Last Days of East Berlin - Raw Footage of DDR 40th Anniversary Celebrations (1989)
Вставка
- Опубліковано 3 лют 2024
- On 7 October 1989, ITN filmed events and ceremonies around East Berlin as the city marked the 40th anniversary of the German Democratic Republic (Deutsche Demokratische Republik; DDR). As well as capturing East German leader Erich Honecker taking part in a commemorative event at the Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery (Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde), cameras also ventured to Alexanderplatz, where they captured celebrations and, later on in the day, a clash between pro-democracy protesters and the East German police. The tensions visible in this footage would reach their peak just over a month later with the fall of the Berlin Wall.
#Berlin #EastGermany #EastBerlin #WestBerlin #DDR #GDR #SovietUnion #Soviet #SovietWave #ColdWar #Communism #Communist #BerlinWall #USSR
To license the footage featured in this clip, follow the link below:
www.gettyimages.co.uk/videos/...
To search the ITN Archive collection on Getty Images, follow the link below:
www.gettyimages.co.uk/footage...
🎥 Subscribe to our UA-cam channel (tap the bell icon and stay up to date with all the latest ITN Archive videos!) - / @itnarchive
🎥 Follow us on Twitter - / itnarchive
🎥 Like us on Facebook - / itnarchiveitnp
🎥 Check out our TikTok - / itnarchive1955
I was serving in West Berlin in the British Army when all this was happening. We had no idea what was going to happen but we knew there was unrest over the Wall in East Berlin. Then one day reports were coming in of troop build up on one section of the Wall in the East (can't remember whereabouts). In the foyer of where I worked, the officer commanding decided to put up on the noticeboard, the intelligence signals that were coming through, a running commentary of what we thought was going on over the Wall. We all believed maybe civil unrest followed by an invasion of West Berlin! Then one day a government official in East Berlin stated live on East German TV (incorrectly) that the border would be opened for East Germans to come and go freely into West Berlin and the next, thousands pouring over the checkpoint followed by sections of the Wall been torn down by East Germany Army engineers. It all happened so fast! Then on New Years Eve 1989, as a British Army soldier, I found myself climbing up the Berlin Wall next to the Reichstag and standing on top looking over into East Berlin when only a few months before, I'd have been shot at for doing so, and then I climbed down into East Berlin! Exciting times.
What a sight to have witnessed. The end of the first Cold War must have been an exhilarating time
and almost 40 years Britain is almost as bad. Not much to celebrate.
Sei stato un testimone della storia. Involontariamente ,hai scritto un pagina di libro della tua vita senza rischiare e ricca di emozioni,bellissimo e grazie per la tua testimonianza!
I bet when you look around you at the modern united and 'free Europe' and compare it to the cold war europe you kinda wish we had a nuclear war un the 80s eh?
This place is a mess!
@@JagdgeschwaderX britain is as bad as the stasi or we are as leftwing as the east germans? Whats your point??
The East German content from ITN is incredible stuff! I love how much they focus on the faces too.
The facial focus is probably for the Stazi’s sake.
And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. - Jeremiah 29:13
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. - John 3:16
Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.
- Acts 3:19
If you’re in North America, please go check out any of the churches available to you: PCA, OPC, Rpcna/Rpc, Urcna, or a canrc church
(These are conservative and actual Presbyterian churches)
If you can’t find one of the conservative presby churches then, maybe a Lcms Lutheran church.
If you’re Scottish, I recommend the Free Church of Scotland and the APC.
(Different from the Church of Scotland)
If you’re English I recommend the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England & Wales and the Free Church of England
(Different from the Church of England)
Also online you can look up church finders for each of the groups, it will show you locations .
@@mattskustomkreations🦙
And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. - Jeremiah 29:13
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. - John 3:16
Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.
- Acts 3:19
If you’re in North America, please go check out any of the churches available to you: PCA, OPC, Rpcna/Rpc, Urcna, or a canrc church
(These are conservative & actual Presbyterian churches)
If you can’t find one of the conservative presby churches then, maybe a Lcms Lutheran church.
If you’re Scottish, I recommend the Free Church of Scotland and the APC.
(Different from the Church of Scotland)
If you’re English I recommend the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England & Wales and the Free Church of England
(Different from the Church of England)
Also online you can look up church finders for each of the groups, it will show you locations
@@PeterMartyrVermigli_is_cool lama?
Thank you for uploading this stunning quality video! I remember seeing some clips of this video on some stock footage sites for licensing, but now we are finally able to see the full version! Kudos to ITN!
Glad you enjoyed it!
*I love your channel with old DDR footage my friend. :)*
@@ITNArchiveI just found your channel and I love it. East Germany investigated is also good
@@ITNArchiveI have to ask a question. When the first gate opened because of the pressure, I remember seeing this guard in disbelief who looked like he tried to memorise the face of each person that passed. A really bad day at work! Was there ever an interview with this guy??
De@@NandiCollector
Those soldiers forming up for the parade are not ordinary NVA troops , they are from the Wach regiment Feliks E. Dzierzynski , the military component of the STASI. It is rare to see footage of them.
cool catch thank you!
you can tell from the cuff title@@Rostov_red_beard
The current club president of 1. FC Union Berlin Dirk Zingler did his military service with the "Feliks E. Dzierzynski" Guards Regiment if I'm not mistaken.
Was it not Erich Mielke that gave them that name?
Named after the head of the Cheka, no less.
I was serving in the Soviet Army in DDR in the midst of 80s. Level of living ( "Lebensniveau') of east Germans was much higher than in Soviet Union. But apparently lower than in the West Germany. It's funny that not a single Soviet military man was captured by camera, as DDR was overwhelmed by Soviet troops. Wherever you go you come across the men in the Soviet military uniform or military vehicle. The Group of the Soviet Forces in Germany (GSVG - official abbreviation) on its peak was up to 300++ thousand servicemen and 7700 tanks. Berlin was the only place in the country relatively clear of Soviet soldiers.
REALLY ! THATS AMAZING ! I NEVER MEET ANYONE SERVED IN DDR ! YOU ARE PART OF HISTORY !
Were you allowed to interact with East Germans, go to restaurants, nightclubs etc? Could you visit the West?
During my visits to the DDR (1972 and 1977) I never once saw a Soviet soldier.
@@Jean-rg4sp I suppose you'd been in Berlin only. Berlin was the only place soviet military were not allowed to be seen. Except for 3 motor-rifle batallions as guards of honor of the Unknown Soldier Monument.
Mullet heaven, I remember going to Germany in the 90´s those mullets was one thing that didnt change with the wall going down thats for shure.
Quatsch, they looked better than your Führer's mustache! Your people glorified him in the early 40s and paid a big price till October 1989!
hell yeah. In Russia we all have had the same mullet haircut those days
And the tacky denim bomber jackets!!
Well not everybody had a mullet Hair do 🤔🤔😉
Служил в Германии ЗГВ, г.Наумбург 1990-92гг. О ГДР и немцах остались самые приятные воспоминания...
Сериал "ГДР" 2024 смотрели? Я окончил 8 классов ГСВГ Вюнсдорф в 1987, а год в 1982 жили в Галле . Обнимаю тебя дружище
@@user-tk1lm6ef7i Доброе утро.Служил в Наумбурге в/ч 83113, недалеко от Галле. Начал смотреть первую серию ГДР и что-то не зашло,может позже посмотрю...
Naumburg ist in Ostdeutschland !!!
Сотни восточных немцев были убиты при попытке перебежать на Запад, ГДР - это мертворожденное государство, созданное по советскому образцу, такое же тоталитарное государство, их госбезопасность ( тайная полиция - Штази ), была создана по образцу НКВД - КГБ, пресекала любое инакомыслие, руководил ею генерал Мильке - в начале 30 годов убивший двух полицейских и скрывшийся в СССР, после войны войны вернулся и был назначен руководителем " Штази ". На видео в толпе это гражданская полиция. ведет себя вполне мирно и даже растерянно, практически безоружные. МИльке судили после объединения Германии, но в силу престарелого возраста дело по - моему прекратили!
A stringline is so German. My father has to make sure both his garbage cans are spotless and lined up perfectly even, as if they will be inspected.
Wir müssen Ordnung haben !
I never saw one being used before this.
I hope you have more footage from the GDR, 'cause what you' ve uploaded until now is ridiculously astonishing. You and @MaximusandHistory are my favorite sources.
Ein einzigartiges Video in bisher noch nicht gekannter Qualität und Detaliliertheit... vielen Dank für den Upload !!!
schöne Detailaufnahmen aus dieser Zeit, bisher habe ich die noch nicht gesehen, vielen Dank für das Video!
I don’t know if I’ve seen this, I’m from Sweden and we may not have seen as much as Germans did. I was in awe when this events happened. There was a border guard, Harald Jäger, that opened the Bornholmer Strasse gate and when he did, there was this other guard who witnessed everything in disbelief. He looked like he tried to memorise the face of each individual that passed. It would be interesting if there was an interview with this guy. Do you know if there exists such an interview?
@@TheFrewahAll this DDR because of the man with the funny mustache. 45 years of suffering after the war
@@m42037 Initially I thought about The Bearded One, Charlie Marx. But you meant Ulbricht of course who had a funny mustache indeed. I was very happy when the insanity came to an end.
@@TheFrewah That's an interesting take. To me the mustache man who started this is the one of austrian descent. Marx was a hopeless romantic, Ulbricht was just an idiot.
@@TheFrewah That's an interesting take. To me the mustache man who started this is the one of austrian descent. Marx was a hopeless romantic, Ulbricht was just an idiot.
Awesome footage! Thx for sharing them 👌
Thanks for watching!
@@ITNArchiveAll this because of one man that ruled from 33-45
Very precious footage, such high quality, thank you for uploading! Seeing this makes me wonder if there's footage in Indonesia in this channel, guess I better start looking 😮
At the 40th jubilee for DDR in 1989 Mikhail Gorbachev said to Erich Honecker: "Whoever comes late will be punished by life." The immediate interpretation was that Gorbachev exhorted his East German colleague to reform his country's communist regime - to save communism. In other words, the same efforts that Gorbachev was undertaking at home in his Soviet Union. You might say the both came to late.
Oops, I think a Troll reported my comment
Further, Gorbachev made it clear that the Soviet Army was no longer available to respond to domestic unrest in E. Germany.
That's a lie. Gorbachev wasn't going to save anything. The USSR and other socialist countries (except China) began to degrade after the beginning of market reforms.
The result of such reforms was the privatization by Russian/Soviet politicians and foreign corporations of everything that had been built in the USSR for decades
Or you might say they both were just in time. Ceaușescu clearly was too late...
@@Dutch_Uncle He really ruined a great country and led to the current world turmoil that bastard.
Amazing historical footage thank you for sharing this video
Great footage. Camera person was on it. So 80/90’s. A time & place which no longer exists more so than any other.
visit turkmenistan or belarus or north korea and (and many more) it is like you travelled back in time
I remember Honecker claiming that the wall would come down when the reson for its existence was gone. And so it did
Didn't he mean to say "When we decide the wall can come down people will be able to cross immediately", but somehow blurted out "you can cross immediately" live on TV? Imagine the greatest political upheaval of the decade happening because the autocue was too fast.
@@michaelmartin9022 Nope. Honecker (who resisted reforms and insisted on hard line commie dictatorship) was removed from power on 18th October 1989 and was replaced by Egon Krenz, who was more inclined to reforms, nonetheless still planned to retain socialism (to add - people trying to cross to West Germany were still shot at when Krenz was in power, so he certainly was not a "good guy").
However after waves of emmigration through Czechoslovakia (where people were sheltered by West German embassy in Prague and then were sent in trains to West Germany) and Hungary (where commie government already fell) and especially after realizing, that GDR was on the verge of bankruptcy (which was kept secret even from high ranked party members), Krenz was forced to deal with travel policy reforms.
Politburo then discussed this topic on 9th November 1989 with Günter Schabowski chosen to present results of the meeting on the press conference to the western media. However, what he didn't know, was WHEN will the new travel policy take effect. That was discussed during a smoke break, where Schabowski wasn't present.
So when he was asked, WHEN will the new travel policy take effect, he started looking through his papers and still didn't find the answer. So he said "As far is I know, immediately, without delay." Politburo went furious, but as people were already storming border checkpoints after hearing Schabowski on TV with guards being so overwhelmed, that they didn't resist. In a few hours, Berlin Wall literally fell. Probably just due to one party member not going to the smoke break.
If you're interested, here is the press conference with Schabovski: ua-cam.com/video/JbzhHGcEz-E/v-deo.html
@@jindrichlnenicka7214 Incredible that Honecker was given the boot not even two weeks after the 40th anniversary.
At this point, things were happening very quickly. The collapse of East Germany took not only the DDR but even the BDR by surprise. Western politicians found it hard to keep up. When this was filmed, reunification seemed like a dream, within six months it was nearly fait accompli.
@@cv990a4 Yeah, imagine even how KGB HQ in Dresden must have felt witnessing all this going on around them and powerless to stop it. A certain junior officer stationed in East Germany at the time still never got over this........
@@mlc4495 OK , THAT FUCKING GUY IS tovarits lilliputin !!!
Interesting to think that only one month later, the DDR virtually "collapsed" after Günter Schabowski announced (too early) the opening of the Berlin Wall during the mythic press conference of November 9th. Schabowski can be seen at 16:53, with the striped red tie.
Imagine how different things could have been had he not been given that question.
Agree. They would have had more time to work out and try a new version, more calibrated to reaity. With Eric Hoenecker deposed and a new cast in charge they might have bought time for a new and reformed version. It shows how fragile the system was, and how clueless everyone was, the westerners as well as the EG leadership and the Soviets and the press, about the discontent in the population and the fundamentel fault lines through the system. However, the leaders of some of the workers militia units had advised their superiors that their troops would be unreliable if called upon to respond to unrest in the population.
The real hero is Harald Jaeger. He was serving was serving as duty officer in charge of the border guards at the Bornholmer Strasse crossing that night. He could not get direction from his chain of command about what to do with/to the multitudes after Gunther Schabowski's premature announcement, so he ordered his troops to open the gates. It could have been a bloodbath, a reenactment of the Tianamen Square slaughter. He gets a "Profiles in Courge" medal for his actions and non-actions that night.
@@Dutch_UncleEven if the question had not been asked there and then it would have been asked soon enough as East Germany had already lost control of the situation with the opening of the Hungarian border and so was bleeding people so not matter what they attempted in reforms they were facing economic collapse.
Thatcher and George Bush were terrified of a reunited Germany and secretly tried to generate money to keep East Germany afloat, but it was too far gone.
from a Nazi he became a communist, and then he became a capitalist. Great career
Thanks for uploading! These videos are monuments of history! Greetings from Italy!
Беннето Муссолини хотел Рим империю 😅❤
I worked near Koblenz in 2005/6 and met several people during my time there who had moved from the old East Germany. Fascinating to hear their stories under the old regime.
Oh, thats cool. I was born and live in Koblenz.
Loving this footage. Incredible quality too
Die ganze Veranstaltung macht auf mich den Eindruck einer Beerdigung. Und so war es tatsächlich auch.
"Letzte Ölung" kommt mir in den Sinn.
@@andreasu.3546
Dazu die passende Musik:
Trauermarsch aus Saul
ua-cam.com/video/82enBGVW8vI/v-deo.html
@@andreasu.3546A dirige.
Понятное дело, когда единственное веселье который ты любил это гей парад.
Probably the last official ceremony attended by Honecker who resigned from all positions in October 1989. Two months later the DDR fell, one year later Germany was reunified.
What happened to him after unison?
Do the former leaders of GDR get a pension from Greater Germany?
@@kerentolbert5448No. Most of the NVA was disbanded, with no compensation. Some were retained in the Bundeswehr with reduced rank.
@@kerentolbert5448 Of course they did, and their stooges too, but the leaders all are long dead now, they were old then and 34 years have passed.
@@aayushdas19 I believe he died soon after of cancer in Moscow.
Hard to believe this is from 1989 - the video quality looks like 2024.
I think they used film rather than a video recorder
There are films from the 1920s and 1930s with absolutely EXCELLENT quality,
Whats the music called at the beginning of the video where the troops are in standing in formation? / Wie heißt die Musik zu Beginn des Videos, in dem die Truppen in Formation stehen?
From what I've heard. It's a song called "Immortal Victims". You may need to translate it to German in case you can't find it.
Вы жертвою пали в борьбе роковой.
Did Musik heißt : wann fällt die Mauer?!
This needed some narration to explain this event in some detail!
Oh that's easy: just think about a press briefing in Baghdad where "Comical Ali" also known as Baghdad Bob ist trying to tell you Americans are committing suicide "by the hundreds" right before the gates of Baghdad while at the same time American tanks are rolling through the streets...
That kind of propaganda where you get bombarded with drivel detached from reality you get to see in North Korea , China or Russia.
Greetings from Poland. I remember DDR as a teenager. Especially I remembered 3 things:
1. Very athletics and powerful sportsmen (and sport-women. Till today I remember name of Heike Drexler and Katarina Witt)
2. Motocycle like Simson and MZ and Cars like Trabant and Wartburg which needed special oil beside petrol to drive and produced a lot of smoke behind them (Greta T. would be "happy" 😀)
3. Good quality products (at that time we have shortage of everything in Poland, so products from DDR were very precious)
I bought my alarm clock at London Airport (Heathrow) made in the DDR. Very reliable. I was never late for work.
East Germany was at that point doomed to fall.
Both the US and the USSR wanted this country gone (West Germany as well)
and so it happened!
it was always meant to be temporary. wishful thinking on the USSR's part thought the west would turn communist. unfortunately (or thankfully depending on who you ask), that didn't happen.
The east german people wanted it to happen. and so it happened.
Every country is doomed to fall, because every efficient country eats their best children thru war or thru hard work. It's just question how long you can manipulate people.
Actually East Germany was the most productive and reliable member of the Warsaw Pact, the USSR no more wanted to lose East Germany than witness its own end a short time later.
@@jamesferguson5279They are Germans after all, you can put them under a medieval feudal society and they ll still do just fine.
Is the sound real or added in post? The grinding gears of the Lada cars was just too funny.
The sounds are real! To find the answer yourself you just need listen if they fit the scenes.
Most added sounds are a mess and inconsistent in tone and volume and for that reason very obvious to note.
Some of it seems post effects. The squeaky stroller wheel, and the absense of sound in other parts makes me believe its done for greater emotional effect.
Of course they're real, 1989 wasn't THAT long ago, they had microphones 😂
It does seem oddly quiet
@@jefforymitchell5697 It's entirely possible that the sound was recorded separately and dubbed afterwards. I've come across a LOT of 1980s 16mm footage and it's actually quite rare to find sound on it. The sound is probably correct for the day, but recorded remotely from the camera and added later.
Those helmets the GDR use were actually in prototype phase when the Third Reich collapsed in 1945.
Yes sir. The Steel helmet Thale-Harz. Or BII. It was rejected by hitler for aesthetic reasons
@@rocketchile My God! I just wrote the same comment before seeing yours.
0:38 Thanks for uploading! These videos are monuments of 2:08 history! ...and I'm nostalgic, I admit it! Greetings from Italy!
Рим империю
my friends dad was from east germany. He says no one would have wanted reunification if the economy didnt crap out in the last 3 years of its existance
Correct. East Gernans would have been quite satisfied with their fiberglass body 2 cycle Trabants far far into the future; meanwhile Mercedes Benz , BMW, Porsche just over the border. Nothing to see here, no?
"No one wanted reunification" - What about the thousands that fled the country before 1986, 93 of them paying with their life? You think they wanted out but did not want reunification?
The DDR was a total disaster and an awfully oppressive state. A horrid and evil place.
@@Sean-fj9pn 🤡
You mean after the Soviets couldn't afford to prop them up anymore??
It’s crazy East Germany was under two different dictatorships from 1933 - 1998.
Западная Германия так же под властью диктатур. Плюс к тому же, она оккупирована иностранными войсками.
Конечно, Запад был оккупирован иностранными войсками, как и любая захваченная страна, но восточногерманские граждане сильно пострадали от коммунистической структуры Стази и лишения базовых прав.@@1972Toljan
@@yotypicalgamer2727 По-моему восточные немцы гораздо больше пострадали после поглощения их западной Германией. Их даже называют с пренебрежением " Осси", словно это люди второго сорта. И лишены они были не базовых прав, а многих материальных благ при ГДР, что было правдой при неуклюжей социалистической экономике.
ФРГ не ангел хранитель,тоже вассалом стал Батраком вирусом США
26:16 been up that fernsehturm berlin (TV Tower) so many times like a yoyo
It was very cheap in them days.
I think that TV tower, the Berliner Staadt hotel and World clocks are what remained of the old DDR.
Did you live in East Germany at the time? From the perspective of an American who had yet to be born, all of this is fascinating to me.
@@literarynick
Yep, I was a child and was a foreign visitor for only a few years.
But old enough to go on the Metro to Alexanderplatz and visit these attractions.
It was raw. And was glad to have experienced a world that no longer exists.
I must say, I found the East Germans to be a friendly bunch. They weren't used to seeing foreign faces that much and so were always curious and friendly.
I guess now a days, the opposite is the case in Berlin lol.
@@literarynick
Oh and Berlin was much cleaner from what I remember, as well as no Graffiti on walls or trains/metro.
@spidyman8853 I lived in Berlin in the 80s and 90s. The east had no graffiti but plenty of coal marks. Every building had deep nasty black stripes like tears going down them. Similarly, many of the buildings in the east were made with Soviet asbestos concrete, which was soft and brittle. This caused many of the apartments and other high rises to tilt to one side in a crazy fashion. There was a constant palor of burning in the air you couldn't get away from.The east while devoid of graffiti was a very dirty and bleak place.
I grew up in west Germany and was fortunate to have visited the east via Berlin and Checkpoint Charlie. I was very young and didn't really understand what was going on. I remember that buildings were drab, shops fairly empty but the people were amazing.
The DDR was the most advanced economy and standard of living of all the Warsaw Pact countries.
Was 26 in 1989 (Leipzig) thank you so much for the video.
Awesome helmets.
Looks like starship troopers.
I JUST left that same comment!😂
They look horrible😂😂😂 and hilarious
@@ANewHandTouchesTheBeacon >> They’re like the goose-step march; would only work in a country where you’re not allowed to laugh at the military!
Гитлер свастика 😅
These ugly helmets deformed these handsome young men.
They were fixed on the head much to high. The boys looked like mushrooms.
It is really amazing how old the GDR leaders were.. real "concrete-heads"
It’s DDR. We don’t want English here. Germany above all, Ami go.home.
Younger than Biden
Бетонным головам жилось очень хорошо👌👍😇😮
It was typical for many Commie countries: once someone took power, they remained there for decades. East Germany had de facto 3 leaders in its lifespan, 2 of whom were in office for roughly 20 years each. A bit like the Soviet Union's Leonid Brezhnev, who was in power for 18 years (1964-1982). These 3 were surpassed in "seniority" only by Albania's Enver Hoxha (1944-1985, 41 years), Yugoslavia's Josip Broz Tito (1943-1980, 37 years), Bulgaria's Todor Zhivkov (1954-1989, 35 years), and Poland's Władysław Gomułka
(1945-1948 + 1956-1970, 17 years). Outside of Europe we have Cuba's Fidel Castro, who ruled Cuba for an astounding 49 years (1959-2008).
The video is great, but the anecdotes in comments from witnesses is just as important. Thanks to everyone who shared their stories!
Brilliant TV reporting. Love documentaries ❤
I was living in West Berlin at the time. I remember being given a badge with Gorbachev's head on it! Truly amazing footage. We went regularly into East Berlin and I still have products made in the GDR.
und wieso sprichtst du nicht deutsch? hahahaha
Warum haben Sie das gesagt? Ich spreche gut Deutsch und habe auch die Sprache auf die Universität studiert......😮 Komisch.....?
Stunning footage of the last days of the dying GDR
Wieso sterbende DDR? Wir wurden verraten und verkauft ! Wir haben den WK II 2 x verloren.
Is this the last day of DDR, great footage by the way
No, the wall had not yet come down.
The quality is insane!
большой привет всем, кто считает себя немцем из ГДР. пусть возможно сегодня вас очень мало, но спасибо что вы были и еще большее спасибо, что вы есть. и простите если сможете.
32:03
Danke shorne
I saw the Kranken Transport which means hospital transport lol
DDR has vanished after 1989. I feel sorry for the people that grew up knowing nothing but this and then overnight found themselves in a unified Germany with capitalistic ideology and they had to learn from scratch.
Obviously this did not impact on the youngsters, only those aged over 30+
Больше всего я смеюсь когда немцы покупают российские мотоциклы с коляской Урал. Российские мотоциклы с коляской делают на заводе еврея. Еврей Илья Хаит продаёт немцам рассово-еврейские мотоциклы с коляской.
Germans tell me that the old East Germany still hasn't completely integrated. On the other hand, people share more in common than they differ.
I had a professor who grew up in the People's Republic of China, he's now retiring at 66 or 67. I asked him if China ever truly adopted Communism or was it just something required to get along. He thought it was a very good question, lol. I suspect that Communism never settled in completely anywhere. People think, they argue, they have ideas, they know about other ways of life. We're not all equally attached to capitalism either or, I'm afraid, to our own particular varieties of democracy.
Not quite true, the youngsters in pioneers organisation/Free German Youth were mostly ideologically "formed" so I can imagine they struggled as well when the whole world they've lived in dissapeared overnight.
They actually had to work, and show merit which was a shock to many used to eastern/communist low expectations. I remember many people being upset they didn't immediately get a 100,000 mark a year job and a BMW 5 series for merely showing up to work at a low skill job.
@@ragnarulrichson778 The problem was in the propaganda that the people of the socialist countries believed, blind faith and only a few wondered how the system worked and therefore a thousand people, especially the people of the USSR, were disappointed in the democracies
The amateur-esque nature of the film work really makes you understand how fairly recent this happened! It's almost like it was filmed today by some bystander who then uploaded it to UA-cam. Amazing and extremely fascinating.
32:14 "burn down the house!"
Is there any way Getty or others could figure out who filmed this stuff?
How did Ryan Gosling (10 second mark) end up in this film also. He has aged really well!!
Gosling sounds german to me. Somewhere in the past they might share a common ancestor.
He looks more like Buzz Lightyear (Toy Story movie) than Ryan Gosling...
You’re both wrong,
Ost Deutsch John Cleese
followed by margaret mcpoyle from always sunny
ryan gosling with a slight habsburg jaw?
Wish there were explanations to what was happening in different scenes
We were protesting against the socialist government and the wall
I visited a fellow American soldier and his family in West Berlin in the Spring of 1987, he and I had trained together in Fort Benning Georgia a couple years before. He was my tour guide around West Berlin, and we also had our papers in order to travel over into East Berlin. I never thought I'd live to see the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Warsaw Pact in my lifetime. Little did I know how soon it would happen.
17:46 is that Gunter Schabowski ? The one that announced the wall was open?
Those helmets the Soldiers wear in the Celebration are from Prototype helmets made for the Wehrmacht from World War 2.
Their uniforms look like wehrmacht styled too. Yet their drill is so sloppy.
No, the Wehrmacht used an updated version of the classic Stahlhelm…if I’m spelling it right!
@@jaybee9269 He says its based on a prototype. The prototype is the Steelhelmet B II. Actually a few were made befeore the war ended.
@@rocketchile >> Thanks, I didn’t know.
16:01 They should've kept the East German Anthem, much better than the current anthem in my opinion. Very nostalgic tune. Not sure if this was one of the last times the Anthem was used officially, but if it was, the tune is more poigant given that East Germany would cease to be a country soon after.
❤❤
13:35 what‘s the name of the song? Wie heisst das Lied?
Вы жертвою пали/You Fell Victim to a Fateful Struggle
Towards the end of this video when those guys were surrounded by civilians, were the civilians shouting at them in praise or in protest?
16:05 National anthem of DDR
What’s the division of the soldiers at the end and why are they hooted at ?
Those are VoPos (VolksPolizei), the State Police basically. They are hooted at because they are there to maintain order in a very difficult situation
Saturday 7th October 1989
At least it wasn’t a Middle Eastern hell hole like today’s Berlin.
Great video! I have said it before, whatever the DDR was, its national anthem is one of, if not the best!
It’s phenomenal and it really should have been the anthem of a United Germany.
Have you ever seen the film “Top Secret!” from the 1980s? It has an East German National Anthem:
Hail, hail East Germany
Land of vine and grape
Land where you’ll regret
Any try to escape
No matter if you tunnel under
Or take a running jump at the wall
Forget it
The guards will kill you
If the electric fence doesn’t first
'Auferstanden aus Ruinen' - Hanns Eisler
This film is so clear its like it was filmed yesterday with like a cheap cam
Who is that journalist speaking at 23:27
He’s doing pre recorded takes of the report that was to air on ITN.
You can see the Prussian in the NVA soldiers can you not? I mean, blimey, you could be watching the Wehrmacht c. 1933 there apart from the helmets & any rifle that's not an SKS i.e. something that vaguely looks more like a 1930s service rifle than say the MPiKM (the DDR's domestic Kalashnikov-type rifle).
And I hope I've got the letters the right way around there.
Those helmets were originally designed for the Wehrmacht to replace the coal bucket helmets they were known for. The German border guards adopted a new Kevlar helmet styled like the DDR helmets
Not really. Look at the uniforms of the West German Bundesgrenzschutz which was the predecessor of the modern German army after WW2. They look pretty similar to those in the Wehrmacht. And even the uniforms of the Wehrmacht weren't the first of their kind. The uniforms of the Wachtruppe Berlin during the Weimar Republic also look like Wehrmacht uniforms.
I was in Berlin that year 1989 in April, as a French soldier. We had had the opportunity to visit East Berlin, getting there through that famous Check Pont Charlie.
It must have been most unexpected. You knew it was historic
@@TheFrewah well, all soldiers had to get through that check point if they wanted to cross the Wall with a military authorization.
U.S., British or French soldiers of the Allied occupying Forces though had to be in their own district between midnight and 6:00 am local time.
Наполеона Бонапарт
I still remember hearing about the events in East Germany 1989 via Deutsche Welle [West] and Radio Berlín International [East] on shortwave
Kommt da der Pabst zu Besuch?
I remember crossing the bridge at fulda gap after east germany fell. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. You could see the locals watching your every move.
Is there still a behaviour difference between people from east Germany and people from west Germany to this day?
@tigerland4328 Even fairly recently west Berlin had the modern white LED street lights but much of east Berlin the old orange sodium kind. You could see the poverty and lack of investment from space!
@@michaelmartin9022 that's interesting. We have a north south decide in England (south in more wealthier than the north) but it's not the same as Germany.
@tigerland4328 yes there is. The older generation is still stuck in their ways. They grew up suspicious of everyone. The younger generation is different.
@@azthundercloud thank you. I was told by a German that the eastern Germans can be very suspicious of English folk but not so much in western Germany
The last days of the mullet.
And double denim.
1989: the mullet
2024: the douche knot
At least I don't feel like vomiting when I see a mullet
Wie heißt das Lied am Anfang?
Marsch der Elisabether.
Ganz am Anfang meine ich
Ich mußte eine Weile suchen.Umgangsprachlich : " Unsterbliche Opfer " ein russischer Trauermarsch.
Im Original : Dmitrij Schostakowitsch Sinfonie Nr. 11 g-Moll / III / In memoriam .
You can tell just from the way the civilians dressed and chose to present themselves, they weren't really feeling it
never knew how sharp
east german uniforms look
and so disciplined
However, in search of its own "German" and "socialist" military tradition, the state leadership soon ordered a change in appearance. As a result, new uniforms were introduced when the NVA was founded in 1956. These were very similar to those of the Wehrmacht. They were made of stone-gray cloth and had a similar cut, although from 1974/79 there were no high-necked, dark collars (except on the coats). The peculiarly flattened NVA helmet corresponded to the German Wehrmacht's experimental model "B/II" developed by Fry and his colleague Hänsel from the Institute for Defense Materials Science, Berlin, which had been in testing since 1943 but was no longer introduced. The GDR magazine "NBI" wrote in 1956 about the newly introduced steel helmet: "The members of the National People's Army of our GDR are better protected by the new steel helmet made of first-class material with the sloping shape. It was modeled after the earlier German steel helmet, taking into account the latest experiences created and ensures freedom of observation and movement".
According to Willi Stoph and Walter Ulbricht, the aim was to emphasize the NVA's German "national character" with the traditional appearance, which, as critics complained, was similar to that of the Wehrmacht. The NVA's appearance was intended to consciously distinguish itself from the "US mercenaries" of the Bundeswehr, whose uniforms had initially closely resembled the appearance of the US troops since their founding in 1955, which Stoph described as an "overhanging capitalist costume" and "abandonment of the patriotic honor".
Yeah, reminds me of those 1933-45 guys.....
@@F40PH-2CAT So? The uniform is still a great design.
@@OswaldOstfalenThat’s complete bullshit
@@hannovonbahrenfeld5986
Keine Ahnung. Habe das gegoogelt und als Antwort bekommen. Mr. Schlau.
The last day of Prussian military tradition and of a truly capable German Army.
Anyone know what is the first music March at 0:01
They still lived way better than we did in USSR
It depends on what propaganda footage you're seeing at the moment ;)
@@sleeper976 you right, it was a joke. I know, I was born in USSR.
@@chuck77k
No, East Germany actually had by far the highest living standards and HDI among the Communist and socialists countries in the world.
ГДР. Лучшая армия, Варшавского Договора.
So are the guys in green the stazi or statzi . Not sure how to spell it
Cool Starship Troopers helmets, guys.
Da geht sie hin, die letzte deutsche stolze Armee 😢
unrecognizable compared to today :(
How so?
This breaks my heart to see my the majority of my country embracing communism in the year 2024.
We’ve learned nothing from the 40 years of life behind the iron curtain 😞
What are the yelling at 32:38 ? I don’t speak German unfortunately.
27:29 Sounds like they're chanting "Freiheit".
They do
It looks like the soliders in 1:00 are being roughed up by the people chanting 'Freiheit." Some of the soldiers have lost their headgear.
Elsewhere I think I heard "Gorbi! Gorbi! Gorbi!" and "Hoelt mich raus "(Get me out). Some of thecrowd/denonstrators were singing the Internatinalle, without professional direction but with enthusiasm. Also "Geh zurueck" (go back). I also noted tkhat many of the women had the same tint of red hair.
You can see how nervous the Police are, they can feel their grip on the people slipping and are scared of the consequences of being on the wrong side.
This was an era filled with hope. I can still remember those days. There was a feeling in the air that can't be put into words. This was history being written. I'll always carry it with me.
You know what they say: Change is inevitable but growth is optional 😂
And I’d love to have one of those ambulances in their original condition. Those things were so unique.
I am 59, and I have been in postsoviet Eastern Getmany. People became happy and free when the ussr collapsed. The only pproblem was spending much to clean the environment around former soviet bases - the nature was very much poluted with diesel, gasoline, oil, garbages...
Ты врёшь!!!
@@__i__i____i__i__8705 да-да-да... Все врут, кроме россиян. Но, как говаривал один наивный россофил: сила, брат, в правде. А правда такова: Московия утратила контроль над восточной Европо, она утратила острова на Амуре, Среднюю Азию, Закавказье, часть, Кавказа, Украину, Прибалтику, космос, автопром, северные потоки, рынки сбыта газа, 5 лет из оставшихся 15 лет жизни пенсионного возраста. Позавчера Московия утратила ещё один А-50. А в Германии, тем временем, благоухают Дрезден, Магдебург, Лейпциг - все веси, где больше нет русского сапога. Гыгыгы
Ich bin so traurig über den Verlust meiner geliebten Heimat DDR
ich nicht …. good riddance!
Я вас очень понимаю.
You both can always move to russia. I hear it’s about the same over there right now as it was in east Germany back then.
@@sqweege6432 why should I go to Russia? Which part of “good riddance” didn’t you understand?
Who was the funeral for?
The funeral was for (Communist) East Germany - they just don't know it yet. They'll get a big shock in a bit over 30 days from the Oct. 7th date of this event! Stay tuned...
Not a funeral. Commemoration for victims killed during german revolution 1918-1919
East Germany
What kind of car is that at 8:12? A Yugo lol?
Zhiguli or lada
33:10 The anti-communist protesters are singing The Internationale. It's symbolic.
Как жаль,что наши страны погибли
It continues to bewilder me how the wall only fell in the 90s...
1989 was the year it fell
@@RTDoh5 Oh well... Thanks for correcting. Must have confuaed it with the fall of the USSR in -91.
Потому, что всё здохло само собой, и фашизм вернулся... 😮
The guys with the red ribbon trying to line them all up at around 9:30, they've got comically squeaky boots 😂😂
What the helicopter is with those helmets?
Wehrmacht prototype, and in the 1950s the NVA took these over for their own units.
In midway through this video i saw a Swedish built Volvo in the background, ironic isn't it.
@@sleeper976 Thank you for answering my comment.
You can also notice Citroën ZX and Peugeot 305. ;-)
@@alexandre210613 My Bad, And, thank you for responding to my comments.
Wonder what they are doing now.
Those in uniform are probably still unemployed.
Probably most of those protestors lost their jobs after reunification due to shock therapy... karma. They wanted western capitalism, they got it
Drinking beer.....
@sleeper976 , words of a salty communist who doesn't want to work. People who lived in the DDR had a massive surge in their standard of living when unification happened. Similarly, no lives in the conditions this tosser described due to the ridiculous social programs provided by the bundesrepublik for those who don't have or wont work.
@sleeper976 I'm an American who had the displeasure of growing up in the east due to my father's job in the US government. I went to a german grundschule and gymnasium. I saw firsthand the corrosive elements of communism. I visited dresden when it was still communist, the stadtmitte looked like the 8th airforce paid them a visit yesterday, with rubble and destroyed buildings all over. Everything in the east was always gloomy, covered in coal dust while the air constantly smelled like a diesel fire. You could never buy anything of consequence in any store due constant shortages and corruption. I've found several things to be true of people who look fondly back at communism. They are either too young to have experienced it, too soft of mind to understand the negative impacts it did and could have again on soceity or they are malignant in intention seeking to gain personally from this awful system. Which are you?
Mit so eine gute filmqualität seit es genau so aus wie es gestern gefilmt war!
why can't you upload in 50 fps?
die BESTE Zeit meines Lebens !!!!
👍👍👍👍
It's almost as saddening as seeing footage of London from a few decades ago, see the demographics of Berlin at that time.
Yup. The entire West is that way now. Especially the big cities. I bet many of these protestors in this film might even regret that today and would rather have the DDR back. At least their own government didn't hate them to the extent of wanting to breed them out of existence while giving massive free monies and benefits to the imported replacement population of "citizens".
@TheAsheybabe89 my dear, you can lie to yourself as you please. I however, wont indulge your public fantasy. The death of communism and unification of germany was massively supported by those that lived in the DDR, especially Berlin. I lived in the city in 1989, and saw those killed trying to escape right up until the month the wall came down. The absolute despair that occurred everytime someone was killed trying to escape.I was there on unification day. I saw the absolute natiknal expression of joy and desire. The only people who wanted the DDR to remain then were Stasi employees and those who were part of the hoenecker gravy train. Those that simp for communism today either weren't alive to experience (besides being intellectually incapacitated) it then or are residuals of the previously mentioned population.
@@ragnarulrichson778 nonsense. If everyone hated the DDR, explain how well the SED after being rebranded the PDS did in the 1990 elections in Rostock and Berlin, and still placing third overall nationally. Clearly not that many people were apparatchiks and Stasi members. Even with the BRD campaign machine being given free reign to campaign for the CDU and similar BRD parties, they still didn't do as well as to say "omg everyone hated the government of the DDR and socialism". The only place the CDU outright dominated was in modern Eischfeld district in Thüringen, as it was really the only Catholic stronghold in the entire DDR. Furthermore, the sentiment amongst people in the East during modern times that reunification was good becomes less with every passing day as they see "democracy" in action where opposition political parties are banned, riot police attend every protest in full gear, billions of euros are exported as aid instead of kept in country, and the federal government imports "Flüchtlinge" everyday to replace the natural citizen all the while giving them massive welfare, housing, and Hartz IV. I'm no damn communist, I'm the complete opposite. But it doesn't mean that I'm intellectually dishonest about the situation and how things happened just because the TV said so.
@@TheAsheybabe89 , I'd say two things; Communist political truth and the intellectual prowess of the modern left leaning yout arent known for being paragons of veracity and cerebral feats of strength. Firstly if you put faith in DDR polling data or any metrics derived from a Warsaw Pact country then you will reinforce my next point. The current rising generation shows a surprising support for communism. When faced with the abuses and the legion of economic and social shortfalls of communism, there is no answer from them. Similarly, the lack of first hand experience coupled with a non cogent defense of this abhorrent system belays the crude indoctrination that has been imparted on them.
@@TheAsheybabe89 , regarding your point about third world immigration, I'm in complete agreement. It's a corrosive policy with a cancerous effect on the west. That said its a policy deeply rooted in marxist ideology (globalism as part ofnthe maexist lenninist dialectic). The reason you didnt see it in the DDR at any sort of scale is because the communists didn't need it. Russia was able to build their revolution on the backs of the proletariat as a function of social class. This didn't hold true in the wast due to the dynamic movement available to western populations post WWI (see german failed communist revolution Rosa Luxembourg et al). Due to this lack of a social wedge, the idea of race, religion and sexual deviance became the new "proletariat" of the left. The immediate dominence of the DDR by the USSR post WWII did away with any requirement to build an artificial proletariat as we are witnessing in the left leaning politics in the west writ large.