly learned to avoid the mine fields, and deer still avoid those areas like the plague to this day - even though any deer alive today would be several generations removed from the time when the land mines were still in place.

[@korstmahler]

Epigenetic Memory perhaps? I've read a study where animals were shown to maintain a generational fear of negative stimulus, even when the negative part is removed or unseen.

[@leonardofilippini]

source?

[@lenn939]

@@korstmahler That seems a bit far-fetched. Isn’t it much more likely that they just learn from their parents not to go there? haha

[@mkailov13]

If deer could learn from their parents, they wouldn't get turned into roadkill as often as they do.

[@HeisLeg3nd]

Genetic memory right? This is true, happens a lot actually and dictates a lot of behavior even now.

[@superilikeeggsyo]

Suddenly I understand why Dance Dance Revolution was renamed to "Dancing Stage" in Europe. I imagine the "DDR" acronym would go over like a lead balloon.

[@EK-gr9gd]

When the DDR chip did appear in late 1999/2000, my university mates and I joked, that know the DDR has arrived in the West.

[@hugonubario]

There a robot chicken sketch about that game! A cuban gamer faced castro on dance dance counter recolution! Go watch it it's funny

[@itsblitz4437]

@Kayoshie Flametail Right-o there Der Kommisar

[@markmatthews7202]

@Kayoshie Flametail i.pinimg.com/originals/28/51/90/285190b4a788283bcf4b0a148713bd84.png

[@raritania7581]

@@itsblitz4437 *Falco intensifies*

[@MJJforever97]

Both my parents grew up in East Germany. It is always interesting when they tell me about their life in the GDR. My father actually got to sing in the Army Choir. They sang in front of many high officials. He even went to Leningrad (St. Petersburg) and Moscow for performances.

[@АлексейАнтропов-и7л]

Салют из Санкт-Петербурга)

[@migol15-21]

Those songs are fire

[@buitreofficial7765]

Erich Weinhart ensemble? (I think that’s how it spelled)

[@zxera9702]

Poor guy seems brainwashed.The communists brainwashed everyone

[@Openbaarmaker]

The nostalgia referred to is called Ostalgie in German. Ost means East and Nostalgie means Nostalgia. Well, East Germany is still behind the Western part of the country, sadly. And the Ostalgie is there for a reason. I once talked to a man, an Ossie, a former East Berliner. In 2010 he told me: "I used to have one job. I couldn't go where I wanted, for example Paris or London. But I could go on vacation to Prague, Budapest and the East-German and Polish coasts. We always went on summer holidays. Now, I have two jobs, and I barely make enough money to sustain myself. I can't go anywhere these days. I haven't been on a holiday for over 20 years now."

[@NewNicator]

As my dad said who was born in Czechoslovakia and fled to the West: “Working in a communist system wasn’t enjoyable, but it was safer (being employed, having food and enjoying leisure) compared to working in a capitalist country.”

[@squeaky9715]

@@NewNicator it’s not glorious, but at least it’s guaranteed, there is no sink or swim, just a life jacket. It doesn’t need to be gold.

[@iuliananghel8626]

I don't think it's a coincidence that Eastern countries (like East Germany) became so much poor, not only because of the transition but because they are also losers of the cold war and the winners take everything. The West colonized the East basically.

[@rouchpierre5502]

stupid man@Kenny the G

[@Lameducks]

@nan shanker unfortunately you're both right. Although what you describe is more corporatism than capitalism, it would be extremely difficult to prevent corporatism being born out of capitalism. So for the sake of argument, yes. The problem with both is human nature, it corrupts both systems into something that is self destructive and murderous. The thing is that that will happen with any federal government of any type. The solution is small, local govt run directly by the people, but the power hungry will never let that happen. So what do we do?

[@tannhauserr]

East German : Woah, this day sucks Stasi : WRITE THAT, GUTHROFF!!

[@bastiangalaz4580]

Me: This soup needs more salt. Stasi: Record that, It’s treason!

[@HeavyMetalRuinedMyLife1971a]

Me : Muzzle masks are bullshit ! General brainwashed public stasi : YOU ARE TRYING TO MURDER US WITH INVISIBLE (non isolated) FAIRY TALES !!

[@empireofitalypsstimfromano5025]

@John Trevolter so You Would Have Preferred To remain Split?

[@daniellap.stewart6839]

These germans is gonna have a bad day 😂😂

[@moritzbrje1792]

​@John Trevolter Greetings from West Berlin! The scars from this messed up reunification can still be seen today. There are still massive differences between the West and the "new Bundesländern" in economy, politics, society and culture.

[@Kurtizss]

East German Worker: This Paycheck sucks That German Worker who is secretly a Stasi Police: *Hallo*

[@2hotflavored666]

*Guten Tag meine freund*

[@grubert3535]

This is like 90% of all KZbin comments

[@big_bellybob5697]

Y E S

[@ivanstoyanov3035]

@@2hotflavored666 mein*

[@sontapaa11jokulainen94]

What paycheck?

[@laddiewink9895]

My dad was one of the few westerners who managed to cross checkpoint Charlie into East Germany. He was not a communist but went to teach English. Apparently, he would speak to his pupils about what it was like in the West. He went back to West Germany almost a year later. He brought back a East german flag as a relic.

[@edwardloomis887]

The flag store in East Berlin was the only well stocked store in the city. DDR national flags, military flags, youth group flags, worker flags. Try to find soap or toilet paper, good luck, but buying a flag wasn't a big deal or hard. I have one in my basement that the officers in my battalion signed when I returned at the end of my assignment.

[@katyu16]

"one of the few westerners who managed to cross checkpoint Charlie into East Germany" What? Checkpoint Charlie saw hundreds, if not thousands of Westerners cross into East Berlin daily.

[@tomsoki5738]

Hundreds of people crossed into West Germany and back every day. He was not one of “few westerners” that did that

[@laddiewink9895]

@@katyu16 ok I apologise for not being a professional German historian and getting something slightly wrong

[@nasonaso8356]

@@laddiewink9895 "Yeah sorry I spread propaganda"

[@michaelf7093]

I was a tourist in Berlin in November 89. One day, I decided to see the East, just for fun. I went to a couple museums, and some book stores, and eventually found a bowling alley. I ate some bad East German food and bad beer, and hung with some other younger folks, and talked about what life was like on their side. But it was getting late, the S-Bahn had stopped running, and I had to get West, and the only way was thru Checkpoint Charlie, before it closed for the evening. With my new friends' help, I made it with no time to spare, and was the last through the gate, and as it turned out, one of the last ever that had to, as the next day, the Wall was brought down.

[@tancredemontagne7461]

Nice story !

[@Invinciblewithautism]

Wtf

[@SoryRN]

Wow

[@meekonvadaameh]

Whoa, nice

[@ryanmrowka8970]

That is a great story.....

[@advisingbob]

Father: "Are you winning son?" Son: "...y-yes...." Wall: "He's lying..."

[@radziwill7193]

Father: "Shut up, Miller!"

[@Pemon]

son: hey, then dont forget the self shoot option! haha

[@chaiwriter1531]

This is so sad what the blin-

[@さちあゲオッフレー]

@@radziwill7193 *Müller

[@sooryan_1018]

Father - HERESY! **LOADS SHOTGUN**

[@sirkman08]

0:36 me trying to draw a straight line

[@DogDogGodFog]

When you accidentally split Germany on a math lesson

[@janarthurevalle2922]

That's a good lookin line that you made

[@theai3691]

Very funny good job

[@vuktodic1356]

Stalin and churchill in yalta conference both holding one pen and drawing line across germany trying to push in each others territory colorized

[@gcnelite5983]

@@DogDogGodFog hate it when that happens 😤

[@crownprincesebastianjohano7069]

The best thing that ever came out of the DDR were Honecker's official photos. He always looked like a friendly nerd. Or a middling insurance salesman from a small Midwestern city.

[@petebondurant58]

He was simply a doofus who snitched for the Gestapo when he was in prison during the Third Reich.

[@crownprincesebastianjohano7069]

@@petebondurant58 Correct!

[@aSandwich.13]

No, Rammstein was the best thing to come out of DDR.

[@falsedavidbowie368]

@@aSandwich.13 Objectively true

[@CalebMaupintime]

@@petebondurant58 to be fair he was 12 and they were torturing him.

[@caleblott399]

Stasi: because Google and Facebook was not yet invented.

[@N0die]

ja genau Silicon Valley = Ostdeutschlandismus

[@wisemankugelmemicus1701]

@@N0die Yes. It's incredibly shocking who our powerful are buddies with. Disney made a movie with China a month ago, in a province with concentration camps, and we all seem to have forgotten about it.

[@antyspi4466]

If the Stasi have had the possibilities that the internet now provides, the wall would never have fallen.

[@wisemankugelmemicus1701]

@@antyspi4466 I think the wall would have come down, but nobody would have fled without them knowing.

[@caleblott399]

And let's not forget Amazon Wiretap.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Why do Stasi officers make such good taxi drivers? *You get in the car and they already know your name and where you live * I'd love to do one of those tours where you drive around Berlin in a Trabant. The history of the DDR is very interesting

[@Cjnw]

CIA: aM i A jOkE tO yOu?!

[@matthiaskalupner6041]

If I may suggest: If you do rent a Trabbi for a drive: Don't do it in Berlin. The best and most fun way to drive a Trabbi is outside a city on small rural roads. Driving through a city and Berlin especially is anoying. Trust me on that - I drove Trabbis for four years and I'd like to take one for a spin sometime but not in a city.

[@billolsen4360]

LOL that's a good one! "Jah vohl, ve know WHERE you live, Komrade! Und zhat you listen to zhose decadent vestern rawdio stations mit zhe RAWK und ROLL."

[@instantinople3796]

You again

[@mattkaustickomments]

Uh... you’ll probably die of carbon monoxide poisoning halfway during the tour. Besides it’s faster to walk!

[@churchillmkvii7329]

KGB: my secret service methods are good Stasi: Comrade you are wrong, it is OUR secret service methods

[@silenthunteruk]

The MfS were seen as pretty much equals by the KGB and allowed to use the term "chekists" to describe themselves. Their foreign espionage operations under Markus Wolf were very sucessful.

[@saidtoshimaru1832]

Breshnev: Give me a kiss, Comrade.

[@thehindustanigamer2573]

How the tables has turned 😂😂

[@PalleRasmussen]

@Drakon590 they are in use by everyone to some extent or other.

[@hyperion3145]

@@silenthunteruk I haven't found much information to verify this but wasn't the Stasi supposed to be more effective than the KGB?

[@TheBrezelboy]

interesting fact: That animation of the punk sitting next to the man in uniform on the train, is based on a real picture of real people. It was real emblematic of the situation of the the last days of the GDR. That country has intrigued me since I was a child, as my grandma fled from there and I have relatives in the former GDR

[@monospaperbag]

i'm so late but do you have a link? i'd love to see it

[@monospaperbag]

nvm i found it :)

[@capmr2021]

May I get a link please ?

[@bastifantasti82]

@@monospaperbag it's a picture of the famouse bouncer of the berghain club, sven marquart. google "sven marquart vopo"

[@My-Name-Isnt-Important]

10:10 The moving of a subjects furniture around, is not meant to make them think they're going insane. It's meant to send a message that they can be reached at any time and that the Stasi are watching you. Typically agents would move the furniture around while the subject they were investigating was asleep in their own apartment. So when they woke up the next day, they would realise the Stasi had been there. Its a tactic to scare and intimidate.

[@BarberJ95]

And it’d work, I’d be terrified and know I’d have no privacy and they’d know everything and I can I imagine become suspicious of my friends and family. So yeah I’d start decomposing i guess lol.

[@itsonlyafleshwound9024]

I can tell you that it definitely drove some people legitimately insane, whether that was the intent or not. A guy i know (anectode, but still) was "zersetzt", and to this day remains a paranoid conspiracy theorist. You wanna get mad at the guy, but then you remember what he went through, and you just feel bad for him.

[@KolyanKolyanitch]

It's hard to believe that somebody can move soviet era furniture around and not wake up whole neighborhood.

[@darylcheshire1618]

Is it true the police would turn off the gas before they raided the house?

[@STScott-qo4pw]

@@KolyanKolyanitch 🤣🤣

[@CraftDayFriends]

As someone coming from the east, I'd like to say that for my parents (born in mid 70s) East Germany was actually seen as the most prosperous nation in the Warsaw Pact, for example it was considered prestigious to serve in East Germany as a Soviet citizen

[@dsong2006]

Seriously, my family grew up in the same era in China which underwent massive famines/turmoil in the 60s. My great aunt had the privilege of going to East Germany several times during the 70s due to her position in the gov. and she described it as literally going to a communism paradise. The idea of being able to eat a nice meal(including meat!) with wine at a restaurant or going to a bar and having a drink was unreal. Private ownership of a car(even a shitty Trabant or Lada) to a regular Chinese worker was unimaginable up to the early 90s. She brought back a lot of toys/bikes/watches which were "Made in GDR" and considered extremely valuable and well made, kind of like how western would treat Swiss or West Germany quality. I think if it were possible, a lot of people from China/Vietnam or other poorer communist countries would have jumped at the opportunity of moving to East Germany or have their countries modeled after East Germany during the cold war.

[@CoralSea]

@@dsong2006 You're absolutely right. I lived in Vietnam in the 80s and people there considered East Germany was the best place to be in the communist world. And the soviet union was way down the list.

[@lebronbrady6638]

@@dsong2006 My grandpa is from Yugoslavia he said living under communism was great and I asked if East Germany was good he said yea it was good

[@ashitaka1337]

Or to translate it: "The GDR was the best of the worst."

[@OffGridInvestor]

It's well known amongst military collectors that the BEST quality stuff come from the DDR followed by the Czechs.... the ddr AK47s are considered absolutely premium and the highest price AKs.

[@boreasreal5911]

From what I was told by both my father, his parents and my neighbour, who all grew up in the GDR, life for the average person wasn't that bad. The worst thing for them was that their work was basically sitting around after they matched their quota and waiting very long for luxury goods they bought, especially cars, which sometimes took years to arrive. Also alcohol, very much alcohol.

[@JoaoOstroski420]

Yeah, the western media as a whole loves twisting everything, because when you live under socialism you have to share your toothbrush with people! Right? right??? Not really.

[@staticstatic1269]

@@JoaoOstroski420 cringe

[@caioguimaraes1482]

@@staticstatic1269 Please. You can do better than just writing "cringe" in your reply, right?

[@caioguimaraes1482]

@@JoaoOstroski420 Aliás, se importaria em descrevê-lo?

[@paleozoey]

@Gabe. the state ownership of the MOP in most eastern bloc nations varied in actuality , and iirc most factories and businesses still had some semblance of democratic management. co-op farms also accounted for a significant fraction of agriculture. obviously state bureaucrats had the final say, and set most quotas and wages, but the day to day operation wasn’t necessarily full state capitalism, and freelance workers/private co-ops did exist. tldr could be better but not bad

[@841Takis]

My dad grew up in east Germany, he told me while life was not exactly great, it wasn’t better when the German reunification happened since he and the younger locals grew up with communism, so they were not used to a capitalist society. when he got older he when around the Soviet Union with his friends and even traveled to Bukhara in Uzbekistan after communism fell he moved to the us for a better life… and that’s were he met my mom.

[@jigsaw2642]

As much as I love these videos those walking animations are about as smooth as zuckerberg trying to act human.

[@jigsaw2642]

@John Dory No not at all. They are great videos, I have prolly binged most of them but that doesn't mean that I can't criticize anything about them. For instance making songs and movies is really hard and most of us can't do it. But you can still say if you liked the product or not.

[@jonkore2024]

Zuck is a body snatched alien

[@curiosityl.6261]

@John Dory Hahaha most would definitely bite definitely credit to him

[@curiosityl.6261]

@@jigsaw2642 I actually really like the walking animation. Theres something about it that makes it more intense to me, very different. Love the look of the animation overall very unique

[@therealturdferguson8355]

Lol Zuckerbot

[@InspectHistory]

Can't wait!!! 🏗

[@officerfriendly1230]

Same! It's going to be another amazing video.

[@noelkevintampubolon1708]

Ohhhhhh indonesian is joining this live for youtuber with indonesian historian long know history!

[@laurynasjonika6133]

Its trash

[@malkomal9517]

Eh anjir wassap bang

[@Lithaaco]

Ngapain abang di sini

[@warrenlehmkuhleii8472]

Why did Stasi agents travel in teams of three? One could read, one could write, and the other could keep an eye on the two dangerous intellectuals.

[@fun_ghoul]

Ah yes...stupid Cold War jokes. You really are a "Piece", aren't ya?

[@bkup1332]

That's really funny!

[@hurdygurdyman1905]

@@fun_ghoul Lighten up, Francis.

[@fun_ghoul]

@@hurdygurdyman1905 Oh look! It's a Nazi using "liberal" rhetoric from a Hollywood movie! How very clever and original...

[@snorecore5447]

@@fun_ghoul someone has a stick up their ass

[@mxmartin85]

I grow up in east germany and the childhood was quiet nice. Not so much plastic toys, more fantsy. Summer camps with lot of fun. But for adoults it was not so comfortabel. You need a lot of conections to get buildingmaterials, better food, western clothings and stuff like that. But everyone have worke, food and flats was cheap.

[@williampangelinan1266]

The quality of animation has really improved

[@thegoodfolk]

They really stepped up their animation. The quality increased as well as the number of unique animation frames

[@adityashrestha2774]

He outsourced it XD

[@panathatube]

The picture quality as well is astounding

[@TheArmchairHistorian]

@@adityashrestha2774 It's all in-house, we run a production company.

[@fredericchopin4821]

@@adityashrestha2774 not funny didn’t laugh

[@x-ray-oh3134]

Stasi veteran: "we used to have ten photos from each citizen's personal lives" -"amateurs" Stasi veteran: "what did you say punk?" NSA: "AMATEURS"

[@choochootrain3807]

Well, he did say "in the pre-digital age", so yeah. You're right.

[@TacSon]

Teenagers who uses FB, Instagram, Twitter, ect: "Boomers."

[@longyu9336]

@@choochootrain3807 Yeah, back then it was really creepy and quite difficult to stalk some random citizen so much that you took 10 private pictures. Today, an agency only needs to hack into (or some are even public) social media accounts and shortly a collection of pictures like that could be obtained easily, provided they make active use of said social media accounts.

[@Mi_Fa_Volare]

CIA: "Amateurs!"

[@pavan923]

MSS: *laughs in no human rights*

[@cannonball666]

East German 1: "I got a new car! The model is only 13 years old." East German 2: "Sweet!"

[@cageybee7221]

actually, the cars probably wasn't even made until the last couple years of the wait. the reason it took so long was because the vast majority of resources were spent on things like public transsportation, infrastructure, military equipment, the stasi, etc. so it took awhile to actually aquire the things to make your personal vehicle. however, in the socialist bloc you did not actually rely on a personal vehicle like you do in the west. public transportation meant you could get anywhere you needed to fairly easily without your own car.

[@mardiffv.8775]

I agree with Mr. CageyBee. The car, Trabant, was used to go to the holiday home, or on holiday to Chocoslavakia, or Hungary. True, the Trabant did not change over time. It remained a underpowered car, with no fuel gauge.

[@alexsasplu]

Literally like the grearest part of the working class under capitalist regime.

[@antyspi4466]

Actually, there was a joke where Santa Clause would give little boys registrations for cars as a present: "When it gets delivered, you will already be an adult!"

[@mardiffv.8775]

@@antyspi4466 Another Trabant joke: "How to double the value of your Trabant? Fill the fuel tank.".

[@vere9652]

Fun fact: In West "Democratic" means free election, but Communists by the word "democratic" meant rule by the people => rule by the majority => majority is proletariat (workers) => proletariat (workers) dictatorship => Dictatorship by the workers is democratic, because they are majority.

[@dopaminedreams1122]

"The evil dictator said that he represents all workers so its ok guys"

[@Iutub0ne_Genzore]

Rule of Law, never dictatorship of any majority.

[@fun_ghoul]

@@dopaminedreams1122 "The evil dictator says he got the most Electoral College Votes, so it's ok, guys."

[@kayvan671]

Yet, it never happend lol

[@birb1368]

@@kayvan671 what never happened?

[@Pusher97]

I’ve got a friend who did multiple tours in Northern Ireland and served in the Falklands, all that bombing and shooting and death didn’t hold a candle to the tension he felt walking the Berlin Wall.

[@humansvd3269]

I'd buy your friend a pint to hear his stories.

[@Commrade-DOGE]

i wonder what his opinion is on the IRA...

[@concept5631]

The story that man could tell.

[@prussian_floppa3727]

@@Commrade-DOGE what’s your opinion on the IRA?

[@Pusher97]

@@Commrade-DOGE I never asked him directly and he never said. But that’s not something you do in the UK or ROI. It’s still very much a taboo subject.

[@ben1247]

I once went on a school trip to Berlin and we visited an old stasi prison. Our tour guide was a former inmate who was falsely imprisoned and who has mentaly tortured. He told us about the mental torture methods the stasi had invented which included the silent treatment. He was kept in a cell alone for 8 months the guards brought him food twice a day and weren't allowed to talk to him. He said it was the most horrible time of his life. He told us that after the wall fell he ran around the streets laughing, singing and talking to everyone that he met.

[@nopasaran9149]

Yeah, have you seen at least one criminal who would say that he was punished fairly? and the fact that he works as a guide in a former prison is that they let the goat into the garden.

[@prelldeluxe2454]

R/ that happened

[@levvy3006]

Sure he did...

[@peterlustig6888]

@@nopasaran9149 Do you say the same thing about jews which survived the Holocaust?

[@nopasaran9149]

@@peterlustig6888 При чём здесь евреи? Я говорю о тех антисоветских и буржуазных элементах, которые боролись против пролетариата.

[@blitzkrieg2928]

Gestapo : Who are you Stasi : I am you but better

[@steelbrother9643]

I live in Thüringen at the direct border to Hessen in germany. And even here you still feel differences from the old east and west. Sometimes just in wages or in the way apartments were build but sometimes even in Cultural means. My Dad was in the GDR a Grenzer (Grenzschutztruppe or in English Border Guards. The part of the MfNV that protected and watched over the border.) thats why we live so close to the border. He always spoke good about the GDR and the SED. And my Boyfriend who lives in Mannheim is the Son of an American Soldier from back then they kept living here after the reunification. Its kind of Hilarious.

[@stassmith8200]

My dad used to live in east germany and in Poland, he said the communism in Poland was not as bad, but he said in east germany the police and communism there was awful, He said it was so bad that he kept getting stopped by the Stasi for absolutely no reason at all and always had to give them his papers+he said they would purposely take extra time on his papers because he was Polish and one time nearly got arrested because they thought he was a spy.

[@DetectiveMekova]

Ironic that a spy agency almosted arrested your dad for possibly being a spy in a country where 1 in 5 people were spies.

[@antyspi4466]

@@DetectiveMekova Don´t forget that Poland had the Solidarnosc movement ongoing. East German authorities perceived that as a threat.

[@janparadowski4894]

@@antyspi4466 Sadly enough the movement quickly went from very based to very bad

[@daveywynter1607]

stasi and American police have one thing in common they have a habit of stopping people for nothing and asking for ID

[@UwU-ok2jr]

@Xx xX exactly when black people speed at 90+ mph they randomly get pulled over by cops i wonder why it must be because american cops are racist right

[@juusto7171]

East German Citizen: Mein gott life here sucks Stazi: G u t e n T a g

[@adude8424]

Gestapo 2: On Stranger's tide

[@ottobenthaus3349]

Stasi

[@ottobenthaus3349]

@Henry Hayes this is a misconception, i live in Dresden, ij east Germany and you can clearly see, even in voting percentages that a vast majority doesn't want to go back to the old times, the generation that cannot stop complaining are often now around mid 50s and way older, the people that really want to got back make at most like 10 percentish, we Germans like something... Complaining, this is why it seems like us wanting to go back, the most acknowledge the new opportunities, the efforts and the good things like.... Democracy and free speech and consumerism

[@swapanzameen6302]

Guten Morgen exactly. Prisoners didnt see the day.

[@ottobenthaus3349]

@Русское море got any evidence? Like even the fact that all these people like the GDR lovers, the nazis, the Corona people, all the leftists, tjey seem to be able to critique the government, they seem to be able to express themselves, they seem to have freedom of speech, so tell me, how does Germany have no freedom of speach, when even the nazis can express themselves to a certain extent, tell me?

[@grekusPotatus]

People of East Germany: Leave. East Germany: hippity hoppity here's a wall so don't leave my property.

[@Music_games_history]

*our property

[@alfyryan6949]

*the People's Property

[@fionafiona1146]

Admittedly the dismantling was similarly distructive, even to the educational system Finnland took notes on.

[@-haclong2366]

@Joshua Nissen Yep, Bureacratic collectivism masquerading as socialism.

[@fun_ghoul]

@@-haclong2366 You sure do love your Hitlerite propaganda...

[@polstam9202]

I'd recommend anyone to visit Berlin at least once in their lifetimes. It's a city bursting with history and culture, but it's still a very friendly and fun place to be.

[@simonjohnson3424]

I went there on a school trip in October, and I have another school trip to Berlin in April this year lol

[@cgardner85]

I’m heading there in May.

[@Minboelf]

Mark Felton productions:Allied occupation of Germany The Armchair historian:Life in Soviet East Germany *Perfectly balance,as things should be* Edit:Guys please don't say which is better,both are some of the best historian youtubers we have for this generation

[@hadesapocalypse]

Add TimeGhost and the triple threat of history forms

[@ameiru1]

I dont see waiting 13 years for a vehicle a good thing

[@thomasmitchell4128]

Shout out to Mark Felton

[@TheEmoSyndicate]

Erik Honecker's Afrika Korps. Not as balanced.

[@onehope6448]

Mark Felton is much better

[@CB0408]

Imagine being that DDR guy that put all your savings into buying a Trabant in 1989

[@simonh6371]

A bit like all the Germans under Hitler who bought savings stamps for a KdF-Wagen aka VW beetle prior to WW2 starting. When the war started production was switched to Kuebelwagens and the like for the military, they never got their KdF Wagen.

[@harshbansal7982]

@@simonh6371 I don’t think they were meant to , anyway lol .

[@outlinedbudgie4812]

money wasn't the problem, waiting time was

[@jaysinha0]

they were such shitty cars

[@hat-eating-cthulu-goat3221]

One thing about the reunification you have to understand is that, while most people in the GDR were in favor of a unified German state, what many people hoped for was an actual merger of the two, with a new constitution that would have been negotiated by both states as equals. The way reunification actually occurred was more comparable to annexation, the GDR was incorporated into the Federal Republic of Germany without any significant measures to actually facilitate the creation of a truly united state. In the 90s wealthy western investors bought up a significant portion of East Germany, dismantling industrial strongholds of the east and effectively leaving entire states to rot, their population left to fend for themselves in a country that had effectively stripped them of their livelihoods. Today East Germany is a hotbed of far-right populism, in huge part due to the fact that ever since the 90s the reigning center-right conservative federal government hasn't been willing to truly invest in the east, instead facilitating its exploitation at the hands of huge corporations.

[@chiensyang]

So Germany is recreating the environment of the end of the Weimar Republic

[@felixjohnsens3201]

You forget, most Industries in the east were state-owned and simply not profitable and even the sale of the assets could change the fact, that the reunification cost the west billions to this day. The East was simply a completely rundown state which stood close to total economic collapse.

[@teekaa2520]

@@chiensyang Today East Germans only make up around 15% of the German population so the relevance is limited. But it is true that one of the major dividing subjects between east and west is the failure of west Germans to acknowledge the things that went wrong during reunification. West German corporations used the early 90s to take all value out of the east German economy, protected by the mostly west German federal government and the Treuhand (engl. trusted hand) agency. Confronted with that west Germans usually shrug their shoulders and state that there wasn't any value in the economy to take. It is extremely bitter for those who saw it with their own eyes, to now see it left out of practically every history. In summary reunification meant for east Germans: freedom, democracy, justice and the loss of about half the livelihoods. It is blessing and trauma. Unification can't be complete until the trauma is processed or the people who witnessed it are gone.

[@davidmallon8300]

70% of Women also lost their jobs due to the collapse in day care centres among other things like the abandonment of equal pay which the East ensured. Then there was the reintrodiction of gender stereotypes of women being at home while the man is the bread earner which had been abandoned by the East in favour of equality of the sexes.

[@raphaelhaslecker614]

@@teekaa2520 Is this an accurate depiction though? By that I mean, given the East German economy was in shambles and comparatively inefficient (the whole reason for their collapse), wouldn't that be far more the reason for the discrepancy in productivity and income than some neo-colonialism after the fact? I'm sure the attitude of those Western businesses seeping in wasn't that of altruism by any stretch, it just seems intuitive that the inferior economic system the East had followed for several decades should bear the overwhelming majority of the blame, rather than the brief period after (I mean they did try, Solidarabgabe and all that)

[@maxhammer9434]

My family is from East-Germany and life wasn't that bad, especially in the countryside. Everybody hab work and housing. Essential goods were cheap and only luxury goods were often unavailable. After the reunion, capitalists from the west didn't build a stable economy in the east. They just exploited the East. That's why many people don't like the west still. Now I live in the west myself because the infrastructure and the chances are a lot bigger than in the east still, after 30 years. And I have to say, most people from the east are more humble the people from the, just because their still different upbringing

[@u-shanks4915]

Humbleness bingo

[@dinuxplay8003]

anecdotes

[@Lukegriz77]

Sure glad I don’t have an oppressive security state violating my privacy and monitoring my private communications!

[@Zen-rw2fz]

Nah, only some hidious billionaires are doing that,and of course all the secret services

[@davidvasquez08]

*LAUGHS IN CIA*

[@Wilhelmofdeseret]

Yep someone’s going to come to your house to torture you and redact your opinions then imprison you. Definitely the same thing

[@isapu1948]

@@Wilhelmofdeseret It might if you're not careful. Remember that cop who choked an African American to death on the street? (I'm assuming you're an American)

[@Denis-qv5yj]

Laughs in Patriot act

[@witcheddoctor2720]

East Germany : People start leaving because quality of life is worse Moscow : I'm gonna pretend I didn't see that

[@_Abjuranax_]

Defecting to the West guaranteed you a better job at much higher wages. Also, while the West rebuilt after the War, the Soviets refused the East to build, as a reminder of invading Russia.

[@alexmag342]

@chico Judas filth

[@alexmag342]

Because they were being murdered in mass. the allies did the same by command of their judas masters, the Allies killed 15 million germans

[@jemmor3382]

@chico hi Eisenhower

[@darekbrashik136]

@chico Judeans Delenda Est

[@baronhouba1]

About Stasi: there are estimates, that there were so many stasi agents plus informants, 1 in 5 people was actually a rat. To give the number into another perspective.

[@farisal9348]

wouldn't it be awkward if two informants ratted on each other

[@mikehimes7944]

They often did. Stasi had worse internal politics and infighting than the nazis

[@hyperion3145]

@@farisal9348 Real life version of the two Spidermen meme

[@antyspi4466]

@@hyperion3145 Real life was rather like that your colleagues spied on you - and possibly your close friends. Truman Show style.

[@RaimoHöft]

The current german secret service is on good way. Some years back in Brandenburg there were 3 agents. One from Brandenburg, one from Saxony an one from the Federal Gouvernement. They formed a neo-nazi cell without knowing from the status of their fellow "comrades" and spied on each others for several years, planing(talking) atrocities and crimes and writing inside reports to their boss'. Very funny... like the police men providing, selling, transporting and finally buying the drugs. And the buying agents are freaked, when they get arrested and nobody recognize that the deal was made without any criminal involved at all! 😂

[@shinichikudo7577]

So... I have a story about the Stasi. My father lived in the GDR and one evening, him and some of his friends were in a bar. Time progressed and the alcohol flowed. They all were a bit drunk. "a bit". Then him and his friends made jokes about the GDR and they laughed. My father was going to the toilet afterwards. One of his friends followed him and told him, that he (my father's friend) was in the Stasi. He could have reported my father, but he didn't. He warned him not to do that again and left the toilet. Yeah xD My father has already experienced a lot of crazy My father has already experienced a lot of crazy things. Maybe I tell them if you guys are interested.

[@ayusharyan8390]

tell if you have other stories this story was good

[@shinichikudo7577]

@@ayusharyan8390 I will. And thank you ^^

[@ayusharyan8390]

​@@shinichikudo7577 it's fun to read experiences of ppl and educating too do write them down here

[@shinichikudo7577]

@@ayusharyan8390 Ah. The joke he told was sometihing like "Did you know? The GDR is moving." His friends asked him what he meant. "Well, the shops are already empty." That was... System-critical...

[@ayusharyan8390]

@@shinichikudo7577 that was punny

[@lif3andthings763]

Stalin: Guess What? Hitler: What? Stalin: Capitulation Hitler: I don’t get it. Stalin: Exactly.

[@yesyoucanTellme]

Haha 😂

[@TheMasterOfCornedy]

@Alberto Fuijimori to itself of all people

[@isu3302]

@NKVD the better one is just banning communism and socialism

[@lif3andthings763]

@Alberto Fuijimori Hitler blew his brain out and lost the war. Why bring that up? I don’t think your comprehension skills are that high.

[@Iutub0ne_Genzore]

@@isu3302 and nazionalism too

[@cooldudenike1788]

My mother lived in Eastern Germany when she was a child and she liked it there.

[@thiccsketchyyoshi4029]

People literally getting killed but your mom is like damn this amazing

[@Zen-rw2fz]

@@thiccsketchyyoshi4029 people get killed today too, if anything the police is even more reckless these days

[@cooldudenike1788]

@Mazdina Hero She had a neutral opinion on the system. She didn’t hate it, but she didn’t love it.

[@cooldudenike1788]

@Mazdina Hero As if America is any different.

[@hebl47]

Most people have fond, nostalgic memories of their childhood no matter how good or bad those times actually were, unless they go throught a chain of really horrible, traumatic experiences.

[@nothing2706]

I have to pee but this is more important

[@republicofglarnesia186]

Jokes on you, I’m in my bathroom

[@SF-li9kh]

Heha. Exactly in the same situation now

[@BoredLoserAlpha]

Y Same

[@pubgnoobplayers4647]

Hahaha good bro

[@Bruh-rh5zf]

Lol (perhaps maybe there is a snake in your toilet)

[@misternewoutlook5437]

Owning a sewing machine in the GDR was allowed with a license. It was a somewhat subversive device because a sewing machine could be used as an underground business. Also, a seamster could create clothing of the western styles which the officialdom frowned upon. You could get your clothing torn up right on the street as you walked along.

[@grundgesetzart.1463]

never heard of that. They were just very expensive, that was it.

[@кто-то-б2г]

My grandmother, who lived in an ordinary village in the USSR, still has a working sewing machine, radio, refrigerator.Many of the working equipment in her house more years than you.And there were no licenses.And there was no ban on fashion

[@steelrain714]

@@кто-то-б2г we are talking about east Germany, not the other soviet states

[@arthalagao8486]

A former corporal from East Germany here! I served as a corporal in East Germany and was about 20 years old when the wall fell. A lot of information stated in this video is true. The living standards after ´63 increased greatly but there were always shortages on supplies. Nontheless was it something you had to deal with it and tried to get along (you were encouraged to repair your vehicles and most of them are driven till today) I think the bigger problem was the fear and stagnating progress in intellectual ideas led the people to rebell. I was so shocked when I went to West Germany and saw homeless people because that was something you never saw in the GDR, on the other hand was I suprised how advanced their technology was. Thinking back I think it was a good time because you learned that consumptions good wont make you happy at all, and pure ideology either. It´s the balance between those things that will make the individual and society happy. If you have any questions feel free to ask me anything in the comment section!

[@gale133]

Do you think any values learnt in east Germany are still prevalent in modern German society?

[@christopherjohnblack3526]

Hi! Did you have to be an atheist to be a soldier of the NVA?

[@tralfamadorian5270]

Old joke from eastern europe: what has twenty years of capitalism done that seventy years of communism couldnt? Make communism look good.

[@quakeknight9680]

I dont get it... capitalism made communism good? Bruh

[@PedroLopez-qu8wt]

Bring people out of poverty? Cut the world poverty rate in half?

[@peterlustig6888]

Dont whitewash communism. The GDR killed hundreds of people because they wanted to live a free life.

[@maurogonzalez1643]

@@PedroLopez-qu8wt Communism cut the world poverty rate in half? :)

[@RockPile_]

@@peterlustig6888 still a net positive

[@EnkaMexi]

3 Stasi-Prisoners sit together: "Every day, I was 5 Minutes early for work.. then i was put in Jail as a Spy", "Well, i was put in Jail for Sabotage.. because i come to Work every day, but 5 Minutes late.", "So what, i came to work at the precise time... i was put here after they saw me smoking western Cigarettes during a Break"

[@mr.gibbons123]

In the other version of this joke the third prisoner was accused of economic sabotage by bying quality watch in a capitalist country.

[@GetToHellOut]

@@mr.gibbons123 yeah, buying western watch that showed time time correctly. And that's not another version, it's the true one, because the one with the western cigarettes completely loses it's sence. Since it's one of those classic jokes, that in socialist countries everybode is equal... equally harassed by the goverment. No matter what you do, if you're late, early, or in time.

[@Music7ube]

Love it, you do a great job of visualizing history in a simple and sympathetic manner. I think it would top it off even further if you added a timeline at the bottom that follow through the whole video and becomes indicated whenever you mention a new even taking place during a certain time. Would help us giving that broader more understanding picture of whats going on. Also some outside references to the times. Thank for the great videos!

[@lowenwelle1044]

I know (very anti-communist) Bavarian farmers who are huge fans of GDR-Made milking machines, because those machines were wayyyy more durable than their western-counterpart. Quote: "The West builds products, the East builds tools".

[@paleozoey]

rumor has it that most east german lightbulbs still work. it’s simply more profitable to make a lightbulb that breaks down, so that people keep buying them

[@kimjungoof9343]

Okay, so basically it's like Among Us when you're in public on East Germany.

[@honooryu5374]

But no vents, bigger map and a lot more Imposters.

[@theangrymidget8471]

There’s two stasi among us 😂

[@def3ndr887]

East German worker was not the stasi

[@honooryu5374]

@@def3ndr887 that's the point, the workers are supposed to be the crewmates. At the beginning of a game it sais "crewmate. there are tho Imposters among us".

[@def3ndr887]

@@honooryu5374 r/woooosh

[@mariolenhart3061]

As an East-German from Berlin I am rather impressed with the details and balance. I wouldn't trade freedom for oppression through surveillance and Zersetzung. Well, still respecting GDR for social solidarity & security and longing for it in todays Germany. Well, at least in democracy I can fight for it without fear.

[@antonsupov4294]

I agree i lived in Karl-Marx Stadt and i have to admit that despite their being quite a lot of oppression i have to say that social justice was higher. And in my city, most of the housing was still built in the days of East Germany.and i would say quality of life in the 70's, at least in my city was higher than it is now.

[@Zen-rw2fz]

Oh no you couldn't fight for fascism without fear!

[@hyperion3145]

Depends. The Civil Rights movement over here in the US definitely had a lot of fear and suppression and even now, most issues aren't being heard because the population is either uneducated or simply hates the other side. If the democracy is run by thoughtful people, it absolutely works like a well oiled machine. But if it's by narcissists and rampant consumers like over here? It's just going to stall and undo itself for a few hundred years until something drastic happens. A democracy in the modern sense means that everyone (theoretically) can vote and play a role in decision making. That does not mean everyone's vote is equal, listened to, or uninfluenced by an authority (we railroad everyone into two parties, good luck being anything outside of Democrat or Republican).

[@KopitioBozynski]

@@Zen-rw2fz The irony is that the communists who always scream that everyone else is fascist tend to be the most oppressive, controlling and power hungry aka... fascist. Even the social communists that are popping up in the world currently (SJWs) follow in the same footsteps. "What do you mean we're a censorious civilian led secret police with a bunch of power and money behind it like it's from the days of the Socialist Bloc? That's just cancel culture it's *totally* different!"

[@arifbayusatrio1028]

That's what Thomas Jefferson said about dangerous freedom and peaceful slavery.

[@erkanalles7026]

Meine Großeltern und meine Eltern sind in der DDR aufgewachsen, ich selbst in Ostdeutschland....so schlimm wie man jetzt nach diesem Video denkt war es nicht...es war nicht so toll...aber man konnte auch in Ruhe und Frieden leben. Keiner wünscht sich den Staat zurück, aber viele haben eben ihr Leben zur damaligen Zeit verbracht und sich gut Erinnerungen an diese Zeit.

[@erkanalles7026]

@Naikomi bei der hohen Einwohnerzahl, waren die ihr Leben riskierten in einer extremen Minderheit

[@erkanalles7026]

@Naikomi aber nicht nach Grenzschließung...da waren es dann wenig...Sie hatten ja explizit auf die Lebensgefahr hingewiesen und diese bestand eben nach der Grenzschließung... Da sind die Leute auch eher gegangen...und das wegen wirtschaftlichen interessen

[@Thiemus]

@Naikomi 3.8 Millionen auf 30.millionen geht doch.

[@TxmBxrrxtt]

Sie haben das System nicht gehasst, aber hassen die Russlands Regierung vielleicht

[@marsuss5325]

"Ah yes that's just a condom machine." "A WOT??"

[@nmevaz9250]

All the dislikes are from the Stasi.

[@TheKing60210]

Hallo

[@Firmus777]

I would love to work for the Stasi. Have you heard their anthem? It is glorious.

[@morisco56]

I actually used to work for the stasi lol

[@morisco56]

@@Firmus777 fun fact I actually used to work in the stasi

[@TheKing60210]

@@morisco56 >Stasi >Florez

[@justarandomdude7787]

Well ask anyone from east Germany from that time period how they felt about it and they Will say, that Not everything was ok but the friendship and the fact that they all helpt each other with no discussion. To this day that warms my heart and I‘m proud to grew up in this part of Germany. (I‘m from Thuringia and my parents/ grandparents all grew up in this time.) If you have any questions about east germany just ask. :)

[@owenpaullucas6882]

i have a question :) in some places where similar regimes were in place, people seem very opposed to any notion of socialism. ofc these historical regimes, while still having some ok bits as you say, were oppressive and often times violent and its understandable people do not like that. however, despite what some choose to believe this is also often the case in capitalism, feudalism, serfdoms etc. throughout history as well! (all feature protests/strikes being banned or even violently stopped, spying on civilians, coercion into dangerous poorly paid work with no democratic representation etc.) so i was wondering, what do you and those you know there in Thuringia think of socialism? many thanks!

[@Iutub0ne_Genzore]

modern contemporary socialism is different from communism or "real socialism" are very distinct and distant things in a good way. It is clear that any regime that imposes 80% taxes and abuses the fluctuating and heterogeneous instinct of human solidarity and other things must do so with the police. Perhaps the point of common sense lies in the middle, a balance in itself dynamic.

[@egor7168]

​@@owenpaullucas6882 почему много людей из Европы и США думают что капитализм куда лучше и что всё угрозы и беды исходят от коммунистов?

[@MrCmon113]

They had to keep people in their country by threatening to shoot them. They literally were running out of people.

[@billmalone5050]

What I consider a most peculiar thing about East Germany was that its armed forces adopted uniforms that were very similar to the ones that were worn by Nazi Germany’s armed forces during WW2 with the exception of the model 1935 and model 1942 stahlheim (steel helmets). They even adopted the old Imperial German field gray for their dress uniforms. The reason for these choices in uniform styles and colors was that East Germany wanted to be seen as the true and legitimate successor state to Imperial Germany, the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany and for West Germany to be seen as illegitimate puppet state of the USA and the rest of NATO. They also wanted a distinctive look very different from the Soviet forces stationed insideEast Germany during the Cold War. Plus they had their own steel combat helmet actually designed by the Wehrmacht during WW 2 that was never used and sometime after 1960 (not exactly sure when) the East German army developed and adopted what was called a rain pattern camouflage battle dress / utility uniform. East Germany or the German Democratic Republic has a most fascinating history.

[@АлексейАнтропов-и7л]

Союз не хотел,лишать исторической связи Восточных немцев!поэтому я думаю форму оставили с Прусскими мотивами,а шлем конечно неудачен на мой взгляд)мой отец служил в Schwerin ,отзывался очень тепло о восточных немцах!..und Ich comme aus Russland)mit liebe

[@Fusselwurmify]

The infrastructure thing mentioned at the beginning really set back Eastern Germany a lot. The Soviets removed even a bunch of minor rail lines and shipped the rails off into the Soviet Union - a major issue especially for rural areas in an era where few people owned cars.

[@mrcool2107]

Dont worry we have bmw

[@justadult3493]

war reparations is a normal thing... remember, Germans literally invaded and razed USSR to the ground like couple of years prior to that

[@y33t23]

12:24 Fun fact: Those tubes you see on the wall, they were loosely put on the wall so if anyone trying to flee tried to throw a grappling hook over the wall, the tube would just fall down and either hit the defector or at least give the border guards enough time to aim for the shot, as a second attempt was neccessary to get over the wall.

[@okay38]

Interesting....

[@кто-то-б2г]

Wow, are the borders guarded? Oh yes, they were invented by evil communists, because nowhere in the world there is such a thing. P.S. You must have seen a lot "Spy Bridge" and other Hollywood fairy tales about evil communists and great American democracy. At the checkpoints, border guards just stopped people, not killed them.

[@y33t23]

@@кто-то-б2г What are you on about? Ever heard of "Schießbefehl"? Erich Honecker ordered border guards to use lethal force to prevent illegal border crossing. If no other measure was viable anymore, they would shoot you down. Those tubes helped them to catch you alive because you were stopped at that point. I don't know what you're trying to say with your monologue about communism and Hollywood, which were never mentioned here. People were shot trying to cross the border from East to West, 245 people lost their lives trying to cross. That is a historical fact.

[@y33t23]

@@кто-то-б2г That's not even in question here. Who hurt you, or why are you so pressed and imagining things that nobody talked about right now.

[@кто-то-б2г]

@@y33t23 Maybe because the U.S. exists and the GDR does not? And I was not offended. I simply said that it is a common practice, like all elements of "evil socialist totalitarianism".

[@htrland]

11:58 I like how the East German teen is playing a breakout game (Arkanoid?) in preparation for the Berlin wall. What an appropriate choice. :D

[@renjoker5442]

Both of my parents grew up and lived in East Germany, and both of them always say to me that many things were done much better than nowadays (eco-friendliness, social benefits, pension, etc.)

[@T0mat0_S0up]

I also grew up and lived in East Germany. I can guarantee you that it is DEFINITELY not better than nowadays.

[@renjoker5442]

@@T0mat0_S0up some things, not everything. And I know that statistically pensions were much better, plus that it isn't hard to be more eco-friendly than todays Germany, which isn't eco-friendly at all

[@T0mat0_S0up]

@@renjoker5442 you’re…you’re kidding, right? There’s no way you’re being serious. 😂

[@duruarute5445]

@@renjoker5442 are you a real person?

[@billyb4790]

they werent eco friendly at all. Communists only have one thing in mind: to outshow the west. They will do that at any expense, including environment.

[@AvinTheChipmunk]

Nobody is talking about the Soviet dude who waved the flag of the USSR in Berlin

[@niconachozstudio1952]

That's Dimitri and Reznov rising the flag ☭

[@AnimalBlundettoK]

@@niconachozstudio1952 a cultured man i see 🤝

[@voxelking3180]

It is based on a real photo

[@tigervalley62]

@@voxelking3180: Which is one of the best and most famous images of the 20th century.

[@aleespino5656]

@@niconachozstudio1952 Yeeee Petrenko and tricky Vick

[@christianmiller6046]

Love your videos I just wish the lil grif thought bubbles were bigger or easier to read text, very hard to read when watching on cell phone!

[@thomasmitchell4128]

Seconded.

[@W33bJaeger]

My in the GDR born father still tells me sometimes "Not everything was bad".

[@florianr.8816]

old people say that about the third reich too

[@W33bJaeger]

@@florianr.8816 Listen,we are talking about "Socialism" not Fascism.Your statement is not accountable for a system that was purely based on hate and the EXTERMINATION of jews,the ill,Sinti and Roma,people of different politcal believe,ethnicity and etc.... These old people who still dont get that the 3rd reich was a horrible place to live in are just Nazi's...

[@gorthsleeperofwomen900]

Nostalgia is a hell of a thing man, my family is from Ulster in NI, things were not so bad there either as my father says, so long as you ignore the literal terrorism going on that is.

[@mylastaccountgotdeletedtha6936]

@@W33bJaeger you could apply the same logic to any country with an overbearing government based on an ideology, like East Germany or Russia before 1917 or America before 1776.

[@W33bJaeger]

@@mylastaccountgotdeletedtha6936 Well,in generell humans refuse being Assholes.

[@Pablo-xf8oh]

My father lived in the DDR and life wasn’t that bad, he actually made good income because he was a musician

[@Enraged-vu2vb]

What sort of stuff did he play?

[@Pablo-xf8oh]

@@Enraged-vu2vb electronic music / synthesizers

[@dan_38]

@@Pablo-xf8oh wouldn't be surprised. To get that type of music in warsaw act countries was a really good way to get payed a decent price, since it was limited to wealthy members and avoided for supposed western influenced music for the rest of the population.

[@Pablo-xf8oh]

@@dan_38 wealthy members? Lots of people listened to it. Mostly the wealthy were „reds“ themselves and didn’t like the „imperialistic“ music

[@Pablo-xf8oh]

@@dan_38 you have to consider that with Germany is was different the the other countries especially Berlin. The west was right there across the wall and everyone had acces to West Radio/ Tv shows

[@experiment506]

The thing to remember about improving conditions in east germany is that the soviet union also realized its relevance as a display state to demontrate the success of communism. Which, like cuba, meant that it was supported by resources and wealth coming from the rest of the eastern bloc

[@dontworryhouston]

So the Marshall plan

[@christopherbrice5473]

@@dontworryhouston rules for thee

[@liberty.b.r]

@@dontworryhouston Comic con, and God bless everyone! :)

[@imatreebelieveme6094]

Kind of BS if you take into consideration that the USSR made the GDR pay the full reparations for the war, as the FRG paid basically nothing. After that they just had normal trade relations with defense being the main region where subsidies happened. Basically the GDR paid the USSR not the other way around.

[@pianisti4562]

East Germany wasn't an exception though, the USSR and others also saw steady quality of life improvements.

[@recedinghairline5696]

East German citizen: I wish I was in the we- Stasi: *E X C U S E M E ?*

[@iaminhere6022]

Im german, and part of my famely had suffered greatly in the DDR. My great grandmother who after ww2 migrated to east germany from Poland to help the famely of my great grandfather. My grandmother told me the storys her mother told her. After the Protest's in east germany they flead again. In the west they build a good life and a house, where my grandmother and my grandfather still live in to this day. And i hope one day i can live in it, tho the internet there is really bad.

[@iche9373]

It's called GDR (German Democratic Republic), not DDR.

[@anantbisht6355]

@@iche9373 It was called the Deutsche Demokratische Republik or German Democratic Republic in English. Its official name was still the DDR and that's the name everyone in Germany remembers it by.

[@iche9373]

@Herr Schütz Yes, it's the German name but we're speaking English.

[@iche9373]

@@anantbisht6355 Wikipedia: The German Democratic Republic (GDR) (German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR)), commonly called East Germany (German: Ostdeutschland), was founded on 7 October 1949, after World War II. It was formed from part of the Soviet occupation zone of Germany, including part of the city of Berlin. It is no longer a nation by itself since the two parts of Germany, East Germany and West Germany, reunified in 1990.

[@motba6228]

@@iche9373 Yes, but the name most Germans know the GDR by is DDR. Most people in Germany dont even know what GDR stands for. So iAmInHere is correct. If someone calls the Soviet Union CCCP you get the point as well...

[@TONYTAKER100]

i am a romanian and the same phenomenon is happening in Romania. The people who worked under the communist regime untill 1989 are always nostalgic about those "glorious" days.

[@kayvan671]

I think its everywhere in the former eastern Block.

[@TONYTAKER100]

@@kayvan671 it s fucking sick.

[@raptordoniv6779]

Why did they revolt and dispose their dictator then

[@oscarin13]

@@TONYTAKER100 not sick, understandable really, the quality of life was massively reduced after communism fell in some of these countries, so people will naturally remember those times as better in the baltics you won't find the same sentiment though, because those countries improved after they became independent capitalist countries

[@oscarin13]

@Erwin Rommel socially, maybe, but right-wing parties in these countries aren't like neoliberal or something, they support economic interventionism for example, Belarus' economy is very similar to its soviet counterpart, with large degree of state-owned enterprises, but the government is very conservative

[@Egl3RioNCSGO]

Why you call it "soviet east germany" and not "socialist east germany"

[@flowgangsemaudamartoz7062]

It was basically the same.

[@mardiffv.8775]

Because, Yugoslavia and Albania were also socialist states, but free of the influence of Moscow. And the West called Eastern European states communists, to distinguish them from social democrats in the West. So commisme rose to power through violence and social democrats through democracy. The Eastern Bloc did not make that distinction, for them a socialist could use any means to rise to power.

[@mardiffv.8775]

@Рамис Карама You are correct, Ramis. "East Germany under Soviet Union control' was better name for this video. Yet Eastern Europe was under Soviet control, through 2 international organisations: Warsaw Pact and Comecom. WP was a military alliance and Comecom was economic co-operation. For example, the DDR politbureau voted to removed Secretary General Ulbricht from power. Before the PB voted, the PB members all paid a visit to Soviet Union ambassador, to receive voting "advice. So all major decisions in the DDR were only happening with Soviet Union permission. Soviet Army soldiers in the DDR made the joke: "Where are we? In the DDR, of course. Noooo, you are in 16th Soviet Republic."". This because, the DDR PB was so loyal to Moscow.

[@mardiffv.8775]

@Рамис Карама Because the DDR Politbureau and the entire SED party, was so fiercely loyal toward Moscow. And your second question: yes, Australia, Japan, South Korea can be called the 51th US state, but in Europe, only Great Britain. Germany and France dominate the EU and want to establish an EU Army. To counter the US influence in Nato.

[@cantutmez8854]

We should also call West Germany American West Germany

[@slavicindo5763]

Story for you: I am not from East Germany, but I am from another ex-communist east european state. Bulgaria. Life was great according to adults here. My grandfather was a Bulgarian Officer in the army, and my grandmother was a worker at a factory. My father and grandfather both say that life was so much better than it is now. 30 years under socialism built Bulgaria, and 30 years of capitalism ruined us.

[@certifiedbruh2180]

@Legionario Franquista nazi

[@funfoxvlad7309]

Liar, I am also from an Ex-Communist country:Romania, life was terrible, according to anyone but the people who were rich back then

[@Ross-nd6xi]

@@funfoxvlad7309 to be fair, I'm not a defender of 20th century socialism, but even the tankies despise socialist Romania. No one defends it and its generally considered the worst Eastern European socialist country

[@MrCmon113]

>Life was great according to adults here. My grandfather was a Bulgarian Officer in the army My grandfather was an SS Obersturmabteilungsführer and life was great under Hitler.

[@lucasworktv]

😂

[@silano360]

I was born after reunification in West Germany, but my father grew up in the east. He and all his relatives suffered a lot under SED rule (my grandfather was head of a school while also regurarely going to the church, an absolut No Go in East Germany), but they also embraced the strong feeling of community amongst the citizens. Most had little so they shared and helped each other, something my grandparents started to miss after reunification.

[@bnbcraft6666]

Isn't what was East Germany very atheist compared to West Germany? If so around what year did religion kind of fall out of favor with the general east German public?

[@silano360]

@@bnbcraft6666 One must differ between the government and the people. The government was against religion from the beginning, quote: "Religion is the Opium of the people". The people in the GDR however still went to church, partly because it wasn't influenced so much by the government.

[@dertyp6807]

I am a German... ore better jet, an East-German. I was born in the year 2000 and did not see everything that went on in the GDR. My parents did, my grandparents did, and so on and so... I am very interested in my roots and therefore I informed myself a lot. Many people say that the Eastgermans were simpleminded People, that was lazy and therefore the GDR was way inferior to the BRD. Well... as it was pointed out the Eastgermans were used to equality. not only between Men and Women but also between sexual prefrences, Different lifestyles, Persons with other Nationalities, and so on. These are Things that the Westgermans still have to grasp. The Unification of the BRD and the GDR was actually not something that was wanted by the Eastgermans. More than half of the Eastgermans were for the establishment of a new Political party whit new Politicians. The Unification of Germany was more an Annexation than a unification. East German Factorys were sold off to Westgerman Companys for laughably low Prices, sometimes for a symbolic West-Mark. The people that were there for Years often were trained again in a job that they have done for years Prior, and the Infrastructure was renewed by Companys that did not really have done any work, but took the high rewards for it only that the east germans could pay for it again. My point is that even when there were so many so unbelievably bad things like the Stasi or the "Mangelwirtschaft" People cared for each other, helped each other, and had everything they needed to live a good but not Luxurius life. That changed. The east is still far behind with its Infrastructure, many people can't pay their Bills whit only one Job, many more need to travel across Germany to work. Often when I ask people from the east, they wish that the "Unification" did never happen. It ruined and still ruins so many lives. And more and more People see the old times come again, but only the worst parts of it.

[@kriskris2625]

My parents used to say the same thing. The live was much better and simple back then

[@will5459577]

Im about the same age as you, and from the uk. I've been fascinated by the GDR for a long time now, I believe it had its flaws, like you say, but its nice to see the people who live there having good things to say about it compared to the constant demonisation of it by the west

[@Spinnradler]

Hi! Ich bin dreizehn Jahre älter als Du und noch kurz vor der Wiedervereinigung/Übernahme geboren. Meine Eltern sind nach Mauerfall auch in den Westen wegen der Arbeit. Die Großeltern sind im Osten geblieben, so wie auch die meisten anderen Verwandten und Freunde. Natürlich war es die individuelle Entscheidumg meiner Eltern, vor allem meines Vaters, und ich bin Belgien auch sehr dankbar, aber wie viele Migranten fühle ich mich innerlich zerrissen. Hier in Belgien fehlt mir oft etwas, aber auch in Berlin und Brandenburg merke ich, wie sehr man sich entfremdet hat. Sehr oft wünsche ich mir, dass statt einer Wiedervereinigung erstmal eine Demokratisierung der DDR stattgefunden hätte. Aber so wie es jetzt ist, wurde das Kind mit dem Badewasser ausgeschüttet. Ich wünsche Dir alles Gute, junger Landsmann aus dem deutschen-wendischen Stückchen Erde zwischen Elbe und Oder, Ostsee und Erzgebirge, das ich so sehr liebe! (DWR oder DSR, Deutsche Wendische Republik oder Deutsche Sorbische Republik, wäre doch ein toller Name.)

[@declannewton2556]

Leave it to a zoomer to take offence that Germany reunited. Firstly, East Germany _had_ new politicians and new parties. That's what the 1990 East German election was. And guess what, East Germans overwhelningly voted for parties that campaigned on reunification. Only the rump socialist party dared oppose reunification, and they got 16%. Secondly, who cares if reunification was an annexation. Most Germans certainly don't care. Lastly, I call bs on anyone wanting reunification undone. Sure the odd complaint about the Treuhand, but nothing like that.

[@MrCmon113]

>People cared for each other, helped each other, and had everything they needed to live a good but not Luxurius life. They shot people for trying to leave.

[@bigbayesian9395]

“Mom why is it so cold inside?” Mom: “YOU’RE UNDER ARREST”

[@AmericanIdiot7659]

"You've violated the law! Pay the court a fine or serve your sentence" "Mom you ok" "Then pay with your blood!"

[@cikcikcikcik6587]

"Mom there's no need to get violent." Mom: "You capitalists are all the same. All flash and no FURY!"

[@oliverm5362]

That Music in The begining just gave me chills CoD WaW Best Game

[@Vishyswaz]

gotta love that background music in the beginning. "DIMITRI!"

[@masoncc9535]

My mom’s cousin lived in West Germany since the 1980s. She was at the wall when it went down and actually has a few pieces of it. She made a necklace out of a piece and gave it to my mom. She still lives in Germany

[@fun_ghoul]

Nazi.

[@MayDayMei98]

East German Arthur: "Comrade Dutch, what if government plan is not so good?" East German Dutch: "Comrade Arthur, I am astonished. We all just need to have a little god damn faith."

[@IndianaJonesTDH]

Then we make a little moNEH (nice rdr2 joke)

[@simonh6371]

What's the Netherlands got to do with it?

[@sif_2799]

Dutch?

[@mistergameplay9766]

@@simonh6371 red dead redemption2 reference

[@cianseeck8917]

Dont worry Arthur, i have a 5 year Plan.

[@sablinlover1198]

"The truth lies between" portrays east germany as a dystopia

[@rileygladue3362]

got it spot on tho

[@chevyjohnson7457]

Because it was

[@dagothur2666]

When your DNA test says your part Russian and German. *I serve East Germany*

[@aleembaksh1880]

The Pope serves East Germany.

[@dagothur2666]

@@aleembaksh1880 Yes, my child😇🙏

[@18utkb]

Is the Pope of Italian or German descent?

[@dexsterkevin80]

@@18utkb vatican

[@eho6380]

@@dexsterkevin80 No, He's Argentinian.

[@ejm51395]

Wonderful video as usual!! When I studied abroad in Germany I lived for five weeks in the former East Germany in Wittenberg and it was... well it was almost surreal. If I wasn't aware of where I was I would have never known there was anything different about it-not that I had anything to compare it to as my whole time was in the East. I will say though I heard many stories about how stark the difference was, especially in the 90's after the wall collapsed. I also remember my host mother making us what she said was a typical East German dish, and while I can't remember what the dish was I remember her explaining how they used to have to get creative with their food. When travel becomes safe again I would love to stay somewhere in the West and see if there really is still a huge difference.

[@FinnJGiese]

East German politics student here. Greatly apreciate your videos, but the title in this case is a little misleading, since the GDR was in fact not a soviet republic, but rather an independant nation - albeit one in whose politics Moscow was very much involved. Greetings from Berlin!

[@vermilion6966]

A satellite state

[@johndreibelbis1354]

Now you have to make videos about life in the other Warsaw Pact countries.

[@Lucas_07-PL]

YES

[@MikoyanGurevichMiG21]

Especially Poland and Lech Walesa's Sollidarity movement

[@run2fire]

MiG-21 Fishbed Jack Strong is a great movie if you are interested in 1970s Poland

[@Lucas_07-PL]

@@MikoyanGurevichMiG21 U want some info about communist Poland ?

[@Lucas_07-PL]

@liam B I'm not asking u.

[@crin4917]

Buying a car in East Germany be like: - Purchase accepted, you can collect your car in 12 years - Morning or evening? - Why bother now? You will collect it in.. - Plumber comes in the morning..

[@cowboymooman8776]

OH

[@crin4917]

@@Kjrov Oh crap, yeah. I remembered this joke but I didn't remeber where I got it from

[@1sb3rg34]

@@crin4917 Ronald ragen prob

[@elseagullo4979]

I thought it was 10 years

[@ottelo7773]

Donut media reference?

[@js_munchies]

Watching this in honor of my mom. She grew up in East germany. She was 12 when the wall fell.

[@Game_Hero]

Must have been quite something

[@redjaypictures4528]

Here are a few fun facts about east Germany: A piece of east Germany may still exist today, Fidel Castro honorarily gifted a small uninhabited Island off the cuban coast to the DDR and it was never addressed in the unification hearings In America there exists what is known as a “micro-nation” called “the republic of molossia” (look it up, its real) and its prime minister, a veteran of the US army who was stationed on the german border, declared war on east Germany after getting woken up in the middle of the night on alert one time too many, this war is still raging today because of the aforementioned cuban Island In the early days, the east german army’s uniform looked almost Identical to that of the Wehrmacht with the expressed purpose of showing opposition to the west

[@rodycaz8984]

The transfer of the Cuban island to the DDR was only symbolic act, not an official one.

[@pertoor]

Here is another fun fact for you: Many Nazi officials, Nazi teachers and former Nazi leaders in West Germany remained at their usual work place without any consequences and shaped the rebuilding, new legislation and ideology of Western Germany, while in East Germany through a phase of "denazification" those people were systematically removed and replaced.

[@wrudn]

"Ostalgie could be inspired by the longing of the Ossis (German for "Easterners", a term for former GDR citizens) for the social system and the sense of community of the GDR. When Der Spiegel asked former GDR-inhabitants whether the GDR "had more good sides than bad sides", 57% of them answered yes. To the statement of the interviewing journalist that "GDR inhabitants did not have the freedom to travel wherever they wanted", Germans replied that "present-day low-wage workers do not have that freedom either"." This comes from Wikipedia.

[@russianmoscowcrusader9905]

Channel: We are going to show an unbiased story about life in the GDR. Let's show the pros and cons Video: Most information about the downsides of the board. I naturally agree with many downsides and authoritarian or totalitarian regimes are bad, but the achievements of the GDR economy were somehow not even shown. Industry of the country, which was provided without credits and without even Ruhr resources. But the video is excellent) Although there are not enough words about the country.

[@dr3yfusz]

its pretty biased for the west and against the east, finding an objective video on youtube is very hard

[@GarrettMerkin]

Definitely very pro American style capitalism at least. Not even an attempt to not be.

[@David-li4uw]

Never a shortage of you commie apologists are there?

[@russianmoscowcrusader9905]

@@David-li4uw Oh, I'm not a commie like Stalin or Honnecker. I love democracy as opposed to them. Also, I don't like repression, too many people are ruining. I am in favor of an honest approach, especially when only one point of view is spoken. This is already called idiocy in our country. In fact, the one who made the video is no different from the Soviet propaganda or even the Nazi propaganda. For example, the video does not say that after the world war in western Germany the price of bread increased, because of devestation. At the same time, East German prices remained small, as regulated by the state, and since the money was then Reichsmarks, both in the West and in the East, many people from West are specifically manipulating.

[@mEmory______]

@@David-li4uw funny as it may sound Commies are not antidemocratic. What happened was Lenin's ban on factionalism was not lifted after the civil war. Literally the only reason the USSR went the way it was.

[@elagabalus6948]

>enters >doesn’t watch the video >says video is American capitalist propaganda >doesn’t explain >leaves Chad.jpg

[@Tr3yM34]

commiesoy.3gp

[@elagabalus6948]

@@Tr3yM34 lol

[@rickv9180]

Okay Commie

[@elagabalus6948]

@@rickv9180 lolol you ppl need to chill it’s a joke

[@jcdieguez98]

commiebootlicker.jpg

[@christianminton]

I spent some time in saxony in a town called Meissen for some time as a student. My host parents were the kindest people I could have hoped for. They said they personally enjoyed life under the iron curtain because they lived in a small art town and the soviets ensured that everybody had a job and there were no homeless people. I guess when you are comparing anything to nazi Germany it looks a lot better. But they also told me that they kept their headown through it. The husband actually got a pass in the 80s to spend some time in Florida. They would only give those to people that have never been in trouble so I guess you could say they were privileged.

[@thatoneprussianguy2762]

Nazi Germany was in every way a better place to live then the Soviet Union, the ussr is responsible for the deaths of 50-80 million people from Stalin alone , the nazis are responsible single for 5-15 million. both are awfull but the ussr was much worse

[@UriahD85]

Man I used to love East Germany when I was 13 (never been outside of New Zealand) the marches, the sharpness of the parades, the language when they shouted military orders. But I come to realise the two sides of a DDR

[@hawkevick9184]

Did you also like the Nazis?

[@UriahD85]

@@hawkevick9184 we all once had a phase as a kid so yip but had no understanding in the ideology itself

[@dashthebeast]

@@hawkevick9184 If it looks cool, you’re gonna like it

[@hawkevick9184]

@@dashthebeast the rule of cool

[@mickleyinc20]

they're the more interesting germans imo but hey different strokies

[@Paul_Sergeyev]

Would be great to see video about life in soviet Poland and Hungary and Checkoslovakia etc.

[@k0rpy_689]

Well to be honest, I think it wasn't very different.

[@Evandarlingisdaddy]

Especially Hungary. Hungarian SR’s people did some major things against the Soviets.

[@k0rpy_689]

@@Evandarlingisdaddy yes, you are right.

[@belstar1128]

I want to see one about Albania they where crazy.

[@humanbeing4841]

The only thing great about East Germany was their national anthem. It was one of the greatest national anthems ever written.

[@zealord9399]

Don't forget about their military uniform though,those are cool

[@Honecker89]

East Germany = Middle Prussia

[@bluecup1129]

Allies: ok now that Germnay is defeated we can now have a democracy- Soviet: *NOPE*

[@booran.]

His pfp is just John Brown

[@redzeitgeist854]

@Hussein and also in 1989, the German Chancellor Helmut Kohl wanted to reunite former East Prussian territory while Soviet Union allow it, the Western Powers rejected against Quite ironic huh

[@Torus2112]

@Hussein I mean if you can't trust Stalin, who can you trust?

[@tylerbecker8398]

@@redzeitgeist854 yo where can I find some information on that??? Having a hard time finding anything that isn’t NPR

[@remdy3839]

@Hussein he may did that but what if he lied just like the east german Goverment

[@karolissavickis10]

You know whats truly sad. Living studying or even visiting East Germany was a dream for people living in other Eastern Block states.

[@150cgy]

As a German, I'm very thankful for this episode of yours. I felt that the younger history of Germany has been kind of undercut in school (but maybe that was just mine), but I felt this was pretty accurate from what I've learned over the years after. We still do feel the divide today, even if it's just political - the former eastern states tend to vote more on the extreme spectrum of parties, both left and right. I come from the Ruhr area and had very little contact to people from the east. But when I was in the German Heer/army, I met a few people stemming from former GDR states. And even though all of us were around the age of 4-8 when the wall came down, even they displayed the nostalgia you mention in the end of your video, which was both suprising as and disconcerting to me. Current developments still make me recall those talks I had with my fellow soldiers, now almost 15 yeas ago, and make me wonder what their view might be like today. By the way, it you're curious, I'd recommend a few recent cinematic interpretations of the era from a (west) German perspective: The series "Tannbach" on Netflix (about a fictitious village divided by the border of FRG and GDR after the end of WWII) as well as the movies "The Life of Others" (a drama about people in the GDR art scene in the Stasi environment) and "NVA" (2005, a comedy about a young man drafted to the GDR military at the brink of the downfall of the USSR). Hope you'll enjoy the recommendations!

[@reichdesarnab]

beim deutschkurs ich habe das leben des anderes gesehen