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@danielcaldwell1110

7 ай бұрын

The ameriken colony needs liberation again. Hope China will do it this time!

@na3044

7 ай бұрын

Shit, why does my adblocker not work on posts like this?!

@carkawalakhatulistiwa

7 ай бұрын

Can the next episode tell about nations whose territories were divided into many countries because of colonizer like 1. Malay tribe is divided into 4 countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ). 2.Pashtuns tribe is divided into 2 countries(populations Pakistan and Afghanistan) 3.Kurds tribe is divided into 4 countries ( Turkey, Iran , Iraq and Syria) 4.Hausa tribe tribe is divided into 2 countries (Nigeria and Niger) 5.Yoruba tribe tribe is divided into 3 countries (Benin , Nigeria , Togo )

@typxxilps

7 ай бұрын

great one, very well done - we lived also in a town with a invisible curtain cause in that part we had dutch forces that were part of the nato in preparation of a forward defense in case of a soviet invasion just 100 km east of the dutch border to germany. And if those dutch soldiers wanted to stay abroad with the higher payments then their kids had to go to the german gymnasium after 10th grade hence we suddenly got dutch classmates that had learned to speak german but needed to learn to write over night or within a summer cause from 11 th grade on they were on a german school. Great time, great memories of a partly similiar idea of living and learning , but also on quite the opposite, a very laid back living style . Hard for many to imagine but we were rowing and had some dutch guys which also learned rowing late, but fast and could participate in the national competition and what not. The only issue and especially in rowing is that a four or quad can only start their training when all 4 have arrived in time. But the big difference was the idea of punctuality cause that could be quite a difference which means some were even more punctual than germans but a few were the most laid back you can imagine - like reggae man. Deadly for a crew that wanted to compete so it were hard sometime to get along cause we had the choice between a strong Zander or a weaker Klaas and Edwin, where Klaas and Edwin would be there in time and Zander only some times, usually late with hilarious stories. When the Berlin wall fell the dutch government did no longer want to spent the huge amount of additional salaries and closed the garrison soon, but many of those I went to school with tried to study in german or to stay and stayed even till today. But it was a clash of 2 cultures in the class room and activities or hobbies we spend which suddenly appeared cause we had not noticed the dutch before cause they have had their own elementary and what not schools till 10th grade and lived in their own suburb or area. And from 11th grade on we got new class mates which made a huge difference cause sometimes they were a lot better prepared than we and of cause also vice versa.

@C.A._Old

7 ай бұрын

i mean what can i say... what about poland, and east bloc countries?

My aunt was born and grew up in what became East Berlin. She had a friend who worked in the government office, and he told her, "Grab your son and leave and join your husband. I can't tell you why but leave now." A few days after she left, the wall started going up.

@xxxy912

7 ай бұрын

Ehrenmann.

@grundgesetzart.1463

7 ай бұрын

und? ging es ihr toll im islamisierten und vertürkten Westdeutschland? Hoffe der erste Döner hat super geschmeckt.

@Garbeaux.

7 ай бұрын

That was a great friend. Bless her.

@Garbeaux.

7 ай бұрын

@@grundgesetzart.1463is it really gotten that bad in Germany? I saw just last week the Chancellor said something about not taking anymore migrants.

@user-ts1nx1to8h

7 ай бұрын

@@Garbeaux. This guy is exaggerating

It would be interesting to look into the economic and political differences between the ex Yugoslav states

@henrikbuchholz1983

7 ай бұрын

agree

@fungo6631

7 ай бұрын

Comparable to the former USSR states. There is a positive correlation between living standards and a dislike of that former regime. In the USSR it's the Baltic states, in Yugoslavia it's Croatia and Slovenia. And in both cases it's the communist overlord republic ppl that caused the most headaches to the locals. In Baltic states it's Russians, in Slovenia and Croatia it's Serbs.

@kostam.1113

7 ай бұрын

When it comes to economy it's the same as it was during Yugoslav era With Croatia and Slovenia being at the top when it comes to living standards Serbia in the middle And Macedonia, Bosnia and Montenegro at the bottom As for Serbia itself it's northern province Vojvodina it's almost the the level of Croatia and Slovenia While it's southern province of Kosovo (which is under separatist control) is one of the most poorest regions in all of Ex-Yugoslavia Although it's not that extreme like it was during the 80s and 90s

@karelkieslich6772

7 ай бұрын

@@fungo6631it’s not just attitude toward communism and the former regime (although that’s a big part of it): all the countries from the Eastern Block that are now more successful were also more successful even before WW2. In fact, the order ranking in GDP and living standards is actually fairly similar now as it was in 1938: Czechia, Slovenia and Eastern Germany on the top. Baltics, Poland, Hungary, Croatia behind them. Then Romania, Bulgaria and the rest of the Balkans. And then Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova. The countries that were closer to the European economic core and more industrialised, had a longer democratic tradition, stronger rule of law etc. were and are still the more successful, and communism only slowed them down but didn’t change the relative trajectories. It’s even striking that the former Austrian parts are still more successful than the former Hungarian parts, even within one country (Transylvania vs. Oltenia/Muntenia/Moldavia in Romania is a great example; also Slovenia vs Croatia).

@stypie3711

7 ай бұрын

@@kostam.1113 Montenegro has higher standard of living than Serbia

As a citizen of South Korea which is one of the only countries still divided, Germany is the prime model of how unification of the south and north would look like in the future. It pains me to learn that even 30 years after the unification, Germany suffers from its decisions. Unification between North and South Korea would likely be worse, as the economic disparity between the two is far more profound than east and west Germany 30 years ago.

@jeramysamarawickrama7633

Ай бұрын

Also the korean divide is too much. The north is fanatical and the south has moved on. Any connection you guys seemed to have is gone i feel like. Also china isnt going to let korea unify easily. Unification of korea will be the greatest and most challenging and possibly bloodiest but i hope for the best. Wish you guys could introduce the northerners to the modern world.

@AndyJarman

Ай бұрын

I am not envious of South Korea's prospects. Reunification could easily destroy the South, the financial burden being the least of it. The people in the North are extremely naive about the world and would find the South utterly baffling. I can only imagine the massive social problems reunification would create for both north and south. I do not think the CCP could tolerate it either. The north is like the 'death strip' behind the Berlin wall, with people growing food among the landmines, under the watch towers.

@xxklesx1

Ай бұрын

This doesn't really work as a model. Your task would be 10 times bigger. North Korea is one of the poorest countries in the world. The GDR was poor compared to the Federal Republic of Germany, but at least it was the richest country in the communist world. With an industry, an educated population and regular exchanges between East and West. West Germans were always allowed to enter the country and visit relatives in the East. Only East Germans were not allowed to go to the West, except for a small privileged caste. As a result, Western pop culture was permanently present in the East, forbidden but present. East Germany was an unjustice state, an one-party state, a surveillance state. But North Korea is hell on earth, I would rather live 10 lives in the GDR than a year in North Korea.

@raulll630

27 күн бұрын

A country that can’t even afford fruits. Haha. There is indeed a huge gap with the north.

@gerryjames9720

22 күн бұрын

Korea would be a caste system, with the first generations of North Korean adults being untouchable. I’ve been around some fringe people who moved into “civilization”, and it took multiple generations for them to really assimilate and adjust. At the very least until the people born previously died off.

It's crazy, how our feeling of time changes as we grow older (and wiser haha). I was born in 1981 (in the GDR btw) and as a teenager, WW2 seemed to me a long time ago. But actually, I was born only 36 years after WW2. The fall of the Berlin Wall seems like not a very long time ago to me now, but it is over 34 years ago, almost 36 years! It's nice and honorable that you present our history so well-researched and for an international audience. Well done! Next time I talk about my home country in English, I can just refer to your video.

@nicholashylton6857

22 күн бұрын

As a Gen-Xer, it was depressing when I realized I was born closer to the beginning of WWII than I am now to the fall of the Berlin Wall. 😟

The biggest gap was always a mental one. West germans expected integration in the west german society. East Germans never wanted this, they wanted of course a free and democratic, unified Germany, but with some of the socialist achievements, a right to have a say in the development of East Germany. All of this achievements were wiped out within a year. Angela Merkel really made a point when she said "It was like the life before 1990 didn't count". That was the west german mentality, east germans were confronted with. There was no appreciation, no recognition. Mostly it was a lack of interest or sometimes even arrogance and capitalist chauvinism in a way like "You achieved nothing in 40 years". Which wasn't that wrong, many East Germans didn't had any savings or assets. But it was this downgrading mentality by the West Germans for 30 years, why we have a distant relationship. We live in a Germany, where East Germans are underrepresented and mostly are seen as a loud, grumpy and radical group, which is only relevant for german society as objects for sociologic and political research. Our history, our social achievements, the usual ife of East Germans in the GDR were irrelevant for the unified Germany, it should be quickly forgotten after 1990. It never was and never will be, at least for us East Germans.

@chlks5891

7 ай бұрын

What exactly were these "socialist achievements"? How exactly did you have a greater say in the development of the country?

@ENT683

7 ай бұрын

@@chlks5891just because you or I don’t know them doesn’t mean a society doesn’t accomplish achievements. Ignorance proves nothing. Every society no matter how different or ‘oppressed’ has achievements over half a century.

@ENT683

7 ай бұрын

I really appreciate your perspective. Thank you.

@dreamingflurry2729

7 ай бұрын

Achievements? You mean the "right" to be spied on and have the STASI terrorize you? Seriously: What are you talking about?

@looinrims

7 ай бұрын

That’s what they said about post communist Russia East Germans would and should frankly get over it, the minority doesn’t have as much say as the majority especially when they were A puppeted B like you said, had fuck all, and C it’s clear which side had to bail out the other, still dealing with that to this day, if one side is gonna do the bailing they deserve a very large say in how that goes about, since you know, it’s their money

I think an important point to explain the economic disparity between West and East Germany is how reunification was handled. Basically, almost all of the GDR's state property was privatized and sold off at horribly low prices. This made it possible for West German companies to essentially buy out the competition and simply dissolve them. This was partly intended by the conservative government in order not to endanger the West German economy, and it was successful. Within a few years, almost all companies in the East were either dissolved or integrated into West German companies. Basically overnight, the entire East German economy went down the drain and most East Germans have not forgotten that to this day.

@erzsebetkovacs2527

7 ай бұрын

In other words, the same as happened to the state-owned companies of the Hungarian economy in the years after 1989.

@Homer-OJ-Simpson

7 ай бұрын

Do you have any sources on this? It seems I see way too many excuses when East Germany is still much better than it would have been otherwise. I don't think it's fair to compare to west Germany and see it as a failure. US has huge economic divides in region but there wasn't a recent separation. Italy probably much more economically divided north vs south. Etc.

@Homer-OJ-Simpson

7 ай бұрын

" Within a few years, almost all companies in the East were either dissolved or integrated into West German companies." Yes, they were terrible companies that were running based on state funding. They were not companies for a free market competition. This happened with many state property/companies in former communist countries.

@FinianFhomhair

7 ай бұрын

@@Homer-OJ-Simpson Yes, there are enough sources for this and in Germany there are hardly any reputable experts (including from the conservative spectrum) who doubt what serious effects this had. Unfortunately, there are only a few sources available in English. But this ist from an article of "Le Monde": "The GDR underwent an overnight economic liberalisation that had taken postwar West Germany a decade. In July 1990, industrial output had fallen 43.7% from 1989; by August, 51.9% and by the end of the year, 70%. The official unemployment figure rose from 7,500 in January 1990 to 1.4 million in January 1992, but was more than double that when short-time working, retraining and pre-retirement were factored in. No other country in Central or Eastern Europe suffered more economically by leaving the Soviet Union’s orbit. This social demolition was deliberate: dozens of reports had explored its consequences. ‘Better to achieve unity with a ruined economy than remain in the Soviet bloc with a half-ruined one,’ said SPD politician Richard Schröder (9). His wish was more than granted. To Ossies (East Germans) the exterminating angel had a name: the Treuhand (trust agency), created on 1 March 1990, the tool to convert the former GDR to capitalism. It privatised or liquidated almost all of the ‘patrimony of the people’, the name for the GDR’s state businesses and assets, which it took possession of in July 1990. This made it the world’s biggest conglomerate, responsible for 4.1 million employees (45% of the workforce) working for 8,000 businesses at 32,000 sites, from steelworks to holiday camps, grocers to local cinemas. By the time the Treuhand was wound up in December 1994, it had privatised or liquidated most of its portfolio with an impact unequalled in industrial history: a country deindustrialised, 2.5 million jobs gone and losses estimated at DM 256bn despite an opening balance sheet of DM 600bn, according to its own president’s estimate (10). This miracle of neoliberalism was, according to Christa Luft, ‘the largest ever destruction of productive capital in peacetime’ (11). Researchers Wolfgang Dümcke and Fritz Vilmar regard this as the key period in the structural colonisation of the GDR (12): West German investors and companies bought up 85% of East German production sites, East Germans just 6%." You can read the full article If you want: mondediplo.com/2019/11/06germany

@ekesandras1481

7 ай бұрын

The economy went down the drain in ALL former communist countries. The only difference is: the few still profitable companies elsewhere were sold at horribly low prices to some cronies and a new oligarchy emerged, while in East Germany they were sold to West German companies who were in the same industry. That's why East Germany has no oligarchy/mafia problem like Russia or even other Eastern European countries.

It's the balance between Freedom and Security. People who are free want security. People who are secure want freedom. I met a Czech actress in 1980 named Magdalena Buznia - a striking, dark-haired lady with big eyes and a great singing voice. She'd been a member of a theatre in Prague where she played different parts continuously throughout the year. She was never out of work. Always performing. But she had to play the parts assigned to her - not always the best parts - and yearned to be a star. But in Communist theatre there no stars. Everyone was "equal." She defected to the West - risking her life - and wound up in France...and then London, England, where she ended up singing for money on underground tube stations. She was granted asylum in England but, of course, found it almost impossible to get work as an actress. After several years, thoroughly disillusioned by Western society, she went back to Czechoslovakia.

@greghauser742

Ай бұрын

That one anecdote doesn't change the fact that most people are better off in the West.

@aaronlopez717

Ай бұрын

one successful woman from wealthy to works in a supermarket. She said i am well after all is my experiences ( an small conversation in USA New M. )

@andrewmccrudden4104

6 күн бұрын

She thought she was special, but found out she wasn't really.

In the early 80's I worked on a project for a company that was founded by two men from Germany. Their first names were Bertholdt and Wolfgang. Both were originally from East Berlin. Bertholdt decided one night to stay in the west, hearing rumors of the border being closed. He never went back. Wolfgang however was still in East Berlin. Wolfgang however was one of the first to scale the original wall making it over alive. He was shot though in one of his ankles. He even showed me the wound. He said he was never particularly athletic and was never able to scale a wall that high after he made it to the west. He said what helped him over was being shot at.

As a child of German immigrants, these videos always hit close to my heart. I was born just two months before the Berlin wall fell. Thanks for making these.

@nickb3488

7 ай бұрын

your country is full of mollattos and your country is ruined

@jovan-noble-guy749

7 ай бұрын

Мајка ти те родила во источна Германија или западна Германија?

@itsmvrik

7 ай бұрын

zosto bi begal od zapadna?@@jovan-noble-guy749

@daddyrabbit835

Ай бұрын

Geez, I feel old. I was a soldier guarding West Germany when the wall fell. I remember seeing a lot of people in older style clothing and the little Trabant cars

When the Berlin Wall was built, it wasn't just the wall that separated West Berlin from East Berlin, but also the trains. Ending freedom of movement didn't just mean building the wall, it also meant making changes to the U-Bahn and S-Bahn. There were three lines, the U-Bahn lines now designated U6 and U8, and the Nord-Süd Tunnel on the S-Bahn, that ran for the most part through West Berlin but passed for a short distance through the borough of Mitte (the historic city center), which was East Berlin territory. These lines continued to be open to West Berliners, but they did not stop at East Berlin stations, though they still had to slow down and these stations were heavily guarded. Thus, these became ghost stations Trains on the U8 line had six stations in East Berlin before crossing from one part of West Berlin to the other. The U6 had to skip five stations as well as the S-Bahn having to skip four. Friedrichstraße on the other hand was an exception as it was a transfer point between U6 and S-Bahn lines. Wollankstraße as well because it had a West Berlin exit right on the border. At the closed stations, barbed wire fences were installed to prevent any would-be escapees from East Berlin from accessing the track bed, and the electrically live third rail served as an additional and potentially lethal deterrent.

@ping-lingchen5934

7 ай бұрын

Didn't know about that. The more you learn every day, thanks, Avery. Where did you learn about this?

@willliam8857

7 ай бұрын

i see you everywhere ww2 related video i go

@smileyp4535

7 ай бұрын

As a Cuban American how do you feel about Cuba these days? They're doing really well considering all the shit the US used to (and still does) put them through 😮‍💨

@SanctusPaulus1962

6 ай бұрын

​@@smileyp4535 Well if he's Cuban American, then his family probably didn't think Cuba was that great, considering they fled to the US...

@michaelplunkett8059

6 ай бұрын

​@@smileyp4535Doing well? Compared to Haiti maybe. They trade with the rest of the world. Their poverty and lack of freedom is their choice.

I landed in Berlin in 2017 and was shocked how depressing that city was. After 1.5 years, I had to move to other cities to really experience the rest of Germany. Even today, I am in shock how Berlin as the capital is still underperforming comparing to other cities. I am not optimistic for that city to change.

@supernanny8375

4 ай бұрын

Berlin is underperforming because its governed by the leftists (SPD / LINKE) for ages, secondly since some years it has a massive issue with eastern-arabic Clans and thirdly its infrastructure is very old and rarely gets modernized. Its the capital but still, ancient metro system, no up2date internet access in every building, highest crime rates in the country and very likely highest homeless rate too.

@flanell2239

3 ай бұрын

compared to east german states and cities its actually overperforming. berlin is attracting a lot of young well educated people. the growth rate of the real estate prices is the largest among all german cities, during the past years. most german unicorns are from Berlin. i can totally undesrtand that some parts of berlin can give you a depressing vibe but the citys performance is not that bad. the gdp per capita is about the german average and the gdp grew by 4.9% in 2022, so its basically outperforming any city or region in germany.

@chriaalfred8865

Ай бұрын

​@@supernanny8375 it's actually not the most dangerous City in germany, its Frankfurt am Main, but still they have a lot of crime goin on no doubt about that

@AndyJarman

Ай бұрын

​@@supernanny8375sounds like London.

@elendi777

6 күн бұрын

@@supernanny8375was ein bullshit

Small correction - monument of the soviet soldier in Berlin isn't "crushing nazis" with its sword - it is symbolically lowering the sword on foreign land. It's a memorial to the fact that the war has ended, not the glorification of its results.

@Petergriffin-qg1gw

Ай бұрын

The Soviets/bolsheviks were literally controlled by Zionists lol….

@mchjsosde

17 күн бұрын

You can see his boot crushing a swastika behind the sword. That's what he was referring to. I think you are right about the sword position

As someone who can remember when East Germany still existed, it's weird to think that now I have lived longer than East Germany did!

@SayAhh

6 ай бұрын

Any 5-year-old or older American lived longer than the Confederacy.

@rwboa22

6 ай бұрын

Your not the only one. My father spent most of the time in the US Army in the 1960s near the border between East and West and this was only 5 years after the Berlin Wall went up. Fast forward and my father, at age 43 and me, just two days shy of 13, got to witness, on ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, the history of that very wall, the wall that President Reagan challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down, was finally coming down. My father passed in 1995 (shortly after I graduated from high school), but I myself, at 46 (turning 47 in November) am now older than the very country (East Germany) and city (East Berlin) that no longer exists.

@redwolfexr

5 ай бұрын

@@rwboa22 I was actually stationed in Germany when the wall came down. My one regret was that I never visited Berlin when it was divided. Anyone who had visited had to have special orders issued and units were sending any soldier with those orders to Berlin to help tear that wall down. (they were valid for your whole tour of duty once issued)

@Za_Russia454

5 ай бұрын

Надеюсь мне кто нибудь ответит я из России хочется по разговаривать с немцами

@labracktime

3 ай бұрын

Hello you Russian that wants to talk about German people!​@@Za_Russia454

We, who lived east of the Iron Curtain, had a somewhat romantic view of the free, rich world on the other side. When the barriers fell and we started living "the new way", we realized that reality is not so black and white. The people were freer, but not as free as we thought and the life was richer, but not as rich as we imagined. Many people were disappointed. Especially those who did not find their place in the new conditions. It is a natural, human reaction to blame the system, even if the reasons lie in their own inability to adjust.

@Gixsir

5 ай бұрын

People also think the grass is always greener on the other side till they get there

@JesusMagicPanties

5 ай бұрын

This was not about the West as such but neoliberalism which destroyed any "romantic view" in the West, too, at the same time.

@redwolfexr

5 ай бұрын

Yeah, quite a difference in a true Socialist and a Democratic Socialist state. Suddenly as a worker you have to pay large sums for housing and its in economically stratified housing areas and you no longer have a subsidized day care facility in each building. In a Capitalist state its all about money, which is great... as long as you HAVE money.

@alexamurawski4524

4 ай бұрын

it is the system, the politics and the media who betrays us all and whants us being divided. ...and the majority is silent

@johnking6252

4 ай бұрын

A rose by any other name ? Still grows in manure. ✌️🌍🌎🌏

Very informative and thought provoking. I travelled across Germany in September 1993, there was a stark contrast when crossing the old border. I remember there was what would've been a very pretty, small town near Jena, but it looked like nothing had been tended to since the end of the war, making it look grubby and unloved. You could tell where the border had been by the watchtowers that still stood. There was a lot of road building going on at the time. There were few places to stay in the former East Germany, but when I found an English speaking resident of Jena, I found the family group really friendly. My girlfriend and I ended up staying in a 5 star hotel, there wasn't anything else really.

@uhmwhat158

14 күн бұрын

Oo jena! My childhood home :,)

I was half way through university here in Canada when the Berlin Wall fell, and even here it was breathtaking and unbelievable to see. I hope it doesn't sound frivolous to say that, as a young person at the time, I was jealous. A moment in history that would be remembered for hundreds, maybe thousands of years was going on, and I wished I could be there and be part of it. It's still inspiring to watch, all these years later. If the Wall could come down and Germany be reunited, what _isn't_ possible?

I worked in Frankfurt for a year as an engineer. People were amazing and friendly, unlike the typical German stereotypes. But I always felt that it was all surface level affection. Then I visited East Berlin one weekend with some co-workers and spent most of the time at bars. It was cold as s**t that weekend, but I can't forget how authentic and real the people were there. No fake BS friendliness, but raw, human emotions. This was early 2000's.

@tarmaskhalifa871

5 ай бұрын

West Germans r the slave of American empire.

@aggressivertyp9663

2 ай бұрын

Frankfurt just sucks... its super buisnessy and almost everyone only cares about themselves... and drugs. (I live near frankfurt)

@aussiedanny28au15

2 ай бұрын

It’s because they still have an Eastern European element of acting like an entitled rude asshole

@greghauser742

Ай бұрын

That's because all they had were each other...

@daddyrabbit835

Ай бұрын

​@@aggressivertyp9663I know the Frankfurt area ok. I was in Hanau for 2 years.

My mother escaped in 1957 by swimming the Elbe. We visited in 1986 and I am so grateful I saw it before unification. A great documentary.

@Ftroll

5 ай бұрын

a lie about a lie, not a movie...

@fatmanfaffing4116

5 ай бұрын

@@Ftroll Huh? I don't understand your comment?

@SnapCracklePapa

Ай бұрын

@@fatmanfaffing4116 I believe (I hope) Ftroll is addressing how horribly understated the oppression of East Germany was in this video. This was more a softening of the horrors of socialism than it was a documentary on East Germany. Some facts can be found here, of course, but mixed in with a lot of minimizing the oppression and grossly overstating the "good".

@fatmanfaffing4116

Ай бұрын

@@SnapCracklePapa There was oppression for sure, how else does a totalitarian society exist? However the people got on with their lives. The treatment of osti's to this day is pretty poor in many parts of the west. When my mother went there in 2004 they had her ring up for reservations in the west because her German was more 'English' accented and not so obviously East German. When her sister called a couple of places there were no rooms, Mum called minutes later and all of a sudden there were vacancies. My cousin had to sleep in his car as his company paid west employees travel money for hotels but not the eastern ones they got when they bought out the company he worked for as a welder; and he was the best tradesman they had!

@pikachuthebananasplit9061

10 күн бұрын

Your mother escaped east germany by swimming in that river? My goodness your mother has guts! I'm absolutely mind blown!

I was an American soldier stationed up by the Czech/East German border and was there for the "reunification" celebration , but to me, it seemed the joy was short lived. The West Germans were very critical of the East Germans saying "they are lazy sheep". I did notice the stark differences between East and West infrastructure as many of the building and bridges still had bullet marks and nothing was really tended to as far as cosmetics. This was a great video highlighting many of the realities of the reunification. I pray someday all will level out and come together.

@pikachuthebananasplit9061

10 күн бұрын

You were a border guard? Man that must have felt depressing!

Ironic that your mobile phone is now an electronic stasi tracking device to where people go.

@BoothTheGrey

3 ай бұрын

But not the state is tracking but private owned companies who want to use the data to sell you even more shit you actually dont need.

@somedud1140

27 күн бұрын

People forget that West Germany was also a surveillance state and unlike with East Germany, that one was never reconciled. It's actually amazing how little information there's about West Germany compared to East Germany. And vast majority of material on West Germany focuses exclusively on economic miracle.

Thank you! As a child of both countries (mother east german, father from the west) I've always been able to see the effect of the reunion on both systems. I've heard both sides of the story. I wouldn't exists if this chain of events that lead to reunification hadn't happened. However, my mum speaks with much grief from her own personal experience when the wall fell: "Everything you thought you knew was suddenly incorrect." She and many others had to relearn their entire lives. With the GDR disappearing, a big chunk of their identies disappeared as well. Nowhere to be found. And the aftermath in Germany today is tremendous. There is nostalgia for the state from people who were born after the wall fell. "Ostalgie" is the term for that. Because modern remembrance culture still mostly remembers what went wrong, so other people feel the need to glorify the old system. It's a lot to unpack. People feel unheard, they have felt this way for a long time. It's interesting how you, as an outsider, portrayed the story. I have to add, however, that it should not be left to historians to change our perception of this state. It's something that comes from deep within society.

@invalid8774

7 ай бұрын

Im not surprised Ostalgie is still a thing or that the people don't feel heard. In the early 90s the west was on a privatization rush and sold off anything that wasnt bolstered down. In the GDR most of the property was held by the state and so the west german government did what is to be expected. They sold off the GDR like it was a yard sale. Add a worrying amount of corruption to it and you have millions of people that got robbed of everything right before their eyes in the moment they were quite vulnerable because of a massive change in their lifes. The Soli couldn't compensate, that this treason has gutted the eastern part even further. And instead of investing in our own nation, doing a marshal plan for the east, the west with its population majority consistently voted in their interests and left the east to rot. And now we have a stinking pile. And even if we wanted to change something now, our current regulations make that so complex, that it will take more than a century to rebuild what was taken in the last 80 years.

@axelrage222

6 ай бұрын

What are you talking about. East Germans have traded their country for jeans, sex shops and Mercedes. And what did they get?)) Exploitation at work (not an 8-hour working day), paid education, paid medicine, a policy of tolerance to gays, lesbians, blacks and perverts, sex education lessons at school... Oh, yes, I completely forgot - the influx of Muslims ("Turkish Lessons"). Congratulations! Marx and Engels were Germans, by the way!

@drdewott9154

6 ай бұрын

I totally get what you're saying. I definitely think a lot of lessons could be taken from the eastern block and their ways like with the universal welfare and focus on community, maybe just with slightly relaxed reforms to business to still allow slight consumer freedom or cooperatives to operate. Especially in the 21st century where we see that independent cooperatives and small companies that aren't of any major threat to welfare can thrive, like with open source stuff on the internet. Like some kind of compromise between the East German Socialist, and the Nordic Socialdemocratic systems. Most of the issues of the DDR seem to mostly boil down to incompetence by those in charge, especially early on. And thats not just a Eastern Block problem.

@noodleppoodle

6 ай бұрын

I'm from Poland, and it reads very weirdly that people had to re-learn their entire lives and that everything they knew was incorrect. Is that real? I am thinking of the experience of this country... Over here everyone already knew all the truth before communism fell, there was a lot of underground media and books and people would also pass all the information in families and in private. Where was the head of East Germans? East Germany had a reputation back then for being "enthusiastic believers" in communism - maybe this is true? The difficulties over here were elsewhere. West Germany is still sociaised to an extent. Over here workers, who used to have a say in how their companies were run, became just receptors of decisions of young men in suits. Thier work - became worth very little. Life has become very tough for this generation, it took a lot of hard work for this country to slowly pull itself up. Many people feel the economy was also colonised by western capital, so that is similar to an extent.

@brickgos

6 ай бұрын

@@noodleppoodle hmm it's not so much that they were all firm believers in communism or didn't know what was going on on the outside, more so that when the reunion happened that very minor things were all changed to fit the BRD system. My mum worked as a nurse at the time and all their normal work processes that worked and proved useful for over 40 years were discarded. My uncle had an academic degree that wasn't recognised by the BRD so he couldn't continue the line of work he was in. Imagine the BRD swooped in and mansplained the DDR people any aspect of their lives. With much entitlement as well. Many people from the west had a "we're better than you and we know better" attitude. When the dude in his video said "it was more like the BRD swallowed the DDR" he couldn't be more right. I hope that helps you understand!

The part of Gemany which was becoming the GDR wasn't mostly an agrarian economy. Saxony, Thuringia and Berlin were heavily industrialised, more than Bavaria. But the Soviets took so much as reparations, for example the second tracks of the railways. And what they didn't took many enterprises left/fled the Soviet Occupied Zone. Carl Zeiss, Siemens etc. Some of the West German Wuerschaftswunder was made possible by former East German companies. And, the coal and steel industry of Ruhrgebiet was important, but not the most important economic driver of Germany even before the war. Germany had the biggest chemical industry, two global players in electrics, was leading in machinery and optics, most of these companies wern't in the Ruhr Valley.

@noodleppoodle

6 ай бұрын

This wasn't reparations, they would just take it. Steal it. They did the same thing in Poland, and it's not like we owed Soviets reparations for them starting WW2 together with Germany LOL

@montrelouisebohon-harris7023

5 ай бұрын

All the Soviets took from them and treated them so terrible.. some people that lived in East Germany said that they understood because of the way the Hitler in Nazi regime was and because of what the German Nazi army did by invading Southern Poland and then continuing to go on later 2 years later and invade Russia, what's something that even in the civilians could understand... Understanding is one thing but it was so hard for them and I know the Americans and British were so worried about the people in East Germany and the Americans would do several Berlin and East GERMANY airdrops for a long time because at one time they could cross the border and make sure the people over in East Berlin in parts of East Germany had food and clothing and whatever they needed for babies.. naked drive that across the border but then once they weren't able to access the borders like they were they started flying over the border and dropping it. That was before the wall went up but it was 1945 and Berlin and most of Germany was blown to smithereens and West Germany took at least three or four years to clean the majority but likely took a lot longer in East Germany... I never could understand why the Soviet Union did this except they were out for revenge but I've been listening to World War II stories from soldiers who lived through it and made post-war journals and the German soldiers who were American pows in America, sometimes didn't go back to Germany and chose to stay in America for the American dream despite not being able to see their families. They said as former soldiers they believed if they went back to East Germany they might be treated brutally or sent off to the gulag and that's what worried them the most..Sad!! Recently I've been listening to one of these World War II stories where a panzer unit who worked with general Rommel in North Africa. Was captured as a POW in Africa by the British in North Africa and they were turned over to the Americans about a month later. These men were so obsessed with food because they had done without and they said that the Americans fed them so much better than the. British once they were an American custody.. after a couple weeks they were put on a ship and taken to America and initially were pows in Texas and then they moved to New Mexico... This one man wrote a story about how he didn't mind being a pow in America.. however it was getting close to 1946 and he knew that they were going to be leaving pretty soon and he would be repatriated to Germany and his parents and home was in East Germany and he couldn't stand the thought of living in Soviet occupied Germany. However miraculously he did it but he was one of a couple people to escape A POW camp in America and lived out west for a couple years working on farms with migrants to avoid capture but he was on the loose for 40 years before he was caught I still have not gotten up to 1985 or so when he was caught .. it's on KZread and it's World War 2 stories.. it is so interesting and fascinating to hear the stories from these German soldiers when they thought for Germany during World War II because none of them so we're part of the national German socialist Party but they talk about the Nazi soldiers often and the SS. The regular German soldiers did not like them at all . The SS soldiers were always treated and paid much better but they were so cruel to other people, and especially the Jews and people in other countries in Eastern Europe which was something the Third Reich soldiers couldn't understand except that they were just absolutely evil . It amazes me to know that even a lot of the German regular army had been brainwashed for years by the Nazi party but once they were fighting & that's when some of them didn't believe the propaganda anymore.. most of them that froze to death in Stalingrad and Russia in the winter of 1942 and 1943 honestly believed that Adolf Hitler and the Fuhrer would find some way to save them up until the day or so before they died.. How sad..

i was on a three week program as an intern in east germany a couple years ago and worked at a Mercedes dealership. Something the old time mechanics told me was to look for how many newer and better models were around. Their explanation was that the people during DDR who didnt have access to luxury items would sometimes go a bit further than just to meet their needs when making bigger purchases. spend that little extra if you know what i mean. It was interesting, but i never heard much about that mindset since

Gosh, I was almost tearful watching those scenes again from November 9th 1989. On that day, I remember coming home from work, putting on the TV and watching it all unfold over the course of the evening - whilst opening a lot of bottles of wine. I was born in the UK in 1955 and had never known anything other than a divided Europe. It was a very, very big deal.

Regarding the employment: its was kinda illegal under communism to be unemployed. So the state just made up lots of useless positions to fill the quota. In Czechia they used to say: "We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us"

@Mightydoggo

6 ай бұрын

That one got carried over well into the early 2000´s. They called it "Arbeitsbeschaffungsmaßnahmen," back then and the goal basically was to create low wage jobs to keep people busy during times of economic crisis. Well that´s what officials framed it anyway. I think the goal was rather generating cheap disposable workforce, pretty much the same we are doing today with the "Jobcenter" and part time contracts.

@sotch2271

6 ай бұрын

​@@Mightydoggodamn, korea do the same with old people

@Knaeckebrotsaege

6 ай бұрын

@@Mightydoggo Both disposable workforce and propping up the numbers, cause if you're in one of those Arbeitsbeschaffungsmaßnahmen (employment-creation measures) or the modern equivalent of zeitarbeiter "jobs" (temporary worker jobs), you're out of the unemployment figure, and that's seemingly all that matters, not your living standard (cause that'll be dogsjit either way)

@Ftroll

5 ай бұрын

Why are you twisting the meaning and essentially lying. The fact that unemployment is now surging is not a reason to slander the leftists and commies. All the same, the question will be posed bluntly by either commies or fascists. That's why you want to throw slop at the commie.

@barberbarberski5924

5 ай бұрын

In Poland there was similar saying "no matter if you stand or you lay down you are granted 2k"minimal wage I guess.

I was 17 when that wall came down, back then it gave me goosebumps, I knew what a momentous occasion it was. Even today, it gives me goosebumps. The biggest impact that the news report had on me, was seeing a brother and sister (I think) reuniting after being separated for nearly 30 years, despite living around the corner from each other.

@lemsip207

5 ай бұрын

I saw it on TV and started to feel a little sad for East Germans. They had a taste of the West and then had to return to East Berlin. They had been led to believe that West Germany was still Nazi controlled and found the opposite. Then they had to get used to living in a capitalist country, following reunification. I was glad that those with useful job skills and tenacity, though, had been able to escape to the West via Hungary and Austria, though. It would have been better for East Germany to have remained a separate country for a few years but within the EC or EU.

@lagritsalammas

3 ай бұрын

@@lemsip207 Out of curiosity, why do you think East Germany would have been better off as a separate state whilst part of the Western world? I reckon it would have faced the same problems it did after reunification, but received no support from West Germany as it would not have had any financial obligations towards a whole different country, just like it didn't before reunification.

@lemsip207

3 ай бұрын

@lagritsalammas Totally different mindsets after 45 years. The former East Germany dragged the former West Germany down and vice versa. It would have been like merging Austria with Hungary or Ireland with the UK. Did they have a say in it?

@HermanWillems

3 ай бұрын

@@lemsip207 But EU is a win-win, the stronger countries invest money in the less strong and creates a win-win scenario and helping each other. But im just a Dutch, for me some Western provinces of Germany are still like going to the past as a Dutch person. :) Everything is oldfasioned, and im not talking about East Germany

@thejohnbeck

3 ай бұрын

shortly after the wall fell, there was an article about how the West German prostitutes hated the East German ones, due to the East German ones charging less and stealing business. "if i see one of those Eastern sl#ts around here, I'll bash her teeth in", was one quote. it must've touched every part of society.

I've been bingeing your videos for the past few hours and lemme tell ya, it's definitely reignited my want to understand history. The stories that led to the events unfolding on the news today. I know it seems silly but you do it so effortlessly.

To be honest, the characterization of Katja Hoyders book as "brilliant" is an opinion which is quite exclusively held by you and Katja Hoyer. German historians have almost unanimously given devastating reviews of the book.

I've read countless books and watched countless docus about the old DDR. Its highly facinating. But what is most interesting is that every time i read and watch something made by people that didnt actually live there its always ONLY negative. Its all just Stasi, Police, Communism is bad, everyone was poor and so on. There is a german couple running the grocery store not far away and they both grew up in DDR. They both said the same thing, it was a worry free life. They had a place to live, family values were highly regarded, education, work and such was all there for everyone. The intensive care doctor i had once to grew up outside of East Berlin, her only complaint was that she couldnt get a book she wanted as a kid. I highly reccomend reading the book "Stasi State or Socialist Paradise?" if you are interested in the story. It is written by two people that lived there, one englishman even. Its the most nuanced non biased litterature about life and inner workings of the state i know.

@Koroleva_O_A

7 ай бұрын

Странно было бы ожидать чего-то другого от западных немцев..

@dozyproductionss

7 ай бұрын

ha. People still say that about in Poland and the PRL. Everyone did have a job and a home and family unit was closer.... but everyone was poor and oppressed together and that's why the family and community were so strong. In the end communism was never a paradise but capitalism has enough shortcomings for some people to think that it was.

@Al1987ac

7 ай бұрын

Thanks for the book recommendation! So far, my knowledge about DDR has been limited by Lindemann Sr.'s book and "Good bye, Lenin", but I really want to know more.

@gromotion933

7 ай бұрын

It was so great they had to build a wall aorund them to protect them from imigrants flooding their country... Yes there where a lot of loosers of the systemchange and naive people after the wall came down...But no! Die DDR war am Ende!!!!

@richardcostello360

6 ай бұрын

​@dozyproductions3969 the difference is socialist Poland was light years ahead of Bootlicking America Poland 😅

I watch this video on our holiday of reunification, (German Reunification Day) on October 3 and the video made me thoughtful. I was born in 1988, for me there is no difference in East and West Germany, I have many work colleagues with roots in East Germany. I can remember as a child watching the evening news where once a month the unemployment statistics were announced and East Germany still had well over 20% unemployment in the mid 1990s. I later started university and finished in 2017 and from my final semester almost a third went to East Germany to take very well paid jobs in the industrial sector. I never understood these injustices between West and East in pay scales, pension levels and many other aspects, may it have been economically necessary or not - but then it is not surprising that a part of the population still feels like 2nd class citizens 33 years after reunification? The lives of millions of people changed virtually overnight, which inevitably leads to radical changes. Whether this hasty reunification, with its mass unemployment, impoverishment and further depopulation and neglect of entire regions, was such a clever thing to do? This will be a very interesting aspect of history.

@g.f.w.6402

6 ай бұрын

Ja, dass Wessis wie selbstverständlich in den Osten kommen und dort Ossis die Jobs wegnehmen, vor allem im Management, ist leider die Realität. Und der Trend verschärft sich sogar.

@Lilly3oo4

5 ай бұрын

When you said you were born in 1988 and for you there is no difference between East and West it was immediately clear to me that you must have grown up in the West. I was born in 1992 in the East and I feel the difference, disrespect and disinterest to this day. I was made fun of for being an "Ossi" by "Wessis" all my life. Some Wessis still see the East as a cheap option for a weekend house at a lake. If you are interested please watch documentaries from MDR about the life of Eastgermans after the reunion, how the Treuhand destroyed the industry, forcing whole villages into suicide, how the Professors at Universities were replaced by Westgermans which is still having a huge impact on Academia in the East to this day. So much happened in the east that westgermans just turn a blind eye to or are even still complaining about having to pay for it all.

@g.f.w.6402

5 ай бұрын

@@Lilly3oo4 ich bin Jg. 1985 und an der Uni in Thüringen, an der ich studiert habe, waren meines Wissens nach 100% aller Professoren Wessis. Die Oststudenten wurden meistens implizit diskriminiert, wenn sie sich nicht mit westdeutschen Neurosen gemein machen wollten. Ich habe meinen Master dann in den USA und Kanada gemacht, wo es plötzlich 1,0en hagelte. War keine Überraschung.

@Hunne2303

4 ай бұрын

lol..."very well paid jobs"...yeah, because they don´t know shite. I do very little in my job and still outperform any of your oh so educated professors and graduates...by far.

@g.f.w.6402

4 ай бұрын

@@Hunne2303 naja es ist einfach so, dass zugezogene Wessis den Ossis die Jobs wegnehmen. Für gut bezahlte Jobs werden Ossis oftmals nicht mal in ihren eigenen Bundesländern in Betracht gezogen und der Trend verschärft sich. Der Menschenrechtsreport zeigt auf, dass Ossis in ihrem eigenen Land de facto nicht alle Menschenrechte haben.

I visited East Germany and Berlin with my little boy this Christmas. It was gorgeous. The people were kind and wonderful. All of Germany was really. I found it interesting that East Berlin was far cleaner than West Berlin. East got the lion’s share of problems just because they were East. But the beauty of the place was stunning.

Ok so, my grandpa was born in 1957 in East Germany. He lived in a small town in Thuringia, he complained many times, how the economy was so bad or that he didn't had the opportunity to tell his opinion freely. Anyways, despite all that, he liked it, there was unity, respect, discipline. Everyone was working for everyone, nearly no one was homeless and the prices were really affordable, so at the fall of the Berlin Wall, he was so happy, at that time he overtook a very large company which was becoming richer and richer, anyway, after the west came, many factories and companies needed to close down since the westerners were much more advanced. A year later, his company was closed, because the state wanted to replace it. Since then, my grandpa hates west Germany. We wanted to go to the Netherlands but he had some feeling of guilt, because he just let all his workers down. Still, many in west Germany see us Easterners as stupid and racist villagers.

Saxony before the GDR was more industrialized than the Rheinland and was one of the richest regions in Germany. After having to deal with two deindustrializations (one after the war and one after reunification) its to be expected that the region is doing worse than the west

@redtobertshateshandles

7 ай бұрын

Yeah but you're not East. You're Germany. It's all mindset. You're no longer Nazis or Communists. You're free. Get on with being German.

@mg4361

7 ай бұрын

​@@redtobertshateshandlesIf only western Germans would think like this as well, it would be much easier.

@user-ts1nx1to8h

7 ай бұрын

@@mg4361 East germans tend to use Ossi and Wessi more than west germans

@TricaGamer

7 ай бұрын

"free" 20% unemployed doesnt seem free to me@@redtobertshateshandles

@sanich0811

7 ай бұрын

Because West Germans do not think about *the German people* at all, except in the context of condemnation for 1933-1945@@user-ts1nx1to8h

It’s been over 150 years since the American Civil War and the difference between the US South and other regions is still stark

@dennisweidner288

6 ай бұрын

Stark? The Southern states of the former Confederacy are some of the most dynamic, fast growing states in the Union. Compare this with states like California, Illinois, and New York which people are leaving.

@ZergS4uc3

6 ай бұрын

alot of the major differences there were made in the 50s to try and sugar coat history in an effort to unify against communism, truely batshit insane to think that alot of our modern problems come down to the red scare. though often i just go back to 1912 and remember america fucked itself and the world when they allowed woodrow wilson into the white house, worst president ever sole reason for segregation lasting as long as it did, caused ww1 to be dragged out which then caused ww2 by grievances, a generally disgusting human.

@samirSch

6 ай бұрын

@@dennisweidner288 They're not leaving, they're spreading, like an untreated cancer. They vote socialist-woke BS on their state, ruin it and like a locust swarm, move to destroy the next place.

@CitizenSnips69

6 ай бұрын

Yeah, let’s ignore how the people sound completely different. North bad south good! There’s no lasting division or cultural implications, you’ve demonstrated this masterfully.

@dennisweidner288

6 ай бұрын

@@CitizenSnips69 Actually, American regional differences are less than in most major European countries. In addition, you seem to be unaware of the massive shift of population from the north to the southern states and not just retirees. As well as the growing Hispanic population in southern states and not just Texas. There have been huge shifts in the southern population. As well as the loss of population in the north and substantial changes in California. And I suggest you look at indicators like high school graduation, math scores, infrastructure, and other important indicators. ome southern states like Florida and Texas now have higher scores than the once impressive states (New York, California, and Illinois).

When you got to the part about the blue jeans, I was reminded of the time back in... probably 1989 or 1990 when a Soviet ship put into port in Boston (which in and of itself was a big deal). I remember a newspaper article about how the sailors were allowed to go ashore, and all they did was eat McDonald's and go to the mall - where they bought out the every store's entire stock of jeans. No reports of anyone trying to defect; they just wanted Big Macs and Levi's.

It should be remembered that the FRG Government heavily subsidized West Berlin as well as financially incentivize those who volunteered to live there? I was in Berlin in the Spring of 1984. Extraordinary. I traveled through 'Checkpoint Charlie' from the FRG West into the GDR East. What a sight to behold. Remarkable. Where the FRG had 'quickly' reassembled and rebuilt what appeared to be a prefabricated modern city, the GDR rebuilt much of its destroyed infrastructure painstakingly, brick by brick from the ground up. They had cleaned the 'brick and stone' rubble and reconstructed each building brick by brick and stone by stone. Many of them built back to their once previous splendor. It was a sight to behold. Inspiring. The truly memorable thing for me however, which they both share, is the exquisite fragrance drifting from further East in the spring time. The 'Berlin Air'. I shall never forget it and for that alone, I would return. Sublime. One last thing ... Blue Jeans? They were the symbol of the 'Working Man' in the United States. They were intended as strictly utilitarian cotton clothing made to withstand hard work and toil. They only became fashionable in the '60's. I still have 2 pairs which are almost 20 years old. I still wear them!

There is a very interesting book, "Who Owns the East?", which describes in great detail how the East was flattened and the unspeakable role the trust played. Companies that still had a chance of surviving were either bought up cheaply as possible competition and then ruined or flattened outright. Some properties were formally given away for a “symbolic” 1 D-MARK. Then came the government's biggest blow against the East with the "restitution before compensation" regulation. Overnight, many people in the East lost their roofs over their heads because many properties and houses were returned to their former owners from the West. If you look at it that way, the West has plundered the East. To this day, Ossi has remained a second-class citizen in many areas. Whether it's salaries or pensions. In political terms, the East itself is described by the government as "Dark Germany" and as politically backward. The federal government is firmly convinced that the enemies of democracy live in the east. The fact that Germany is still separated can be seen from the fact that there is still a representative for the East in the government, so people are also officially denying the East its independence and self-determination from the government level. Even in official language, the German administration still calls it the “new federal states” or “accession area”. Even the economic, energy and sanctions policies of the current government disadvantage the East more than the West. The inaction in the "NS 2" case hit Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where the current government's policies destroyed jobs. Or the petrochemical plant in Schwedt, the government's sanctions policy is destroying jobs there and endangering the industrial location there. From there, 90 percent of the East and its gas stations are supplied with diesel and gasoline. Even a large part of the heating oil for the wider area comes from there. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt have had an unemployment rate of 20 to 23 percent for years

@lukearts2954

6 ай бұрын

"Politically backward"? So much so that they collectively picked their leader from that "Dark Side" and kept re-electing her for 16years (and more if she had wanted to)... Yea, that sounds about what one would do when considering a person "policitally backward".

@JesusMagicPanties

5 ай бұрын

@robbypolter6689@ Für mich als Pole ist das, was Sie schreiben, schockierend, denn wir haben Deutschland immer als national und sozial sehr stark integriert gesehen. Neoliberale politische Ideen haben Deutschland wahrscheinlich mehr geschadet als Polen, denn hier gibt es zwar auch eine scharfe politische und kulturelle Spaltung, vor allem im Osten (bei uns auch Osten ! 🙃🙂 ), aber ohne die gleichen Folgen wie in Deutschland, wo der Identitätscharakter des Konflikts ein bisschen an den des US-Bürgerkriegs erinnert.

@landontesar3070

4 ай бұрын

That level of unemployment is very hard on a society

@Frivals

4 ай бұрын

Returned the houses to original houses of 50 years before? 😯😯😯 🥺😯1:07 the attitude to flu vaccn explain everything the difference between capitalism and communism, in capitalism you know you can't trust other people because everyone need to make profit doing bad things to others, that's why you can't trust medicine. In communism the medicine was for the people not for the profit.

@joehannah1343

4 ай бұрын

Certainly sounds like the reunification was done with little to no consideration for the People. Poorly planed and executed. Was there Any time for the East to "Acclimate " to the laws and/or ways of the West? Seems illogical to ignore the education and degrees of the East Citizens. Should have been a Happy time. Sounds rather punitive instead.

Bit weird that the word rape had to be censored as if it shouldn't be talked about.

@kristaaaaaaaa

6 ай бұрын

Say that to KZread 😭

@k_m_50

16 күн бұрын

I thought the same thing.

What a great way of conveying the story, summarizing and sharing knowledge (history), as well as enabling me to empathize with the people in their respective eras. Thanks for this!

Thank you so much for talking about this. I was born in 2006 in the former DDR and many of the societal struggles that divide us from the people of the former BRD are still very impactful for us. It's crazy that I, someone who was born 17 years after the german reunion, still sees the struggles of the "other side". I see many western germans talk about how we are united again and how good it all is, but we are still othered. And even though I don't support the AFD, I kind of understand where their voters are coming from. We need change because we are the ones that were forgotten and left behind by our successful twin brother.

Thing is, on the surface Germany looks socially accepting, but there is still prejudice with others who are different. If you don't speak German, look different or came from a different background, you will never, ever be totally accepted. Of course, nobody will say that to your face. We were in a group with mostly Germans. Someone introduced someone as from East Germany. I thought that was odd, they never introduced everyone based on where they came from but they had to point out that someone was from East Germany, even after decades when East Germany doesn't exist anymore separately. That shows that there is still a divide. The physical wall came down, but it did not came down mentally and psychologically.

@erzsebetkovacs2527

7 ай бұрын

That has been my experience, as well.

@fungo6631

7 ай бұрын

The exception is if you speak Arabic or Turkish, then you'll be accepted with open arms in the West. If you speak Arabic you'll even get free shit! So, if you want to be accepted, grow a beard, learn Arabic, convert to Islam and try to blend in with the middle Eastern and African refugees.

@marge2548

7 ай бұрын

@@erzsebetkovacs2527 Thing is - you might also be introduced as "From Bavaria" in Northern Germany (at least at the time when I grew up there), or "From up North" when in Bavaria - it's not just an "East vs. West" thing. Being unified to the German empire comparatively late in history from various basically independent smaller realms, the regional spirit is very strong in many parts of Germany. That being said, a lot of Germans tend to be rather xenophobic. They tend to stay aways from things or people unknown to them. It can be overcome, but in comparison to other nations or cultures, it does take some time.

@theChaosKe

7 ай бұрын

They are currently trying to change the law to protect east germans from discrimination as atm they fall legally through the cracks of protection, as they are neither a different ethnicity nor a different sex or religion. Its pretty bad.

@titanomachy2217

7 ай бұрын

If you find them so "xenophobic", why don't you find somewhere else to live? And how do you think white people that settle down in the third world typically get treated? Hell, even just white people backpacking through third world countries routinely get robbed, r@ped, kidnapped, or murdered. I'm sick of these double standards whereby only white people are scrutinized for their behavior while you lie by omission by neglecting to mention that there is no civilization on Earth as welcoming to outsiders and people living in unnatural or strange ways as the West, for better or for worse.

Don't forget that East Germany had a wonderful national anthem that should not have gone unused after unification! If you haven't heard of it yet, you should to listen to it.

@brianmead7556

7 ай бұрын

Auferstanden aus Ruinen, Deutscher unser Faterland. "Standing on the Ruins", it's a beautiful yet sad song about finding the national way again after destruction. A much better anthem for a new kind of Germany than that silly thing about Germany #1 (vs the State for context) and verses about their great wine and girls.

@paul_ko

7 ай бұрын

It fits so much better than the current anthem

@noticiasinmundicias

7 ай бұрын

@@brianmead7556 The fact that the uninspired and simplistic anthem won over, low key makes sense. Like McDonald's version of an actual hamburger.

@declannewton2556

7 ай бұрын

Whatever the quality of it was, it is on a fundamental level not suitable as an anthem This is simply because it would define Germany solely in relation to WW2(the ruins). Ideally an anthem should have somewhere that describes the country in a better way, something that transcends time. Eg. the United Kingdom defines itself by it's king. And yes saying your country is number is pretty cool.

@roccozocco9630

7 ай бұрын

Oh it has been used after the unification of germany. For example in 1995 when BRD President Roman Herzog visited Brazil. To compare: Imagine the US President visits Brasil and as a welcome the Confederate States Anthem is played.

I recently was talking to an Engineer from Denmark. He was talking about how they collaborate with workshops in East Germany to manufacture certain things. The main reason is that they are cheaper than their western counterparts.

my grandma lived in east german, she flew with my dad, they were allowed to go to a "holliday in west german" but they never came back

@greghauser742

6 күн бұрын

I wouldn't either.

This is probably my favourite thing you've ever done. Other topics have been more novel and urgent for me to learn about, but this documentary and the way it was put together (interviews on different levels, maps, time-specific video footage, on-location filming, etc.) succeeded in putting me, the viewer, in the shoes of the East Germans under and post the GDR. -Something I never realised I should have known I needed. Lastly, I just have to praise the nuance with which you treat the topic of ideology and economic systems without downright singing the praises of the capitalist turn or drowning in Ostalgie. The street interviews also really help with that.

@ThePresentPast_

7 ай бұрын

Thanks so much, means a lot!

@sahilbharti7047

7 ай бұрын

​@@ThePresentPast_ Roman Empire had Germania, to the West of Rhine. So it might be the same continuation.

My West German professor said the West basically views the East like Northerners in America view the South.

@brucetucker4847

7 ай бұрын

As a southerner who attended a university in the north, this sounds about accurate to me.

@fionafiona1146

7 ай бұрын

As a west German, I don't hope it's that bad and future generations get better conditions. The division in the USA appears much deeper and more violent, especially seeing how it's generationally perpetuated beyond infrastructure debt. Best case the next generation of Germans will stop judging each other that way, thanks to resumed family contact, exchange programs and shared experiences from the evening stop motion to educational access.

@Koroleva_O_A

7 ай бұрын

А разве Юг еще не ориентализировался, как Север? Вроде бы уже более ста лет прошло..

@Koroleva_O_A

7 ай бұрын

@@fionafiona1146 Нереально. Восточных немцев можно было ориентализировать, если бы сохранилась промышленность. Но западные немцы уничтожили все, поэтому восточные немцы сейчас - это бичи, которые не смогут стать частью восточной деспотии, потому что они не способны к предпринимательской активности. Они даже как рабочую силу могут продать себя только западным немцам..

@BigSnipp

7 ай бұрын

@@Koroleva_O_A oriyentalizirovalsya?

I visited East Germany in 1966 with my dad. In East Berlin there was still rubble from the war beside some of the streets. One of the first things I saw was a horse drawn cart on a main road. Our guide spoke openly about how she hated east Germany and wanted to come west with us. When our bus crossed the border back into West Berlin we had to wait while guards climbed under the bus looking for people trying to flee. It was a prison. For balance I should also mention that my West German relatives made it plain that they felt much freer under the Nazis than under the American occupiers and how the care packages they received from my parents after the war were really appreciated because it showed the GIs that they had family in the US.

It is very interesting how these two million German women who were subjected to violence were calculated? Was there a social survey conducted? Are there any documented visits to medical institutions? Are there any documents in the archives? Where do these exact numbers come from - not 500,000, not 3,000,000 - but exactly two? Is there evidence of violence from other members of the alliance? Do you also know the exact number, perhaps it’s “0”?

Good video, but it’s pretty much a TLDR version of the book - which is great, by the way, and I definitely recommend the reading. Two things that you could have shown to exemplify the remaining differences of the two Germanys still today, when you show the demographics maps: the public transport map of Berlin - building tunnels and U-Bahs was too expensive, so the DDR prioritised trams, which are still predominant in the east side of the city -, and a satellite picture of the city. The street lights have different colors in the east and the west due to the different lamps the DDR and the FGR used

@Leo_Pard_A4

7 ай бұрын

No, insignificant.

@cozy_ross

7 ай бұрын

Just wanted to say the same :) the video itself is great, but from its title I expected more details about how Germans feel about that period now and how exactly that past affected the people of today. Though once again, the video is still interesting, just not what was expected, imho

@TheResilient5689

6 ай бұрын

If you’re talking about that “Beyond the Wall” book, I agree with you there. It’s a pretty good read, but I’m NGL here: it’s also gonna take me quite a while to finish it because it’s pretty hefty too.

@Vesta_the_Lesser

6 ай бұрын

What book??? I'm trying to find the name of it but can't T_T

@joebueno

6 ай бұрын

@@Vesta_the_Lesser Beyond the Wall, by Katja Hoyer

Germany has some dark pages in its history but its history is never boring and is always instructive. Great video!

@albertroundtree8546

7 ай бұрын

Which European country doesn't? How was the extension of Europe into North and South America, Australia, Hawaii, New Zealand, Tasmania achieved? I doubt if the original inhabitants welcomed their enslavement.

@Valdore1000

7 ай бұрын

"Some"

@invalid8774

7 ай бұрын

@@Valdore1000 Yeah its quite a few for a nation not that old...

@dorderre

6 ай бұрын

Yea the sad thing is that ppl outside Germany only ever think of Nazis and WW2 (and Schnitzel and Lederhosen). But those were just 12 years. That's not even remotely all of its history. There's a debate as to when "german" history starts, but if I had to throw a dart on a board full of dates, I'd aim at Charlemagne. To whom present-day Germany has a more or less unbroken cultural connection. Which gives Germany's history a length of abt 1200 years from the entirety of the HRE via 19th century shenanigans to the north-german confederation founded in 1866/67, which through all of the changes in name, government type and political ideology is still the same legal entity as today's Federal Republic of Germany. And the 12 years of Nazi dictatorship were just one percent of this history. Granted, a terrible, bloody and despicable percent that NEVER should repeat if I had any say in the matter, but still just one percent. In the 30-years-war germans bashed each others' heads in for, you guessed it, thirty years, for religious and later political reasons, with other nations chiming in. This could easily be called the zero'th world war considering the devastation caused, but hardly anyone ever talks about it.

@M0butu

6 ай бұрын

​@@invalid8774A nation was not allowed to form for over a thousand years. The people are very old. Our ancestors repelled the Romans. Other nations in Europe look down on several hundred years of colonization and slavery.

Thank you for taking the time to make this video. It was very useful and informative (Liked and Subscribed)

That photo of the Soviet liberation of Berlin was not "photoshopped", it was retouched.

It's so weird that in my 40 years there's been new countries created, old countries dissolved, planets downgraded, new planets found, and sci-fi TV technology coming to life. Pretty much all my childhood lessons are now obsolete. Watching this was very informative and interesting, thank you for your work.

There's a lot of misguided information in this video. It attributes the decline in agricultural outputs to "collectivization", completely ignoring the tens of millions of people who had just died in WW2, most of them rural peasants from both the Soviets, and the Germans.

So why Germany is still divided? Just a few minutes cover opinions on this topic, the rest of the video just illuminates the surface of the storyhistory which is already known. I was hoping for a more thorough analysis to gain a better understanding of the current situation

@sergeigaba575

21 күн бұрын

Spot on

@jenxrj

16 күн бұрын

True, it requires a part 2 of equal length addressing this issue on different angles using various perspectives from the local people there and how things still remain bifurcated. This video does not do the title justice.

Several years ago, a former high-ranking Russian politician was asked about the factors that led to the dissolution of the Russian communist government. Surprisingly, he attributed it to a popular American TV show called "Dallas." During the 1980s, the Russian government censored many things from the United States, but interestingly, they allowed the airing of US TV shows. "Dallas" was a soap opera series that revolved around the lives of a wealthy Texas family. In each episode, the show showcased extravagant mansions, vast lands, luxurious cars, and fashionable clothing - all things that were inaccessible to ordinary Russians (and even ordinary Americans).

I hate how much you cut her off, dear lord. If you could release your whole talk with her, that would be amazing.

"They got to understand, people really want GENES, so you got to give it to them." - the captions

I survived 11 years of GDR; here is a true story. I eyewitnessed one of the first demonstrations, where maybe 30 protesters were surrounded by 100 soldiers with weapons. I saw one protester walking along the soldiers, saying, "Why are you staying there like the pipes of an organ? Go home and have a coffee!" in our absolutely hilarious-sounding Saxon accent. One quite young soldier wanted to point his machine gun at the protester, but the next in the row, an older soldier grapped immidedly at his arm and held him back while smiling at his face. I was a kid scared by the soldiers, but I felt how the system was falling apart.

Thank you for posting this it was really interesting and I love hearing about history of other different European nations (I was born in Yugoslavia but moved to the Uk when I was young). I feel like there is so much to learn and that is unwritten history that would potentially be lost to time if it were not for videos' like this which kind of talk about topics that you rarely see mentioned (it seems).

I’m American & I had a friend who was an East German university professor. When the wall came down the East German teachers all lost their jobs & west German teachers were brought in. She had to return to university in the West & receive western education & degrees to teach again. She decided to get psychology training & became a therapist instead. It was many years before she was allowed to practice.

@krixpop

6 ай бұрын

Which I find normal. Some communist indoctrination lingered in me for years after "89. I hated it, and still do. Yet now, remembering the long hours of waiting in ques for bread , or sleeping with frozen windows on the inside, etc I wonder whether hate or pity is appropriate.

@AndeRabe

6 ай бұрын

That is not true! I was born in East Germany and went to school when the unification took place. All of my teachers continued working and there was not a single West German teacher at my school ever. Also, my father was a teacher for higher education ("Erweiterte Oberstufe - EOS") and he also did not face any problems when continue working for his school. And since there had always been a shortage of teachers, it would have never been possible to replace all the East German teachers with ones from West Germany anyways. The only East German teachers who might have faced problems were those who worked as former Stasi informants (spying on their colleagues) or those who were ideologically compromised (still holding on to socialism/communism).

@TrixRN

6 ай бұрын

@@AndeRabe I only tell you what my friend told me. I’ve never been to Germany. She is the only person I knew from East Germany. Maybe I misunderstood, but I don’t think so. She spoke very little English & I speak no German. We used an English-German dictionary to communicate or her son translated. I sponsored her son for a year as a foreign exchange student. This was the 1997-1998 school year. She stayed with us for a week. She was going to university in Kuln at the time. She was originally from Leipzig where she taught; her son still lived there with his dad.

@dennisweidner288

6 ай бұрын

@@AndeRabe Thanks for telling the truth. Socialism has many supporters, but because socialism does not work, they can not tolerate the truth.

@holger_p

6 ай бұрын

@@TrixRN On university teachers, aka professors you are right, but it's more all the economists, philosophers, historians, all the subjects with political influence, not in nature science. Math professors could stay. If you talk about teachers and school years, people think on elementary and junior high. I think that's just a missunderstanding. A Professor is not called a teacher in german, and a university is not called a school.

I was born in 1993 so I honestly didn’t know much about east Germany. When I moved to Berlin, I lived on a street right by the park where there’s a memorial to the wall. Staring at the images of my own street just 30 years ago and realizing that even for most of my parents lifetime, you wouldn’t have been able to stand where I was standing. Thats when it really hit home to me for the first time how recent all of this was.

I love that basically this video can be summarized as “I was born too soon before I could remember the effects of the taking down of the wall. These are the common known effects and history:” Like ya dude. Your comparison to 9/11 is right on point. Every generation has been affected by different issues. You didn’t need to frame it with an American tragedy unrelated

So idk when you say started because your subtitles went out and you said either 1915 or 1950... I think 50, but I've watched history guys and they don't go chronologically, so idk if it started before the first world war or after the second....?

I can still recall being there as a student in 1988. We were hosted by the Hoch Schule Fur Economia and a member of the East German Planning Committee, Peter Krueger. Peter and I had great idealogical debates and the merits of our economic and political systems. I know he died a few years after the breakup and it was a lesson on how much of a challenge it must have been integrating the ideologues of the DDR. For years I attempted to contact Krueger’s widow who was living in West Berlin however she would never communicate with me. I guess memories of Peter and the past were just painful to recall.

East German national anthem >>>> Current German anthem

@ddr7246

7 ай бұрын

absolutely: the East German anthem is an absolute masterpiece of extraordinary beauty, while the Western anthem that was imposed upon reunification (annexation) is just censored rubbish....

The German film “Goodbye Lenin” gives a comedic look at the transition to a united Germany. Worth watching.

@endless-nimu

Ай бұрын

As a GDR born myself I love it, even though it's exxagerating a lot.

In April 2019 I visited Berlin and took several tours and I learned about the “ghost” U Bahn stations, remains of the Wall and the death zone. As to the fall of the Wall and reunification, my then husband who was born and raised in the West, watched the events of 1989 and 1990 with a faraway look on his face.

Another thing the DDR did to show superiority was build the Fernsehturn. They purposefully built it so tall to dominate the Berlin skyline as symbolism that socialism dominates. But the most interesting GDR/DDR fact of them all...the Palast der Republik lives on through the Burj Khalifa in Dubai! About 35K tonnes of steel from it was shipped to the UAE for the Burj Khalifa. The Palast der Republik opened in 1976 and was the main gathering place of the DDR in East Berlin. Besides parliament, it also had restaurants, a performing arts center, a post office, a casino, galleries, a bowling alley, and even an indoor swimming pool! The Palast was demolished in the 2000s to rebuild the old Stadtschloss. The Palast may be gone from Museum Island, but across from the former site is the former State Council Building, which houses the ESMT Berlin campus. They've been quite passionate about preserving its history. The interior has a large glass socialist mosaic by Walter Womacka. The interior also has a ballroom with a preserved GDR emblem made of one million mosaic stones. And the building's entrance is actually a balcony kept from the ORIGINAL Stadtschloss and was added to the State Council Building. The balcony is significant because it was the balcony Karl Liebknecht, who led the Spartacist uprising declared a new socialist republic in 1918. It's also the same balcony the Kaiser declared war against Russia

@Imperial_Cosmonaut

7 ай бұрын

Dark from space Korea = best Korea

I lived in Leipzig for a few months and I saw this division clearly in people. I'm used to this concept because in Italy there are similar dynamics (North vs South for example), but it still rose a lot of questions for me. I'm glad I found this video which answered to a lot of my questions, thank you man!

@nitrolazerx5591

2 ай бұрын

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Loved your chanel! subscribed! Im a bit older (december 1988) than you, and from sweden; but the same generation one could say as you. Love to see good historical content like this made by someone from my generation!

I dated a girl who grew up in the last years of East Germany. I visited her parents house and saw the family photos and heard the stories of their life. It wasn't necessarily bad, but they were definitely living in the past. Where I had sharp and vibrant 4x6 color photos of myself as a kid in the 80's, the pictures of her in the mid 80's were square black and white and resembled photo technology from the 60's and 70's.

Actually North Korea wasn't living that bad when USSR was giving them money. And before 80s, North Korea had better life quality than South Korea. So North Korea and DDR are quite similar. The fact you couldn't travel probably brought down DDR more than anything. And women were working cause DDR lacked working force.

You could have also shown one of the pictures from berlin seen from above at night. East and west Berlin still use lamps with different colours, you can perfectly see the separation even today.

@sparkgrid

2 ай бұрын

Can you tell which side used what color of light so I could research more about it?

@MaticTheProto

2 ай бұрын

I think the east has warmer light and the west colder light. There's pictures if you google it@@sparkgrid

I was taken a 'Russian 1' fireign language course in early 1985, during my senior year in high school. The class was taught by a Latvian lady, who married a German, then immigrated to the U S A. She also taught our German classes. One of my classmates asked her what would happen if the Berlin Wall fell? Being of short stature, she straightened her posture, placed a finger on her lips, thoughtfully for a moment before stating "It will never fall." She based it on her personal experience in Latvia during WWII, the experiences of her and her husband in East Germany, and of other people's experiences that she knew. I wanted to return and ask her thoughts on the world history changing event. She had retired and was suffering from effects of Alzheimer's disease. I conjecture that it will take a century to fully intergrate the former East German people into the West. The passed thirty years has only "wall papered over the cracks" while long term solutions are created and implemented.

I was visiting Germany in September 1989. I went to Berlin. You could feel something was going to happen. I was back in Berlin 2 weeks after Reunification. I went to Stuttgart to see friends. The statement I heard there was "They shouldn't have torn down the Wall. They should have added 4 meters to the height". East Germans looted their relatives in the West. Their attitude was "You owe us".

@loislewis5229

4 ай бұрын

My aunt in Munich was also upset the wall came down because now West Germany would have to pay to fix the East.

@Noahthelasercop

4 ай бұрын

​@loislewis5229 More like pay to exploit and financially destroy.

@user-ke8if6ri9r

4 ай бұрын

@@Noahthelasercop Pay to exploit who?. The Russians sucked billions out of DDR.

I was stationed in Berlin when the wall came down. The younger generations in West Berlin ages from 16-35 were living a fun spirited party life. And I still have contact with people from when I was there many years back. I was there 88-90 and was some of the most memorable times of my life.

@Supernova1.980

2 ай бұрын

what about the east border guards, have u ever talked or befriended with any of them? what did they tell u?

I visited East Berlin in my younger years. The stark contrast going from the color-infused brilliance of West Berlin to the completely mind-numbing drab grays of East Berlin was nearly incomprehensible. It remains one of my most vivid childhood memories.

@holger_p

6 ай бұрын

But keep in mind, it's mainly commercial and advertisement, that made the difference. Of course were was no ultra-wide coca-cola sign anywere. With parks and flower pots, they could compete. Just colour, the real literal paint liquid, was a valuable resource.

@pmlbeirao

5 ай бұрын

Bear in mind that your opinion is that of a tourist, a visitor.

@eve-marie6751

5 ай бұрын

Grumble, grumble, fart, fart:- bear in mind that tourists and visitors often notice things that local people try to ignore. I'm from a Polish ancestry but my parents were deported as teenagers in WW2 via Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union and never returned and settled elsewhere post WW2. However now we have ex-Communist mainland Poles pompously lecturing us that we are not really "Polish" despite retaining our ancient accents and customs better than them. We on the other hand never fail to notice their intense propensity for lying, cheating, and stealing and their preferred economic activities of prostitution, theft, and fraud which seem to be the main industries of mainland Poland. The worst thing which happened to East Germany was not reunification but EU expansion in 2004 which allowed wild and lawless gangs of Polish thieves to invade East Germany and steal everything on wheels to sell to the Russians. Polish-Russian gangs also steal automobiles in Toronto and export them. If we try to tell mainland Poles what stupid obnoxious idiots they really are all we get from them is a lot of "bad attitude" even if it is completely true and the whole world agrees with us. If I moved to Europe I would much rather live in East Germany than in Poland but I would try to visit Poland every week to remind them what stupid obnoxious idiots they really are:- grumble, grumble, fart, fart!@@pmlbeirao

@lemsip207

5 ай бұрын

Me too, and that was in early 1990. There were still restrictions, and it still wasn't easy to pass between West and East Berlin. The only difference was that the USSR no longer had control of East Germany. It just became a little easier than before to pass between East and West Berlin. I saw British and Russian soldiers on top of the Berlin Wall. When the Berlin Wall was opened in November 1989, it was closed up again until reunification almost a year later.

@holger_p

5 ай бұрын

@@lemsip207 No, it was never closed again, with "opened" people mean, you could pass at checkpoints with showing your passport, just as on any other international border. This was abandoned due to spring next year or so. The date of reunification was pretty meaningless on everydays business. It's more the end of east-parliament and all east german laws. It's the change of law-date, which isn't effecting daily life very much.

Just want to comment that the CC displays the word 'jeans' as 'genes'. Hopefully this is something that can be fixed soon. :P

This is an amazing analysis. Thank you for posting!

I was born in 1977 in the East. I am happy History went the way it did, it opened opportunities my parents did not have. I consider myself a German without the need to qualify it by "East", but when I am asked where I was born I'll always say East Germany, because the first 12 years of my life, the first 7 years of school etc were wildly different from what someone my age borninthe west experienced. The one thing I always found baffling was the arrogance displayed by some West Germans back in the early 90s, that we somehow chose this and now they need to pull us out of the mud. They certainly did, but why? All of Germany lost the war, and by virtue of geographic location they were allowed to move on while we in the east were sold to the russians. We lost the war, it's OK, but the westeners lost the war too, so they could kiss my ass with their arrogance, they enjoyed a good life at the price of us paying for the lost war alone.

@twentyrothmans7308

7 ай бұрын

Thank you for telling your side of the story. It's an aspect that few people consider.

@BojanPeric-kq9et

7 ай бұрын

I remember seeing in one modern (2021 or 2022) German movie which is happening in current time, man asks a women ("girlfriend"/f buddy) "are you Ossie?" Some would think that more than enough time has passed to put that behind. Even if she was an Ossie, it would be 1/3 of her life.

@twentyrothmans7308

7 ай бұрын

​@@BojanPeric-kq9et I have heard German colleagues describe other colleagues as Ossies behind their backs. In my travels in the Eastern side of Germany, the people have been sincere and welcoming.

@mardiffv.8775

7 ай бұрын

Fun fact: during my trip to East Germany, Vorpommern Mecklenburg I saw a sign behind a windshield, with the text: "GDR Witches". And the car belonged to 2 ladies 30 years old.

@paul1780

7 ай бұрын

This comment deserves to be pinned, seen by more viewers.

7:28 I did not expect to hear Red Alert 3 music in a documentary

@egro_chaplia

6 ай бұрын

I agree. After this music, I turned off the video, realizing not the competence of the author.

@johnpoole3871

Ай бұрын

​@@egro_chapliaI presumed it was supposed to be a joke.

Thank you for the work you put in to create this video. Interesting.

Nice video, thanks. A very personal view and informative. As to your drone footage: did you just do it, or get permission to film in that area? you did not fly very high and not really over residential buildings, so I guess it was OK.

Nice deep dive! Ever since I saw the movie “Goodbye Lenin” in school I’ve been fascinated by the phenomena of reunification. This covers so much more than the niches of Ampelmännchen 🚦 and Ostalagie for pickles or other odd groceries that disappeared.

@ThePresentPast_

7 ай бұрын

Researching this was a blast, so many interesting stories I'd never heard of!

@linusmayden8465

7 ай бұрын

​@@ThePresentPast_Where did you get the number that Soviets r@ped 2 million German women, Fascists propaganda? Fascist Germans actually did that in the Eastern Front and it was illegal to commit that in the red army, not saying it didn't happen at all but it was punished in the red army.

@Josep_Hernandez_Lujan

7 ай бұрын

It was annexation rather than reunification

@icrushchildrensdreams4556

7 ай бұрын

I see some Germans try to excuse the deaths of 17 million soviets by mentioning the death of barely a million German civilians Does this mean 1 German is worth 17 soviets?

@cleightorres3841

7 ай бұрын

yup when russia comes to germany at some point in the near future, i wonder whose side these scheissossis wil be on@@Josep_Hernandez_Lujan i mean it cant be fun to be a second class citizen in your own country

I was in high school (in the US) when reunification happened. I remember thinking it was a bad idea, since the two countries must have been so very different - I thought it simply wouldn't work. But somehow it seems to have produced a functioning society. It's nice to see some of that discussed here, showing some of the difficulties with squashing these two places together. I suppose it may have been for the best in the long run but it's not without its issues.

@eeeee11235

7 ай бұрын

ok how tf are u verified you have 6 subs (I always click on verified channels that I've never heard of btw)

@osamaKareem2

6 ай бұрын

​@@eeeee11235yes fr how

@thedunelady

6 ай бұрын

@@eeeee11235 No idea. I don't remember ever doing anything to verify myself - I don't make content or anything. Maybe because I've had this account for so long?

As a kid my german mom would travel w/ me and my sister around germany often. when we got to east germany, I could immediately tell how run down things were. esp compared to how modern parts of west germany look. I was around 10 years old and some towns were kinda creepy to me. even east berlin looks different. the huge soviet-era apartment complexes are imposing and completely uniform, thinking particularly of the apartments by marienplatz, kreuzberg area of berlin

It's amazing that only 30 years can divide a people. My mother in law is from Germany and we visited my wife's relatives in West Berlin only a year before the wall fell. An interesting experience and glad that I saw the wall.

Meanwhile Italy was never divided, yet it's even more uneven than germany

I'm English and have lived in East Germany for 18 years, I like the the community spirit that is here, people I find are less materialist.I have found something that would exist in the UK .

When I was living near Leipzig one of the wildest things I could not understand and I understand more thanks for this great video, I am 22 years old currently, when I was working there I was 19 to 21 years old and I was earning 2.2 K euros per month I was only living 3 km from the border, when I met a girl that was on the other side I had the opportunity to speak to her mother, who was around about 40+ full-time job in the same company for many years was earning 30% less than me had a much worse house and the entire town looked like I’d walked into communist area and this was less than a half hour train ride in between the two towns.

So this is a small point but during WWII watches were a valuable and easy to carry commodity. Soldiers routinely collected them.

Interesting video. I was a British soldier based at Bergen Hohne during the mid 80's to 1990. I was driving on the Autobahn late at night, when I encountered a pair of dimly lit red lights ahead of me, I pulled over to pass the car and did not recognise it or the plate? This was the Trabant, when I got back to camp, we were told that the wall had fallen! Es war unglaublich!

@robertbrodie5183

3 ай бұрын

same experiance as a us berlin brigade 86 to 92 4/502 inf

As a Bavarian living close to the border its crazy how you an spot the differences - Small ones like fewer stores and places to eat than in bavaria but also large ones like fewer people, less industry, smaller streets and older houses. I only recently learned that a big part of real estate and industry in the former east is actually owned by people from the former west. This and the low wages are reasons why many people move. But fewer people also lead to fewer workers for existing or new businesses. Fewer businesses slow or even stop local development. Sadly the politicians somehow could not really fix this issue. The big cities are booming, but mostly "West-germans" profit as they bought properties at low prices for many years.

@CURTSNIPER

7 ай бұрын

this is basically how you could describe whats happens in the US and those affected by socioeconomic factors because of their race and the struggle to make it out of low income neighborhoods

I have just visited a travelling exhibition called The Wall and while it was impressive, certainly in terms of content, I find videos such as The Present Past to be a better critique, and this is definitely one of the best I have seen in recent times. (I can't wait to buy Katja's book..). I remember going to Berlin in the summer of 1982 and was so fixed in my ideas about the East (although I respected writers like Christa Wolff and didn't subscribe ro Reagan's "Tear Down This Wall" ), seeing soldiers wearing very obvious copies of WWII uniforms was disconcerting, as was the ripoff price of the Day Visa (25DM) at the time. I felt a bit like a ghoul as I wandered down the Unter de Linden and could only spend my money on beer, which was excellent, and most of which I got back in change. But there is no doubting that East Berlin was a shock; it was overwhelmingly run down, filthy buildings still bearing the scars of the war with only the odd Trabi taking up parking space. I do regret not having investigated further - even checking out Hitler's Bunker but of course I did not speak German, nor did my partner at the time. I regret not having gone to the Egyptian museum, for example, and a host of other sites including the cafés and bars in Kreuzberg. Of course I was made paranoid by Western (US) attitudes and would probably have balked if someone spoke to me, more's the pity. Thanks for an excellent video and I looking forward to reading Katya's book.

I took a sociology class in college about communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The class was taught by a teacher who lived in Poland when it was under communist control. You left a very big part of the reason there was the big unrest in East Germany in 1953. The forced collectivism in agriculture cause big food shortages just as it did in the Soviet Union. My cousin was studying Russian in college in the 1970s. She and her husband visited the Soviet Union in the 70s and lost 20 pounds ( she was skinny to begin with) because of their problems getting food in the Soviet Union. There was a big black markets running constantly in all of the communist countries. Also the top party leaders had no problems getting what ever they wanted unlike most of the people in communist countries. North Korea is an extreme example - but there were tons of supply and distribution issues with basic consumer items and food being one of the biggest problem. What good is having to only pay 2% of your pay for an apartment when you had to spend more than you made to get food on the black market or stand in lines for eight or more hours and hope the food store would have some meat, vegetables, sugar, etc you could buy at the regulated prices?

@Noahthelasercop

4 ай бұрын

Food shortages under communism have far more to do with international trade and historical trends of food availability in the region than they have to do with a single policy such as agricultural collectivism. This is why there's so many countries in Africa, Asia, and South America that don't have agricultural collectivist policies, but have some of the worst mass starvation in the world (being located region that is prone to famine or difficult to distribute food in & international trading policy that fucks them over). I don't even think you would need to find a communist sympathizer or someone who likes agricultural collectivism to tell you this. Throughout the Cold War, the West, which would otherwise be major trading partners, regularly enacted trading sanctions and embargoes against the Eastern Bloc. North Korea has been hit the hardest by this (even to this day), with America and its friends enacting the trade war to end all wars against a small country they had just bombed to kingdom come during the Korean War. Additionally, famines and malnutrition have been prevalent throughout the histories of many Eastern European countries, as well as in East Asia, and those trends don't just magically go away with a non-collectivism beam or something. Though in spite of your claims, there's a CIA conducted study from the 80s which claimed that Soviet citizens ate about as many calories as Americans did, on average.

@markholmphotography

4 ай бұрын

@@Noahthelasercop You’re obviously not looking at the correct data. Forced collectivism of farms is the primary cause of food shortages. All you have to do is look at the Soviet Union. Even when it was run by the Tsars - there were no large food shortages in the Russian Empire. Yet once Stalin forced the collectivism of the farm the food production in the Soviet Union totally fell to a point they couldn’t feed themselves. Once communism fell and farmers owned land again not only could Russia and Ukraine feed themselves- Ukraine became a massive food exported. Same thing happened in Mao’s China. You don’t know squat

@Noahthelasercop

4 ай бұрын

​@markholmphotography The Russian Empire was literally known for having endless famines. During the medieval period, 1000~1500s, famines occurred approximately every 13 years. One of the latest big famines they had was in 1891, killing hundreds of thousands, as well as 10 years later in 1901. Conversely, in the prime-era USSR (1947~1991, post WW2 years where they had solidified their political foundation), there were no known famines. Ironically, severe food insecurity has only become an issue after the fall of the USSR, with there being a drought in 2010, and Russia having to ban grain exports that same year. In the years after the fall of the USSR, financial insecurity skyrocketed, and people struggled to get even their basic needs met, with many having to turn to prostitution (but hey, having to turn to prostitution in another one of the West's exploited capitalist puppet states is infinitely better than living even a day under communism, right?). Mao's China is also a case where you can't pin something on just collectivism, as there were many other factors, such as international relations with the USSR, bad weather, sparrows eating grains, an extreme historical precedent for famines, and the devastated postwar environment China inherited from WW2. You failed to really counter any of my claims or even provide an actualized alternative perspective. Especially since you're so uneducated that you think Tsarist Russia wasn't a hotbed for famines. I don't think your Polish professor taught you well. Especially if you're so dismissive of other perspectives that aren't of a single policy being the source of everything wrong. www.nytimes.com/1983/01/09/world/cia-says-soviet-can-almost-do-without-imports.html

This is such a fascinating topic. I feel like focusing on Germany, from a German perspective would be a great direction for this channel. I'm fascinated by the GDR and how it managed to maintain a relatively good standard of living within a communist system and as much as we focus on the repression and stagnation, there were some undeniably positive aspects of that society.

@miaflyer2376

4 ай бұрын

Maintaining "a good standard of living" in communist East Germany worked as long as the people practiced self-censorship, minded their own business, and didn't ask difficult questions.

~ 8:44 Funny extra detail about that photo, that soldier wasn't actually wearing looted watches; part of the kit for Soviet soldiers at the time was a wrist-mounted compass, so that's why it looks like he was wearing two watches. However, Soviet higher-ups didn't realize this, hence the image being edited.

@optikum100

2 ай бұрын

It's not a compass. it's obvious.

@SomasAcademy

2 ай бұрын

@@optikum100 It's factually a wrist mounted compass that was part of the equipment for Soviet troops, what seems "obvious" to you doesn't really matter lol

I hope we see the same in both Koreas some day. The nation should be united.