The Dutch accent of English is one of the most pleasing non-English accents to listen to.

@barrysteven5964

4 ай бұрын

Although I am not a fan of his American pronunciation of 'Moscow'. 🤣

@tacob0

13 күн бұрын

I think its the worst accent, and im dutch lol. At least he doesnt have it to badly

@jemoeder5347

13 сағат бұрын

@@tacob0 That's probably why you think it's the worst. Being Dutch too, I can't stand the accent either, but are Italians or French better? Probably not :P

@jemoeder5347

13 сағат бұрын

@@barrysteven5964 He might do it that way because it is extremely close to the normal Dutch way of saying it

@tacob0

13 сағат бұрын

@@jemoeder5347 Italian accents are awesome, french id agree is also horrible, but them talking in english is still better then talking french at least xD

An identical video about Erich Honecker would be a great idea.

@daddybeagleaz907

9 ай бұрын

He and Mielke.

@boink800

9 ай бұрын

Actually, many videos could be made concerning "Die Männer der ersten Stunde" (The men of the first hour). This group of German expats was brought to Berlin from Moscow in the Summer of 1945 from Moscow with instructions to set up a Socialist (or Communist) government in Germany. Ulbricht was the head of this group.

@jamesthewineguy

5 ай бұрын

Agree - seems like they were similar.

CRIMINALLY underrated channel. I'm so excited to watch this once I finish work!

These videos are an absolut like. German seriousness and reliability. German sense of humour and irony. Great stuff. The GDR was always a weird thing!!

Ulbricht even tried to produce a GDR passenger plane (Baade 152). It ended in a disaster. If I compare him to his successor, I must admit that Ulbricht understood that initiative and activity are necessary if you want to achieve something. Honecker's creativity ended in the hunter's lodge once his intrigue with Breshnev was done and his portrait grinned from every wall in the GDR.

@pascalcoole2725

8 ай бұрын

To bad.... for several technical reasons the Baade 152 never could be a sucsesfull airliner, but it could have made a start for a new sucsesfull brand. After all Germans had shown know that thay how to build aircraft.

@Flies2FLL

3 ай бұрын

Do you suspect that Honecker performed felatio on Brezhnev?

@petebondurant58

2 ай бұрын

@@Flies2FLL Ja!

@theotherohlourdespadua1131

Ай бұрын

​@@Flies2FLLI mean they are kissing each other on the lips so it's not a difficult rumor to say...

Finally a channel whose main purpose is discussing the GDR.

I worked in former DDR from 1992 to the end of 1999. I met a lot of people with stories about their lives in the DDR regime. I find your channel fascinating

@American-Motors-Corporation

9 ай бұрын

​@@bfc3057kinda, it wasn't pleasant overnight!

@American-Motors-Corporation

9 ай бұрын

@@bfc3057 East and West Germany did fully integrate until well into the mid 90's. It took years for it to recover.

Another politician that English speakers might be interested in is Günter Schabowski. Everyone remembers his slipup during the press conference when he prematurely announced a new open travel policy. But he is one of the few Politbüro members who admitted wrongdoing and criticized the policies of the SED. He wrote an autobiographical book titled "Der Absturz" (The Crash). He also wrote a book in collaboration with a West German journalist titled "Wir haben fast alles falsch gemacht" (We did almost everything wrong). His descriptions of top SED officials and life in the Waldsiedlung Wandlitz, the exclusive neighborhood in a forest where top SED officials lived a life of relative luxury, are also interesting.

@cybersquire

5 ай бұрын

Thank you for the reference!

Again, a top class documentary.

'Old men who speak of victory shed light upon their stolen lives, they drive by night and act as if they're moved by unheard music.' The Thin Wall, Ultravox.

By sheer coincidence I happened to see Ulbrichts funeral - as I was visiting East Berlin at the moment. I was 13 y/o at the time and didn't have a clue who the man was - but it was impressive enough to take a couple of snaps. We were there for an entirely different reason, but we just bumped into the funeral procession - somewhere between Friedrichstrasse and Alex if I remember correctly (it's half a century ago, you know).

@rdallas81

9 ай бұрын

Awesome.

This channel is a great dive into GDR history.

As a Pole intresed in the history of the Communist Block this channel is a gem. Keep up the good work! BTW I've never thought Walter Ulbricht was so resentful!

@daddybeagleaz907

9 ай бұрын

It sounds to me like he had a chip on his shoulder the size of Moscow

Ulbricht was a monster.

Another excellent video. Dont know how I missed this one

Fantastic video, man. I'm an Asia who's been living in Berlin for 3+ years now. Your videos give me an unique opportunity to peep into the nuanced history of this country. Keep up the good work! Mach weiter so!

I love the longer videos you make. Great work, keeps me coming back!

Your videos are absolutely excellent👍

What a wonderful addition to the channel ! Thank you ! I’ve been fascinated by Ulbricht , in spite of his dry, very antiseptic image, since seeing such pictures of him as the one with him speaking at a meeting cohosted with Goebbels ! Or standing alongside Stalin for his birthday celebration, in close proximity to Mao, Khrushchev, and Kaganovich !

@justaroot4315

9 ай бұрын

Ahh...interesting thanks. I was wondering where FBI's psyop of Silk Road Takedown magically manifested the operative name of Ross Ulbricht. Knew it had a German connect as the hidden Romanov heirs are half German, but now the Ulbricht named rat line in honor of previous comrades makes perfect sense. Not a COIN CID ENCE. Always been a plan.

Another fantastic video mate, I've been waiting for a video like this on Ulbricht 😊😊 keep up the excellent work!

I learned that this man is my great great uncle, i want to do research about him so this video helps a lot

Another excellent video. Thank you and please, offer us more.

So often, history clips go over familiar subject matter. Often they add to my understanding, sometimes in surprising ways. This channel is a perfect delight, as the subject matter and the dramatis personae are at best slightly known to me and always present me with new horizons. Do please remember to hit the 'like' button as a mark of appreciation for Olaf's hard work, as You Tube isn't always kindest to what it regards as "niche" subjects. It's scarey to realise how much of my own life has now passed into history!!

Another fascinating video and I thank you for the time and effort you put into this. Outstanding. Bedankt.

This is a very good quality video. Loads of facts, no unnecessary drama, just letting the story speak for itself. Thank you.

I'm very glad to have found this channel!

Good stuff, as always. Thank you for your efforts, I enjoy all your content.

Yet another amazing video, I learned a lot! Thank you so much for sharing this with us.

Well done. As a young freaky kid loving history and geopolitics in the 1960’s, I followed the two Germanys assiduously. You provided great background material. Bravo.

Another outstanding bit of history, excellent channel.

Thank you for such a detailed look at this chapter from history. In the U.S., we tend to think of East Germany in generalities -- a wall, lot of Olympic medals, and that's about all.

Excellent overview. Thank you.

Brilliant work mate loved it! Hope there more to come

Top content weer. Professioneel gemaakt. Ik kijk uit naar de volgende. Overigens meen ik gelezen te hebben dat Ulbricht zich nogal met het privé-leven van zijn geadopteerde dochter heeft bemoeid. Met de bekende tragische afloop tot gevolg.

Another informative, detailed and fact based presentation. Thank you

Having lived in MV for a few years, I’m glad to watch your videos explaining the DDR with a honest perspective. Thanks

Excellent content. Lots of good information and insights into the GDR.

Olaf, thank you for another enlightening and intelligently presented video (and your command of English is excellent!).

Tough subject, verry well researched. For some unknown reason i always was verry interested in what was goin on in the GDR. looking forward to your next video. Dank en beste groet, Pascal.

Fantastic content once again

Very interesting. Thank You

Great vid as usual. Thanks.

Amazing work yet again! I'd be interested in videos about the DDR economy, the efficiency deficits of a state run economy and the Kombinate and their functions, including daycare and such

Very interesting. I knew little about him. Thank you. ☮

Keep up with this quality content. You will grow amongst those interested in real history.

Ulbricht didn't flee to the Soviet Union to escape the Nazis; he fled earlier to escape prosecution for his involvement in the police murders.

Such a pleasure to listen to your German pronounciation!

Excellent content

Fantastic presentation

Geweldig kanaal, mooie video weer.

You tell a great story thank you

Thanks for the very instructive document.

How very well done! This is an excellent overview of this controversial political figure in both the GDR and abroad. I'm looking forward to more videos.

Good stuff 👍

You have done a really interesting and well done documentary. I visited once in East Berlin. It was maybe year 1986. I did stay in West Berlin but I spent one day in East Berlin. Divided Berlin was like a night and day. West was rich, free and lively but East was dull and gray. Restaurant in East Berlin didn´t have any salads and only Selyanka soup was on menu. :) How ever museums and even ruins were interesting in East Berlin. I saw even the famous Congress Palace which was later demolished. I visited again in Berlin 2007. Potsdamer Plats had new, modern buildings, shopping centers etc. 1986 Potsdamer Plats was just an open field, and urban jungle. Berlin is now again a great city. Greetings from Finland.

"Niemand hat die Absicht eine Mauer zu errichten!" 🤥

Nice video.

Great - precise - no bull- & informative - bravo

A superb report -- many thanks!

Very informing and valuable knowledge thank you.

Apologies if this has already been mentioned in another comment but there is a funny, and perhaps illustrative, anecdote about Ulbricht from his time as a Red Army propagandist. After the surrender of what remained of the 6th Army at Stalingrad, the prisoners were formed up on a parade in the ruins. Walter Ulbricht was brought in to give a speech to degrade and harangue the defeated men. Lavrenty Beria, who was there, observed Walter ranting and raving as he bullied his countrymen and in his diaries remarked that he was "the biggest idiot I have ever seen". Source is Anthony Beevor's excellent Stalingrad history.

Enjoyable narrative, as always. 🏆

Great video

Another good anecdote about the voice and saxon dialect of Ulbricht: The later head of the foreign intelligence department of the Stasi was Markus Wolf. He worked as a Berlin radio journalist during the late 1940s, and asked Ulbricht to speak standard German because people from other places than Saxony may not like his talk just because of the dialect. Ulbricht got upset and insisted to talk the way he liked. Markus Wolf was indeed correct 😉

OLAF!! You did it again... more fascinating information about the people of area that has intrigued me, ever since my Uncle told me his stories of when he visited on his Triumph Bonneville motorrad! I recently saw a video by Asianometry about the GDR's disastrous attempt to enter the semiconductor industry. By his account it was pretty brutal to the GDR economy causing a lot of damage. I can't wait to watch your video on Honecker. By the way, would it be possible to see videos on the GDR car industry, including the likes of Wartburg(?). Many thanks!

I've watched several of your videos and am impressed at how well-documented and well-executed they are. And your German is 100% (I believe you remarked your mother was German in one video). My major was German Studies and I got to see both Germanies up close before and after the Wende.

*An objective and informative video.*

Dank je wel voor je geweldig filmpje. En ik kijk uit naar beeld van mensen aan de top van DDR. Zoals Honecker, Egon Krenz en hoop stilletjes dat ook Sabine Bergmann-Pohl voorbij komt.

I was born in Merseburg and never knew we had the German central archive. The pollution was indeed quite terrible. I developed pseudo croup at least two times as a kid and after reunification they sent us on 14 day long class trips two times a year so we could breath some clean air for a change.

In 1953, the East German propaganda apparatus produced a heroic portrait movie about Walter Ulbricht, pathetically called "Baumeister des Sozialismus" (Builder of Socialism). After quashing the June 17th uprising, this pic was deemed politically inopportune and disappeared in the archives. I watched it in an East Berlin cinema in the 1990s, a few years after the GDR had shut down. The audience was split: half were older folks from the East, most of whom piously following the praise on their ole' Walter. The other half were younger people enjoying the involuntarily comical moments of the film, bursting out laughing at times. I don't think the younger cinemagoers ever realized how much their laughter pissed off the older ones - what a show!

I have to say that for me Ulbricht looked always grey, no charisma, no fire. It does not mean he was dumb or incompetent given how far he climbed in the party but he wasn't exactly a thrilling, charismatic tribune.

Thanks for the video. Hopefully you won't mind my question: Are You going to make more Videos about important politicians? Who is on your list?

Ooh what a great channel! I'm very interested in cold war era politics and the GDR in particular. Have you covered Honecker yet? I'll check your videos. Subscribed! 👍

thanks

I enjoy your videos, and you are the world's most East German looking man.

@sc1338

9 ай бұрын

I think he’s Dutch tho 😂

@capoislamort100

9 ай бұрын

What does an East German look like?

In what regards his aspect he was a method actor, implementing a "Imitatio Lenini " !

The guy was wearing his pants allmost up to the armpits

23:10 At the time of his 80th birthday (June 1973) Ulbricht is overthrown by Honecker since two years (April 1971). You have to mention that U. in this period is deeply humiliated by his successor. Still in his lifetime his name is extinguished from public facilities, academies, sport stadium and even stamps.

Absolutely brilliant in every respect, even German pronunciation. 👏 Beria: “Ulbricht doesn‘t … love his people“. Well, the people didn‘t exactly love Beria either.

I'm looking forward to the follow-up documentaries about Honecker and Krentz.

@boink800

9 ай бұрын

Honecker would be a very interesting video, as Honecker was not in the "Ulbricht Group". Rather, Honecker had spent 10 years in prison between 1935-1945 (he was caught as a Communist spy by the Gestapo). How Ulbricht was pushed out in 1971 is also very interesting material.

Imagine being berated by Beria for not being friendly enough...

As an introvert and nerd myself, yes we find boring stuff fascinating. So he was one of the occupants of the famous Hotel Lux. Wow.

You have a lovely intro

What are some of the books you would recommend to start learning about the DDR?

@EdMcF1

9 ай бұрын

Pole-vaulting for beginners?

Great

It should be favourable for our listener or viewers if you could compare the systems.. Pros and cons,

During the 60s i regarded walter ulbrich RIP 🎉🎉🎉🎉.

U gonna give Honecker a whirl? Doping in athletics would also be a prize plum.

Another fascinating and informative video. To me, the DDR was one of modern history’s great enigmas.

Wooo!

SED in English is not Socialist Unit Party, it's Socialist Unity Party. Unit means one thing or group. Unity means the idea of togetherness.

@eastgermanyinvestigated

9 ай бұрын

Well spotted! You are absolutely right. Thanks for mentioning this.

Can you do Erick Honecker

Could you do one of these on Honecker?

Hi. I wonder if you will make a video about "Tal der Ahnungslosen"? That would be very interesting.

Have you ever thought of doing a segment on that awful DDR state prosecutor and judge , Hilde Benjamin ? She’s pretty fascinating

6:03 Proof that anyone can become a leader

@Theaudacity787

2 ай бұрын

somehow he is more competent then Joe Biden

Du bist toll. Du bist ihm eine Art von person, deren persönlichkeit problematisch ist aber sie sind gegenüber objektiv.

Beria accusing someone else for not loving his people is absolutely hilarious.

"Niemand hat die Absicht eine Mauer zu errichten..." (No one has the intention to build a wall...) Walter Ulbricht in an interview on June 15, 1961 That aged well....🤔🤭😁

Your eyes are super wide the whole video and I could count on my hand how many times you blinked