Your work is of utmost quality, factual, informative, devoid of sensationalism, event when you are covering painful topics. Many thanks for your efforts.
I truly appreciate you sharing the history of the GDR with us; you deserve millions of subscribers! Your delivery style is absolutely brilliant. Salute you from Somalia
Even though I was only just a teenager I vividly remember when Honecker and his wife were sheltering in that pastor's home. Outside, a mob of angry people, and the pastor talking to them and the press to calm down. My parents and all the grown ups I knew were very angry about the pastor and the fact that the church was protecting Honecker from his "rightful punishment". Only later I realized the humiliation Honecker was facing: No one was willing to help him back then, only the church, the institution he fought against with all might when he was in power. I can only hope I have the strength to do the right thing myself should I be faced with such a situation at one point in time - that pastor was always a reminder for me. Great video btw ;)
Hmm... the chruch was working with Western intelligence and was instrumental in undermining the GDR. Also, the popular will wsa negative but not anti-communist, per se. This sounds unusual. What sources do you have, so I can increase my understanding.
Great stuff. East Germany is one of those obscure subjects that most people don't care about, but for those of us with an interest in the Cold War, it's valuable information. Thanks.
I would like to thank you, Olaf, for some of the most succinctly comprehensive and academic videos I get to regularly watch on YT. I absolutely love your channel 🌟
@@eastgermanyinvestigated You are most welcome. I was wondering if you would consider undertaking an examination of different, non-rigid (so-called "orthodox"), Marxist dialectical approaches to the initial orientation of the GDR and within the SED along with their development, for example, from the concrete-utopian, speculative materialism and central role of hope as species being of Ernst Bloch to the eco-sustainable Marxism of Wolfgang Harich and Rudolf Bahro; the authentically emperical approach to dialectics of Robert Havemann; the sythesis of personal artistic endeavours with social conscience whether in art or literature (Alfred Kurella) or in music (Hanns Eisler) beyond socialist realism; the decentralized, democratic, particpatory models of political engagement of Bahro; or the later analyses of Christa Wolf in her examination of individual subjectivity and moral ambiguities in life under existing socialism? I am very much from a Marxist tradition centred on his early works on alienation and on dialectics in Capital from my youth in the early 80s, so the humanity of Bloch's non-yet-conscious approach resonates in my marrow. So, when I look at the demonstrations prior and during the 40th anniversary celebrations through to unification, I think of his statement: "The real genesis is not at the beginning, but at the end, and it starts to manifest itself in the form of processes of advancement, of progress." Even suppressed efforts in the early 50s could be transformed from latent potentials to germane considerations as existing contradictions are then addressed anew through hope and direct democracy. Can you elaborate on the vision and practical actions of movements which wished the GDR to remain a separate state with its own economic system, addressing the economic and social challenges while retaining the achievements in social welfare, for instance? I look to the United States as a current example of such a profound transformation in that in a matter of hours after President Biden ended his campaign for the nomination, instead endorsing VP Kamala Harris, there was an explosion of immediate mobilization with 44 000 Black woman on a single Zoom call, then Black men, then "White dudes" and "White women" and so on, raising $81 million from 888 000 grassroots donors in the first day, of whom 500 000 were first-time donors. Within a week 170 000 people mobilized with $200 million raised and rallies drew upwards of 50 000 people. For me that contrasted radically to the stultifying effect of nine years of Trump's authoritarian politics of grievance and corrupting the judiciary of the Supreme Court, which saw the overturning of fundamental constitutional rights and bestowing of unbounded Executive power to the President. The latent potential was there and as legacy media has lost control as gate-keepers of the political narrative, a nascent movement is quickly coalescing, thereby transforming the very nature of electoral politics in the United States. Trump's inability to do anything other than hold disorienting pressers from one of his golfing homes plus a single rally a week is further testament to that. I wonder what dreams and opportunities might have been missed if unification didn't occur under one system.
@@eastgermanyinvestigated Thank you (!) very much, Olaf. I am glad you found them interesting. On a side note I am writing a pedagogical book in practical music theory which takes an interdisciplinary approach: rooted in Schenkerian analysis, it draws upon utopian studies, dialectical philosophy, and cognitive neurospychology to situate training young students in structural hearing within egalitarian models of colearning. It allows for an sociohistorical approach which recognizes Schenker's more provincial and chauvinistic views without it dismissing his contributions to the deconstruction and composing out of integrated hierarchies tonally and rhythmically. It may be called: "The Emerging Emergent: Schenkerian Analysis and the Not-Yet Consciousness."
Very well done, as always! I'm from the U.S., and have visited Germany many times, including the DDR, back in that era, and it's great to learn more about the political side of things than I knew at the time. Danke!
Excellent presentation, as always. I have only one issue: Around 1:20, while mentioning how Erich moved to Pomerania, you show a map of present-day Germany, where Pomerania is a tiny slice of land in the north east. This of course was not true back in the 1930's.
The transfer of territory from German to Poland and the USSR after 1945 "pending final peace settlement" is one f the unfinished items of business in Europe.
@TheRichardSpearman This forced transfer was illegal, blatantly wrong, and immoral. Against international law. Moving 16 million people from eastern German territories from East Prussia, eastern Pomerania, and Silesis was criminal and blatant ethnic cleansing.
Just want to say that these are my favourite kinds of channels, high-quality, in-depth videos on hyper-specific topics. I hope it continues to be a project that you enjoy making for many more videos to come :)
I grew up during the Cold War in the 'American Sector' of what was known as 'West-Berlin'. Unlike other "Wessies" watched a lot of East German TV, which was produced close-by in Adlershof. And trust me, not only 'Sandmänchen'. Bit also 'DT64' or 'Alltag im Westen' or 'MS Fichte' as well as the demagoge "'Der schwarze Kanal'. Also I visited my relatives in Kyritz or in East-Berlin a lot. I just want to share to any International Audience my amazement of the HIGH QUALITY (!) of this channel. 🧐 The only flaw in this espisode I noticed, is in 18:01: The picture is not from alleged joining GDR to the U.N. In fact, the still is from the siging the KSZE Chapter at Helsinky, Aug. 1st, 1985. Note: By fate of french (diplomat's) alphabet, it was the FIST, hoewever, unintended encounter of both, Chanellor Schmid (left in the picture) and Generalsekretär Erich Honeker (middle), next to president Gerald Ford U.S.A. To re-iterate, it is the o n l y glitch I noticed. ==> THANK YOU for your high standard; I am enjoying every episode so far. 👋👌👍
He was a roofer, undermining every german state, he was living in. in the underground and fleeing over the roofs, that's very funny. Like he knows and did not know the situation. All was fine, but he knew, he was in need of a credit from the other side. But some truth is in both. In the end, he was a miner, had to undermine himself. But in the end, he was helping to make the end much better as the end of the Soviet Union, intentional or not.
Thank you!! I've been curious about Erich Hoenecker for a while now and I stumbled upon your channel today. This video is exceptional. My boyfriend is from East Germany and always has interesting stories of his time there.
Hi Olaf! Thanks a lot for the videos you make. I enjoy them so much that I recently went on a solo trip to East Germany because I really wanted to see everything for myself. It definitely did not disappoint. Maybe some good video ideas for the future: - DEFA - DDR-Oberliga - Separate video on Günter Guillaume - Separate video on Romeo Agents - Opposition to the DDR-Regime Very interesting topics as well. Keep up the great work! Greetings from a fellow Dutchman🇳🇱
@@boink800 Yes, Pommern covered much more land pre-1945+. A map of the appropriate date should be used. Post WW I/WW II, not counting colonies, Germany lost more than 25% of its pre-war(s) territory, I think. I wonder where exactly Honecker was in Pommern since my family originally came from there?
Hi Olaf, weer een fantastische video over DDR historie. Ik heb ze tot nu toe allemaal met interesse gevolgd. Ik ben zelf zowel Nederlands en Tsjechisch staatsburger en heb vanaf geboorte veel tussen Nederland en ČSSR gependeld. Door omstandigheden heb ik als kind vloeiend Duits leren spreken en heb ook veel het nieuws vanuit DDR gevolgd. De gebeurtenissen in 1989 en daaromheen waren midden in mijn studententijd en zitten nog steeds op mijn netvlies gebrand, ik zat toen met mijn neus aan de TV gekluisterd en op de korte golf radio de berichten uit die landen te volgen. Ik had een diepgewortelde haat in de oostblok systemen ontwikkeld doordat ik ze zelf zo van dichtbij heb meegemaakt. Jouw videos geven mij nog veel extra feiten die ik nog niet kende, naast de bijzondere herinneringen. Ga vooral hiermee door!
Great channel, great video! My only quibble with this video is that you showed a contemporary map of Germany for the Germany of 1911 (when talking about Honecker's childhood).
Thank you for your always interesting and well made videos. Have been following your channel for years and always look forward to your next video. It's strange how fascinating a country that no longer exists can be!
I am thoroughly addicted to your channel. Fantastic narration and in-depth coverage about all things GDR, which has always been a fascination of mine. Thank you for all of your hard work!
Thank you for a great video! I am not sure if it’s included in the comments below, but do we know what happened to the urn with Honecker’s ashes? I understand they were taken home in Santiago by his wife and that is the last we know?
I spent the summer of 88 in West Berlin with a German friend and his family. Wie visited East Berlin via u-bahn and traveled to Munich via car and we traveled to karlesruehe via train. Got to see a lot of West Germany and the DDR before the Wall came down a year later. I remember one night when me and Mike went to shoot pool in kruezberg. I wore my brand new Deutschland T-shirt with the German eagle and flag (not the n@z! Colors and eagle but federal eagle and red gold and black flag). After a while playing pool Mike told me to put another shirt over my t-shirt because he was afraid the anarchists and communists might get offended and we could be involved in a fight. I finished my berlineweisse and followed his advise. We made it safely home. It was pretty exciting for a 17 year old from Tracy California.
What a cool story! I was only one year younger than you, grew up really close to you in Walnut Creek CA, and also spent the summer in West Germany visiting relatives! But my regret was that when my mom asked me if I wanted to visit her relatives and childhood friend in East Germany, I stupidly declined, thinking there was nothing of value to see there. The next summer, I told her I didn't know what I was thinking and wanted to visit the GDR the following summer. Of course, by then, the walls had come down. But when we went, it was still technically GDR and was cool to see
Congratulations, another very good report about the DDR. You should once make a video about jokes told inside and outside the DDR about that state. Just the "Erich der Dachdecker" variants and reports from people about him would be real fun to see. West German media would search and find people who had been with him and seen him from close for years. The Saarland is also the place of origin of Karl Marx and the ancestors of Gereral and later President Eisenhower. As elsewhere, it's a mixed bag.
Ancestors of President Eisenhower? His Parents were both born in the United States which puts any ancestors back to the 1700's Germany. Which I think predates the Saarland as a state?.
Great content, I could not help but notice you have very similar face frame as Erich btw 🙂. Anyway I did spend some time studiing at Humbolt Universiaet and was always very interested in the wall and the division. One part of it, not very well known to the public, were the borders in the canals and Spree (Nordhafen etc.) It would be very nice to know more about this topic if possible. Thanks again for your work.
I was also going to ask if you will do a video on Erich Honecker & you did, excellent video on his life & work when it was the GDR & what happened to him later in his life!
What little I knew about Erich Honecker before this video, I got the impression that he was an old style Marxist Leninist politician. For example, during the 40th anniversary celebrations of the GDR, a section of his speech revealed the disconnect between himself and the population he was (at least officially) ruling: "We assure our friends all around the world, that Socialism on German soil, in the land of Marx and Engels, rests on indestructible foundations," In a way, this was shown in the reaction to an incident that occurred a year earlier. On 19th January 1988, a Soviet T-64 Tank was being driven on a training exercise by an inexperienced Tank crew and accidentally found themselves on an active railway line near the station at Forst Zinna, roughly 5km south west of the town of Luckenwalde. Despite trying to get the tank out of harms way, there was no time for the train to stop. The resulting crash killed 6 people on the train, including the driver, and injured 33 others. Anyway, in the wake of the crash, rather than cover it up, the SED reported the crash, with Honecker publicly blaming the Soviet Union for the crash.
One question I always have in my mind: why did the USSR fail when it had everything? The USSR had oil, all kinds of metals, food (almost unlimited supply of grains in Ukraine), and of course, the technoloy to make everything. They had nuclear energy. They had sattelite communist countries that would've supplied the products that did not exist in the continental USSR. I always think of the answer: is it high corruption at high levels? Is it that people were not productive enough? Is it because of the very tight prosecution system resulting in the brains leaving the USSR for opportunities in the west? Is it that really the leaders of the USSR did not really believe that the system is sustainable on the long run? All answers/opinions are appreciated!
Jedna nepravděpodobná odpověď zní, že Gorbačov a mnozí řadoví občané uvěřili Západu. Věřili, tomu, co neustále hlásal: že tam je dokonalý spravedlivý svět a všechny problémy již vyřešeny. Pak Východ zjistil, že to byla past. Západ chtěl všechno, co měl Východ, a tak mu nabídl svoji demokracii jako když běloši nabízeli divochům korálky a přikrývky se smrtelnými infekcemi. A východní domorodci to od Západu nadšeně přijali - se stejným výsledkem.
Even an exvellent video like tnis does not snswer the deepest questions. I am no expert but I believe myself that the reason for failure is that a complex economy cannot be planned centrally by commitee Millions of tiny decisions have to be made which capitalism with its decentralised decision making does better. Looking back the strangest thing is that so many millions of eurooean people lived without basic freedoms in a quasi stable system. You even find people who grew up with this making positive staements about communism. For all the cold war rhetoric there was an acceptance of the unfreedom of all tnise people in the west. There was no movement to oppose communsm, yet movements against for instance ApartheitdSouth Africa. It seems to me to gave been some kind of agreement, possibly a price worth paying to keep germany divided with no possibility of a resurgence of Nazism. The west was complucit.
They didn't have freedom. For a more detailed definition of that, see the American Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and Bill of Rights.
The basic reason why Communism fails is because people are not promoted on pure performance or merit and there is no sanction for promoting incompetent people. Generally in a capitalist system there is a sanction for incompetent people in that they lose their jobs or the firm goes bankrupt or both happen. In a state run economy the losses are covered by the state because the enterprises are owned by the state. Corruption is a side issue of such a system because people learn in positions of trust where there are no real checks or balances to check people in high positions, they learn how to game the system or just steal via various means. Even with regular purges by the Communist Party, the new people that replace the old people eventually learn how to game the system and become corrupt themselves. You see this happening in China under XI, I think he is on his second or third round of purges. The system in China is starting to fail. People marvel at China's High Speed rail which looks great on the surface but nobody looks at it in any detail from the inside. Lots of stations built in the middle of nowhere (due to graft and corruption). Routes built with very light patronage again built for political purposes only. People at the top told by their minions that the more wasteful routes built are an amazing success. China National Railways close to if not over $900 Billion in debt and climbing. Not only High Speed Rail overbuilt but same deal with residential housing, I believe China now has housing for up to 100 million people that remains vacant. Overbuilding does not stop there and extends into China's military........massively wasteful spending on militarily dubious systems or areas. For example massive ship building program for China's Navy but not really near enough sailors to staff all those ships. Most of China's Navy does not know how to even swim. Just some examples of how China is falling apart slowly but surely like the former Soviet Union did. Seems no Communist regime has made it yet to a 100 year anniversary and my guess is China won't either.
I think a big part of the answer is probably that while planned economies do have their strengths when it comes to public services and essential (mostly heavy) industries, things get much more complex when it comes to light industry, especially consumer goods. In the case of the USSR the development and production of consumer goods also took a back seat to the development and production of armaments, so even the consumer goods that were produced usually lacked quality compared with those in the West. People looked enviously at the greater choice and better quality of Western consumer goods, and thought the grass looked greener. Lack of freedom can also discourage people from pointing out where things are not working as well as they should, so inefficiency can result from that. Finally, financial incentives such as offered by private enterprise may not be the only driving force for innovation, but innovation does undoubtedly result from those incentives, and any system that seeks to ban private enterprise completely puts itself at a disadvantage in that respect. China didn't disintegrate in the same way as the Soviet Union because in the end it went down the road of building a mixed economy, with private enterprise allowed, and so far it seems to have been very successful. Likewise post war Western social democracy (and New Deal style policies in the US), which delivered decades of rising living standards and strong economic growth. The rich were allowed to be rich as long as they paid their taxes at a MUCH higher rate than is the case today, and the financial sector was heavily regulated. When the latter model was dismantled, the result a few years down the line was the catastrophic 2008 crash from which the living standards of ordinary people in Western world have never recovered.
Horror of Honecker's actions? What about Helmut Kohl, who arranged the anschluss if the DDR, and persecuted Honecker, a man he welcomed as a VIP just a few years before? Also, Kohl destroyed the economy of the DDR, and many superb buildings fell to his wrecking ball.
Good biography. Can i suggest a topic or maybe some interviews on what people consider the more positive aspects of East Germany? There appears to older East Germans who miss it.
Excellent video, excellent channel. The DDR is hugely underrated as the best specimen country by far to examine the intricate logical evil of “Sozialismus”. Question: Is that Yasser Arafat we catch a glimpse of there at 30:50 applauding Honecker?
Well-made video, but I would like to clarify two moments, somewhat erroneous as sounds in video: 1) 23:08 Konstantin Chernenko was not a head of the KGB (as was Yuriy Andropov), but a head of the General Department of the CPSU, kinda of intra-party chancellery; 2) 33:46 You see, Boris Yeltsin was indeed elected as the President, but of Russian Federation, not the USSR, and even before the August coup attempt. Mikhail Gorbachyov remained in his post of the President of the USSR until it's final demise. As for Yeltsin, he, being the Russian President, banned Communist Party of the *Soviet Union* as in jurisdiction of Russia. To put this into rough comparison, it's like if Minister-President of, for example, Free State of Bavaria banned the Social Democratic Party of Germany in the limits of Bavaria. Yes, that's the chaos of de jure Soviet politics in years 1990-1991, but de facto a collapsing Union governance and surging national polities taking it's place of power.
Your work is incredible! Thanks to the interflug video I discovered the fascinating books, all thanks to you! It's super interesting, your channel is incredible, thanks for giving books info, also about the different history about east germany, very educative
GOOD stuff👍🏻 I'M a Cold War baby, & very interested in the history of the CW: especially the GDR. EH managed to live through 5 German states from Imperial, Weimar, the 3rd Reich, the DDR to the absorption of the DDR by the FDR. CAN you do a special on the DDR's military involvement in the 3rd World Independence conflicts? Or have you already? I miss the concrete certainties of the CW; things are rather unpredictable now! PS I've seen a famous & bit bonkers East German singer, twice, in concert. SHE'S great! NINA HAGEN ⬛🟥🟨🌾⚙️⚒️
Many Germans lived through the five regimes that you have correctly cited, and a few hundred are still living who were born in the Kaiser's Germany before 1918. Sad that none of the regime changes have been peaceful without conflict.
This is an amazing channel! i was always curious about the GDR, such a mysterious state, and we have a whole channel dedicated to it! keep up the good work!!!
This was very interesting, thanks for sharing all of this. I had no clue he tried to flee the country, what about the other members of the political board/polit? Did they face the same scrutiny?
Erich Honecker must have anticipated tet way he would be treated after the anschluss by his former host Helmut Kohl. A man who escaped trial and justice.
What i really do not understand is how people with power cling to it as if life depends on it, usually long after they should have retired, what in the world is it that is so irresistible with the power they can't let it go? Wouldn't it be wonderful to sit in a chair, reading a book, having a glass beer etc, following the news and perhaps be asked for advice by younger people?
You have to explain me something. You are clearly no native speaking german. But your german pronunciation is exceptional! Incredible how you say every german word peak perfect!
I like watching your videos. Could you kindly recommend any films about political life in East Germany? Such as in the style of "The Lives of Others"? Thank you.
...and, in total contrast, on Helmut Kohl, who planned the anschluss of the GDR and its subsequent fate. Let is hear the true history of this man before it fades from history.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Your work is of utmost quality, factual, informative, devoid of sensationalism, event when you are covering painful topics. Many thanks for your efforts.
No it is not. It is totally biased and full of lies and untruth.
Essentially German is what you’re describing 😂😂
It is pure pro western germany propaganda. He just said lies about Honecker, the DDR and Stalin.
@@DaveSCameron German quality with a Dutch accent?
I truly appreciate you sharing the history of the GDR with us; you deserve millions of subscribers! Your delivery style is absolutely brilliant.
Salute you from Somalia
Even though I was only just a teenager I vividly remember when Honecker and his wife were sheltering in that pastor's home. Outside, a mob of angry people, and the pastor talking to them and the press to calm down. My parents and all the grown ups I knew were very angry about the pastor and the fact that the church was protecting Honecker from his "rightful punishment".
Only later I realized the humiliation Honecker was facing: No one was willing to help him back then, only the church, the institution he fought against with all might when he was in power.
I can only hope I have the strength to do the right thing myself should I be faced with such a situation at one point in time - that pastor was always a reminder for me.
Great video btw ;)
Funny he did exactly the same thing a lot of Nazis did and flew to South America when things didn't go his way.
Yes, how ironic he was protected by the thing he presumably hated and wished to destroy.
I was very angry of his trial and a bit reliefed when he travelled to Chile
Hmm... the chruch was working with Western intelligence and was instrumental in undermining the GDR. Also, the popular will wsa negative but not anti-communist, per se. This sounds unusual. What sources do you have, so I can increase my understanding.
Are we apologizing for authoritarian communists now? 🇨🇳
Great stuff. East Germany is one of those obscure subjects that most people don't care about, but for those of us with an interest in the Cold War, it's valuable information. Thanks.
I would like to thank you, Olaf, for some of the most succinctly comprehensive and academic videos I get to regularly watch on YT. I absolutely love your channel 🌟
Thank you!
@@eastgermanyinvestigated You are most welcome.
I was wondering if you would consider undertaking an examination of different, non-rigid (so-called "orthodox"), Marxist dialectical approaches to the initial orientation of the GDR and within the SED along with their development, for example, from the concrete-utopian, speculative materialism and central role of hope as species being of Ernst Bloch to the eco-sustainable Marxism of Wolfgang Harich and Rudolf Bahro; the authentically emperical approach to dialectics of Robert Havemann; the sythesis of personal artistic endeavours with social conscience whether in art or literature (Alfred Kurella) or in music (Hanns Eisler) beyond socialist realism; the decentralized, democratic, particpatory models of political engagement of Bahro; or the later analyses of Christa Wolf in her examination of individual subjectivity and moral ambiguities in life under existing socialism?
I am very much from a Marxist tradition centred on his early works on alienation and on dialectics in Capital from my youth in the early 80s, so the humanity of Bloch's non-yet-conscious approach resonates in my marrow. So, when I look at the demonstrations prior and during the 40th anniversary celebrations through to unification, I think of his statement: "The real genesis is not at the beginning, but at the end, and it starts to manifest itself in the form of processes of advancement, of progress." Even suppressed efforts in the early 50s could be transformed from latent potentials to germane considerations as existing contradictions are then addressed anew through hope and direct democracy. Can you elaborate on the vision and practical actions of movements which wished the GDR to remain a separate state with its own economic system, addressing the economic and social challenges while retaining the achievements in social welfare, for instance?
I look to the United States as a current example of such a profound transformation in that in a matter of hours after President Biden ended his campaign for the nomination, instead endorsing VP Kamala Harris, there was an explosion of immediate mobilization with 44 000 Black woman on a single Zoom call, then Black men, then "White dudes" and "White women" and so on, raising $81 million from 888 000 grassroots donors in the first day, of whom 500 000 were first-time donors. Within a week 170 000 people mobilized with $200 million raised and rallies drew upwards of 50 000 people. For me that contrasted radically to the stultifying effect of nine years of Trump's authoritarian politics of grievance and corrupting the judiciary of the Supreme Court, which saw the overturning of fundamental constitutional rights and bestowing of unbounded Executive power to the President. The latent potential was there and as legacy media has lost control as gate-keepers of the political narrative, a nascent movement is quickly coalescing, thereby transforming the very nature of electoral politics in the United States. Trump's inability to do anything other than hold disorienting pressers from one of his golfing homes plus a single rally a week is further testament to that.
I wonder what dreams and opportunities might have been missed if unification didn't occur under one system.
@@bethechange2024 Thanks very much for your input! Interesting ideas that are worth investigating for a (or maybe more) future videos.
@@eastgermanyinvestigated Thank you (!) very much, Olaf. I am glad you found them interesting. On a side note I am writing a pedagogical book in practical music theory which takes an interdisciplinary approach: rooted in Schenkerian analysis, it draws upon utopian studies, dialectical philosophy, and cognitive neurospychology to situate training young students in structural hearing within egalitarian models of colearning. It allows for an sociohistorical approach which recognizes Schenker's more provincial and chauvinistic views without it dismissing his contributions to the deconstruction and composing out of integrated hierarchies tonally and rhythmically. It may be called: "The Emerging Emergent: Schenkerian Analysis and the Not-Yet Consciousness."
Please, don't stop your documentaries! Greetings from Greece!
...Κρίμα που δεν υπάρχουν τέτοιου είδους εκπομπές στην Ελλάδα. Σπανίζουν οι αντικειμενικοί
Very well done, as always! I'm from the U.S., and have visited Germany many times, including the DDR, back in that era, and it's great to learn more about the political side of things than I knew at the time. Danke!
Thank you for taking the time to make this video!
You do outstanding work on this subject. Thank you for all that you do here!
No it is not outstanding. But still it is something... Those with a good eye can read between the lies...
Thank you. Best biography of Honecker that I've ever seen. Great work.
Das sind Fakten, Genosse
This was too facinating to miss. Thank you very much for this video. It was the best I have seen in ages.
That was the best written skript for a video on a historical personality I have ever heard on UA-cam.
Wow! Learned a lot more about Erich Honecker moreso on this video than any other ones I've ever heard before. Very well done!!!
Excellent presentation, as always. I have only one issue: Around 1:20, while mentioning how Erich moved to Pomerania, you show a map of present-day Germany, where Pomerania is a tiny slice of land in the north east. This of course was not true back in the 1930's.
The transfer of territory from German to Poland and the USSR after 1945 "pending final peace settlement" is one f the unfinished items of business in Europe.
@TheRichardSpearman This forced transfer was illegal, blatantly wrong, and immoral. Against international law. Moving 16 million people from eastern German territories from East Prussia, eastern Pomerania, and Silesis was criminal and blatant ethnic cleansing.
Just want to say that these are my favourite kinds of channels, high-quality, in-depth videos on hyper-specific topics. I hope it continues to be a project that you enjoy making for many more videos to come :)
I grew up during the Cold War in the 'American Sector' of what was known as 'West-Berlin'. Unlike other "Wessies" watched a lot of East German TV, which was produced close-by in Adlershof. And trust me, not only 'Sandmänchen'. Bit also 'DT64' or 'Alltag im Westen' or 'MS Fichte' as well as the demagoge "'Der schwarze Kanal'. Also I visited my relatives in Kyritz or in East-Berlin a lot. I just want to share to any International Audience my amazement of the HIGH QUALITY (!) of this channel. 🧐 The only flaw in this espisode I noticed, is in 18:01: The picture is not from alleged joining GDR to the U.N. In fact, the still is from the siging the KSZE Chapter at Helsinky, Aug. 1st, 1985. Note: By fate of french (diplomat's) alphabet, it was the FIST, hoewever, unintended encounter of both, Chanellor Schmid (left in the picture) and Generalsekretär Erich Honeker (middle), next to president Gerald Ford U.S.A. To re-iterate, it is the o n l y glitch I noticed. ==> THANK YOU for your high standard; I am enjoying every episode so far. 👋👌👍
Thank you. And thanks for providing the right caption of the picture.
Thank you for the high quality work.
Thank you very much!
2:35 "Honecker continued working underground." But the entire reason behind becoming a roofer was to not work underground? xD
He was a roofer, undermining every german state, he was living in. in the underground and fleeing over the roofs, that's very funny. Like he knows and did not know the situation. All was fine, but he knew, he was in need of a credit from the other side. But some truth is in both. In the end, he was a miner, had to undermine himself. But in the end, he was helping to make the end much better as the end of the Soviet Union, intentional or not.
Thank you!! I've been curious about Erich Hoenecker for a while now and I stumbled upon your channel today. This video is exceptional. My boyfriend is from East Germany and always has interesting stories of his time there.
Thanks! Your videos are unique and valuable!
Thank you!
Hi Olaf! Thanks a lot for the videos you make. I enjoy them so much that I recently went on a solo trip to East Germany because I really wanted to see everything for myself. It definitely did not disappoint.
Maybe some good video ideas for the future:
- DEFA
- DDR-Oberliga
- Separate video on Günter Guillaume
- Separate video on Romeo Agents
- Opposition to the DDR-Regime
Very interesting topics as well. Keep up the great work! Greetings from a fellow Dutchman🇳🇱
Thank you Alexander and also for your suggestions!
Densely produced, highly engaging and well-presented. Thank you for creating these incredible time capsules.
Thanks for another fascinating video
Thank you!
Excellent work as usual!
There is a small mistake in your description of soviet leaders: the former head of KGB was Andropov, not Chernenko
Another mistake: the post-1945 map of Germany was used when describe where Honecker went to in the 1920's (Pomerania)
@@boink800 Yes, Pommern covered much more land pre-1945+. A map of the appropriate date should be used. Post WW I/WW II, not counting colonies, Germany lost more than 25% of its pre-war(s) territory, I think. I wonder where exactly Honecker was in Pommern since my family originally came from there?
Great documentary, as always. This reminded me that I still have Honecker's 1981 autobiography to read.
BABY WAKE UP EGI JUST DROPPED!!!!!!!!!!
TURN THE TV ON IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT CHANNEL
Ok I’m up honey
@@changingpeopleslivesmoon2993I'm gay too
Divorce time.
@@maxsonthonax1020 I'm gay
23:11; Andropov, not Chernenko, was head of the KGB.
You are right. That was Andropov!
Hi Olaf, weer een fantastische video over DDR historie. Ik heb ze tot nu toe allemaal met interesse gevolgd. Ik ben zelf zowel Nederlands en Tsjechisch staatsburger en heb vanaf geboorte veel tussen Nederland en ČSSR gependeld. Door omstandigheden heb ik als kind vloeiend Duits leren spreken en heb ook veel het nieuws vanuit DDR gevolgd. De gebeurtenissen in 1989 en daaromheen waren midden in mijn studententijd en zitten nog steeds op mijn netvlies gebrand, ik zat toen met mijn neus aan de TV gekluisterd en op de korte golf radio de berichten uit die landen te volgen. Ik had een diepgewortelde haat in de oostblok systemen ontwikkeld doordat ik ze zelf zo van dichtbij heb meegemaakt. Jouw videos geven mij nog veel extra feiten die ik nog niet kende, naast de bijzondere herinneringen. Ga vooral hiermee door!
Dankjewel en dank voor het delen van je verhaal!
What kind of East German dialect is this?
@@vselenautika This is the dialect from a small fisher village Piz Palü in the mountains of Pomerania.
@@vselenautikathis is Dutch
@@DemolitionManDemolishes Funny.
Great channel, great video! My only quibble with this video is that you showed a contemporary map of Germany for the Germany of 1911 (when talking about Honecker's childhood).
Thank you for your always interesting and well made videos. Have been following your channel for years and always look forward to your next video. It's strange how fascinating a country that no longer exists can be!
An appreciated way to end the week end with History. Danke, lieber Nachbar, aus Frankreich.
It’s good to see another video from you. This was excellent, so informative and clearly presented, I really enjoyed it. Best wishes from Australia 🇦🇺
Thanks!
Thank you!
I am thoroughly addicted to your channel. Fantastic narration and in-depth coverage about all things GDR, which has always been a fascination of mine. Thank you for all of your hard work!
An excellent summary. Very well done. Thank you.
Thank you for a great video! I am not sure if it’s included in the comments below, but do we know what happened to the urn with Honecker’s ashes? I understand they were taken home in Santiago by his wife and that is the last we know?
I spent the summer of 88 in West Berlin with a German friend and his family. Wie visited East Berlin via u-bahn and traveled to Munich via car and we traveled to karlesruehe via train. Got to see a lot of West Germany and the DDR before the Wall came down a year later.
I remember one night when me and Mike went to shoot pool in kruezberg. I wore my brand new Deutschland T-shirt with the German eagle and flag (not the n@z! Colors and eagle but federal eagle and red gold and black flag). After a while playing pool Mike told me to put another shirt over my t-shirt because he was afraid the anarchists and communists might get offended and we could be involved in a fight. I finished my berlineweisse and followed his advise. We made it safely home. It was pretty exciting for a 17 year old from Tracy California.
What a cool story! I was only one year younger than you, grew up really close to you in Walnut Creek CA, and also spent the summer in West Germany visiting relatives! But my regret was that when my mom asked me if I wanted to visit her relatives and childhood friend in East Germany, I stupidly declined, thinking there was nothing of value to see there. The next summer, I told her I didn't know what I was thinking and wanted to visit the GDR the following summer. Of course, by then, the walls had come down. But when we went, it was still technically GDR and was cool to see
Thanks for that, very interesting. Can I ask, are you from the Netherlands? Ich versuche höflich deinen Akzent zu erraten!
That was most interesting! Many thanks.
Love your work…I’m an amateur GDR historian…maybe. I do a good amount of research 😊
Thanks for posting this very interesting history.
Congratulations, another very good report about the DDR. You should once make a video about jokes told inside and outside the DDR about that state. Just the "Erich der Dachdecker" variants and reports from people about him would be real fun to see. West German media would search and find people who had been with him and seen him from close for years.
The Saarland is also the place of origin of Karl Marx and the ancestors of Gereral and later President Eisenhower. As elsewhere, it's a mixed bag.
Ancestors of President Eisenhower? His Parents were both born in the United States which puts any ancestors back to the 1700's Germany. Which I think predates the Saarland as a state?.
Thanks
Thank you!
Impressive piece of work. Thank you.
Another fantastic vlog. I love what you're doing. Any chance you do an interview with journalist Victor Grossman? He is a very interesting character.
Yes! I was hoping for a new video. 🙂
You make great videos man! 💪🏼💪🏼
Great content, I could not help but notice you have very similar face frame as Erich btw 🙂. Anyway I did spend some time studiing at Humbolt Universiaet and was always very interested in the wall and the division. One part of it, not very well known to the public, were the borders in the canals and Spree (Nordhafen etc.) It would be very nice to know more about this topic if possible. Thanks again for your work.
quite a deep dive. amazing work
I was also going to ask if you will do a video on Erich Honecker & you did, excellent video on his life & work when it was the GDR & what happened to him later in his life!
What little I knew about Erich Honecker before this video, I got the impression that he was an old style Marxist Leninist politician. For example, during the 40th anniversary celebrations of the GDR, a section of his speech revealed the disconnect between himself and the population he was (at least officially) ruling:
"We assure our friends all around the world, that Socialism on German soil, in the land of Marx and Engels, rests on indestructible foundations,"
In a way, this was shown in the reaction to an incident that occurred a year earlier. On 19th January 1988, a Soviet T-64 Tank was being driven on a training exercise by an inexperienced Tank crew and accidentally found themselves on an active railway line near the station at Forst Zinna, roughly 5km south west of the town of Luckenwalde. Despite trying to get the tank out of harms way, there was no time for the train to stop. The resulting crash killed 6 people on the train, including the driver, and injured 33 others. Anyway, in the wake of the crash, rather than cover it up, the SED reported the crash, with Honecker publicly blaming the Soviet Union for the crash.
He had an adventurous and dangerous life in his youth.
What a fascinating channel.
EXCELLENT VIDEO!
One question I always have in my mind: why did the USSR fail when it had everything? The USSR had oil, all kinds of metals, food (almost unlimited supply of grains in Ukraine), and of course, the technoloy to make everything. They had nuclear energy. They had sattelite communist countries that would've supplied the products that did not exist in the continental USSR. I always think of the answer: is it high corruption at high levels? Is it that people were not productive enough? Is it because of the very tight prosecution system resulting in the brains leaving the USSR for opportunities in the west? Is it that really the leaders of the USSR did not really believe that the system is sustainable on the long run? All answers/opinions are appreciated!
Jedna nepravděpodobná odpověď zní, že Gorbačov a mnozí řadoví občané uvěřili Západu. Věřili, tomu, co neustále hlásal: že tam je dokonalý spravedlivý svět a všechny problémy již vyřešeny. Pak Východ zjistil, že to byla past. Západ chtěl všechno, co měl Východ, a tak mu nabídl svoji demokracii jako když běloši nabízeli divochům korálky a přikrývky se smrtelnými infekcemi. A východní domorodci to od Západu nadšeně přijali - se stejným výsledkem.
Even an exvellent video like tnis does not snswer the deepest questions. I am no expert but I believe myself that the reason for failure is that a complex economy cannot be planned centrally by commitee Millions of tiny decisions have to be made which capitalism with its decentralised decision making does better. Looking back the strangest thing is that so many millions of eurooean people lived without basic freedoms in a quasi stable system. You even find people who grew up with this making positive staements about communism. For all the cold war rhetoric there was an acceptance of the unfreedom of all tnise people in the west. There was no movement to oppose communsm, yet movements against for instance ApartheitdSouth Africa. It seems to me to gave been some kind of agreement, possibly a price worth paying to keep germany divided with no possibility of a resurgence of Nazism. The west was complucit.
They didn't have freedom. For a more detailed definition of that, see the American Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and Bill of Rights.
The basic reason why Communism fails is because people are not promoted on pure performance or merit and there is no sanction for promoting incompetent people. Generally in a capitalist system there is a sanction for incompetent people in that they lose their jobs or the firm goes bankrupt or both happen. In a state run economy the losses are covered by the state because the enterprises are owned by the state. Corruption is a side issue of such a system because people learn in positions of trust where there are no real checks or balances to check people in high positions, they learn how to game the system or just steal via various means. Even with regular purges by the Communist Party, the new people that replace the old people eventually learn how to game the system and become corrupt themselves. You see this happening in China under XI, I think he is on his second or third round of purges. The system in China is starting to fail. People marvel at China's High Speed rail which looks great on the surface but nobody looks at it in any detail from the inside. Lots of stations built in the middle of nowhere (due to graft and corruption). Routes built with very light patronage again built for political purposes only. People at the top told by their minions that the more wasteful routes built are an amazing success. China National Railways close to if not over $900 Billion in debt and climbing. Not only High Speed Rail overbuilt but same deal with residential housing, I believe China now has housing for up to 100 million people that remains vacant. Overbuilding does not stop there and extends into China's military........massively wasteful spending on militarily dubious systems or areas. For example massive ship building program for China's Navy but not really near enough sailors to staff all those ships. Most of China's Navy does not know how to even swim. Just some examples of how China is falling apart slowly but surely like the former Soviet Union did. Seems no Communist regime has made it yet to a 100 year anniversary and my guess is China won't either.
I think a big part of the answer is probably that while planned economies do have their strengths when it comes to public services and essential (mostly heavy) industries, things get much more complex when it comes to light industry, especially consumer goods. In the case of the USSR the development and production of consumer goods also took a back seat to the development and production of armaments, so even the consumer goods that were produced usually lacked quality compared with those in the West. People looked enviously at the greater choice and better quality of Western consumer goods, and thought the grass looked greener.
Lack of freedom can also discourage people from pointing out where things are not working as well as they should, so inefficiency can result from that. Finally, financial incentives such as offered by private enterprise may not be the only driving force for innovation, but innovation does undoubtedly result from those incentives, and any system that seeks to ban private enterprise completely puts itself at a disadvantage in that respect.
China didn't disintegrate in the same way as the Soviet Union because in the end it went down the road of building a mixed economy, with private enterprise allowed, and so far it seems to have been very successful. Likewise post war Western social democracy (and New Deal style policies in the US), which delivered decades of rising living standards and strong economic growth. The rich were allowed to be rich as long as they paid their taxes at a MUCH higher rate than is the case today, and the financial sector was heavily regulated. When the latter model was dismantled, the result a few years down the line was the catastrophic 2008 crash from which the living standards of ordinary people in Western world have never recovered.
New subscriber here. Very informative. 👍 I look forward to more of your videos.
Great video ! Thoroughly enjoyed the detailed and factual data. Please keep up the good work.
this is the best video about Honeckers life I ever saw. Thank you for the great work.
I appreciate the superior quality of this program.
This is amazingly well done. Almost all of the documentaries I’ve seen on Honecker are all in German with either English dubs or none at all.
Well done keeping a rather neutral tone despite the horror of Honeckers's actions.
Horror of Honecker's actions? What about Helmut Kohl, who arranged the anschluss if the DDR, and persecuted Honecker, a man he welcomed as a VIP just a few years before? Also, Kohl destroyed the economy of the DDR, and many superb buildings fell to his wrecking ball.
That was fascinating! So much details, well-researched information delivered clearly and impartially.
Great videos on the DDR. Thank you.
Wow. Your videos are always to a very, very high standard but you have really surpassed yourself with this one!
Good biography. Can i suggest a topic or maybe some interviews on what people consider the more positive aspects of East Germany? There appears to older East Germans who miss it.
Excellent video, excellent channel. The DDR is hugely underrated as the best specimen country by far to examine the intricate logical evil of “Sozialismus”.
Question: Is that Yasser Arafat we catch a glimpse of there at 30:50 applauding Honecker?
Well-made video, but I would like to clarify two moments, somewhat erroneous as sounds in video:
1) 23:08 Konstantin Chernenko was not a head of the KGB (as was Yuriy Andropov), but a head of the General Department of the CPSU, kinda of intra-party chancellery;
2) 33:46 You see, Boris Yeltsin was indeed elected as the President, but of Russian Federation, not the USSR, and even before the August coup attempt. Mikhail Gorbachyov remained in his post of the President of the USSR until it's final demise. As for Yeltsin, he, being the Russian President, banned Communist Party of the *Soviet Union* as in jurisdiction of Russia. To put this into rough comparison, it's like if Minister-President of, for example, Free State of Bavaria banned the Social Democratic Party of Germany in the limits of Bavaria. Yes, that's the chaos of de jure Soviet politics in years 1990-1991, but de facto a collapsing Union governance and surging national polities taking it's place of power.
Outstanding. Utterly gripping. The fascinating life of a fascinating man.
Your work is incredible! Thanks to the interflug video I discovered the fascinating books, all thanks to you! It's super interesting, your channel is incredible, thanks for giving books info, also about the different history about east germany, very educative
Thank you! That's great to hear!
GOOD stuff👍🏻
I'M a Cold War baby, & very interested in the history of the CW: especially the GDR.
EH managed to live through 5 German states from Imperial, Weimar, the 3rd Reich, the DDR to the absorption of the DDR by the FDR.
CAN you do a special on the DDR's military involvement in the 3rd World Independence conflicts? Or have you already?
I miss the concrete certainties of the CW; things are rather unpredictable now!
PS I've seen a famous & bit bonkers East German singer, twice, in concert.
SHE'S great!
NINA HAGEN
⬛🟥🟨🌾⚙️⚒️
Nina Hagen looks depressed in footage from the DDR and absolutely bonkers after she escaped
Many Germans lived through the five regimes that you have correctly cited, and a few hundred are still living who were born in the Kaiser's Germany before 1918. Sad that none of the regime changes have been peaceful without
conflict.
great man, great video
This was very interesting, very well presented, thank you.
Finally! Another video on East Germany! Thank you, Olaf. There are quite a few UA-cam videos on Honecker and this one was pretty good.
30:49 Was that Yasser Arafat?
Yes
This is an amazing channel! i was always curious about the GDR, such a mysterious state, and we have a whole channel dedicated to it! keep up the good work!!!
This was very interesting, thanks for sharing all of this. I had no clue he tried to flee the country, what about the other members of the political board/polit? Did they face the same scrutiny?
Erich Honecker must have anticipated tet way he would be treated after the anschluss by his former host Helmut Kohl. A man who escaped trial and justice.
As always an extremely informative and interesting episode thank you
thanks I have missed your posts welcome back
Hey. You could make a video about the relationship between Chile and the DDR. A lot of books about the topic
Very well put together. Fascinating. Thank you!
@13:20 does anyone have a source for the picture used of Brezhnev and Honecker together? I cant find it online anywhere
Very interesting and very well presented .
Super quality stuff, as always. Enjoyed very much…
What i really do not understand is how people with power cling to it as if life depends on it, usually long after they should have retired, what in the world is it that is so irresistible with the power they can't let it go?
Wouldn't it be wonderful to sit in a chair, reading a book, having a glass beer etc, following the news and perhaps be asked for advice by younger people?
36:47 as a brazilian I have to ask this, did Honecker got a VARIG flight to get to Chile? That airplane is not Lufthansa, looks like a VARIG 767.
It is very well done. Thanks
You have to explain me something.
You are clearly no native speaking german. But your german pronunciation is exceptional! Incredible how you say every german word peak perfect!
Great videos! Do you have plans to do a video on the Trabant?
This was everyday program whenever politburo was visiting 😂 cut flowers planted all the way the convoy was going drive.
Do you think you could do one on the 1985 Politburo scandal?
Comprehensive.
Thank you.
What happened on the very last day of GDR?
Kohl's wrecking crews started their work after the anschluss of the DDR.
Great great content ! Thank you
Fascinating story-really enjoyed the video. Thank you!
I like watching your videos. Could you kindly recommend any films about political life in East Germany? Such as in the style of "The Lives of Others"? Thank you.
Thanks, good to see you back and very interesting.
Where can i buy a classic portrait of Erich honecker?
your videos are very interesting and very good quality - wish more of YT was the same.
Awesome! Maybe one on Krenz or Pieck next? Would love to see some discussion of Grotewohl too!
...and, in total contrast, on Helmut Kohl, who planned the anschluss of the GDR and its subsequent fate. Let is hear the true history of this man before it fades from history.