East Germany, The Berlin Wall And 30 Years Of German Reunification | Meet the Germans
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2020
- October 3 2020 marks 30 years since German reunification. But how did the country become divided into East and West in the first place? And how united do Germans really feel that their country is today? Rachel heads to Berlin and Potsdam to find out more about communism, capitalism and "Ostalgie."
Rachel moved from the UK to Germany in 2016. As a relative newcomer she casts a fresh eye over German clichés and shares her experiences of settling into German life. Every two weeks she explores a new topic - from allotment gardens to money to language. This week it's all about German reunification and what led up to it.
Are you curious about anything to do with the GDR or German reunification? Let us know in the comments!
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"Jein" translation: "Yes and no". Love how there is actually a word in german for that :))
What shall it be? Yo or Nes? :-D
Its a crossover between Ja and Nein
@@sallmandar1027 yeap even exist in the northen germanic languages asell as "nja" however for some reason it is the other way around with the combination
@@sallmandar1027 make sense
@@Mira_linn "nja" is also an option in German, but that means more "yes, but not completely".
as long there is "ALDI Nord " and ALDI SÜD" there is no united germany XD
We need ALDequality!
I'm happy to inform you that ALDI has serious plans to reunited in the near future.
Finally! The German unity! ❤️
Why are there two aldis?
@@michaelangelo0305 Aldi is a family-owned buisness, and in 1960, the two sons of the founder split the company into two independent branches, north and south respectively.
@@michaelt.5672 thanks man i am german and didnt even know that
I live in the Netherlands and when I got for my first Dutch language diploma it said that my nationality was "east German". I am from the south of Germany, so this is wrong either way. I complained and told them they have to delete that from their system. There is no east Germany any more, only Germany. I was shocked that they still had that sitting there in their system so many years after unification
maybe "west-Dutch" was to them everything west of Niedersachsen and NRW, and all east of that border counted as Oost-Duitsland :p
They should have said GDR but East is East and West is West and never the Twain shall meet!
We all in Europe have local and Class accents.
Good fun! Although I am a Scotsman in New Zealand.
Take the Dutch anthem to the account and everything makes sense. It started with the words: "I'm from German blood" and with that said until the Westphalia peace (1648) the Netherlands were part of the German holly empire (Reichskreis 11) if the born Austrian had not invaded the Netherlands in WW2 we still would have pro-German neighbours with the Dutch community.
@TheWeeaboo I agree with 99.x% of your comment only about the Spanish part I have to make a slight correction. The Spanish King was part of the Habsburger family and part of his family heritage was the right to rule the (United Provinces) Netherlands. Therefore yes you have to fight for your independence against troops that were under Spanish command (in fact only the top commanders where Spanish, the vast majority was Swiss mercenaries and at least one top commander was from Genua). And about the Holy Roman Empire yes it was founded by the Francs but after the split of the Empire that Charlemange did assemble (with the contract of Verdun 843) it was only the eastern part that was named Holy Roman Empire of German decent and the area that is today The Netherlands was part of that crude construction that did last until the early 19. Century when Napoleon did force the Austrian rulers to dissolve it.
The last point, I was born and raised close to the Dutch border in the 1960th and 1970th and in those days I experienced the anti-German behavior myself but that is now more than 4 decades ago and I'm sure that it did not apply today in the way it was back than.
@TheWeeaboo the Holy Roman Empire contained the kingdom of the Germans. Dutch and Swiss were part of that construct as the term applied to regions of Germanic culture and language which was not unified as of yet. The title had legal relevance (German princes existed vs Italian or Bohemian ones) with its own laws and institutions. However as it was usually led in personal Union by the emperor this is overshadowed, particularly in the later centuries when the hre only applied to German lands anyway
Note: Not all German man have the same hairstyle like this guy
Haha 😂
Yeah, I spent the entire time wanting to brush his hair to one side. Could not concentrate on what he was saying.
at these times with the barbershops closed, everyone looks like this dude LUL
😂😁Thank goodness! 😂😂
Yeah, I don't normally image shame, but, ....@1:36 Eaaghlahgg!
As a kid in 1986 my parents took our family around Europe in a camper van. We went into both East & West Germany. (I'm Australian).
I remember our camper van was checked by security at the boarders, and our camp site was close enough to the wall that it & a security tower where visible. It's an experience that is hard to forget!
So, how much of that Berlin-look do you want?
Clemens Villinger: Yes
Alex, I’ll take bad haircuts for 100 please
Seriously bravo 👏🏼 This is how education should be! Entertaining and informative.
Thanks!!
yes of course
Your way of presentation and energy makes me watch for no reason at all.
Those are 2 reasons...
@@krisfrederick5001 I have no interest in Germany
@@nosywendigo592 you germans really have no sense sarcasm and can't sense irony or deep meaning in things.
@@gurdevsingh5637 OMG, I'm German and my dad taught me sarcasm from the day I was born. But hey, let's paint with a broad brush, shall we?
simp spotted
Had some of my best German holidays in the East: the islands of Rügen and Usedom, the Müritz lakes.... Dresden... Leipzig...So much of it has been lovingly renovated and restored, quite apart from its natural beauty. Without reunification, a big part of my German life would be missing, I am very grateful to everyone who made it happen 😘
I was definitely Helmut Kohl, he was corrupt he pays for Voters it was Gorbatchow
@@kkapalle Herr Gorbatschow was definitely a key political figure in it all. But I personally meant the people who took to the streets in peaceful yet dangerous protest and, in the wider picture, people who, in the decades prior to it all, lost their lives in their search for freedom or were incarcerated.
The GDR had to pay huge amounts of reparations to the USSR, for a war the entire Germany had been involved in, while West Germany had way smoother treatment by its occupiers. The GDR then on top of it was bleeding out in skilled workers and academis and entrepreneurs. How would that part of Germany had been able otherwise to fulfill the Russians‘ justified demands if not by a wall holding back the workforce needed?
Get it right:
This was an effect caused by the war and the postwar capitalists, not by the socialist GDR government.
Please tell me you traveled to your east German holidays in a Trabant.
@@kulturfreund6631 Lies as always. Deindustrialization was carried out by the capitalist after unification. West Germans acquired various factories just to close. It was a result of these actions that many unemployed and poor people appeared in East Germany, and not because of socialism.
Actually I love to see Rachel Stewart 😍 and her expressions....that's a big fact I watch all DW Euromaxx video to see her☺.
Well thank you!
@@RachelStewart04 🤗thanks a lot for everything.
Rachel is much much more talented than anyone in the BBC a great presenter
Happy Reunification Day! 🇩🇪
Well done! You’ve hit it really quite well! So succinctly as well.
I’ve lived here in Germany as a US American for 25 of those years, and transited through East Germany in the year 1985 actually as well... 22 of those 25 years, 1995 to 2000 and since 2003, I have lived in the eastern part of Saxony, not much more“east“ that you can get. Fascinating time to be here in a beautiful part of the world.
Once again a very informative and on-point vlog. Love both east & west parts of Germany including Berlin - a WWII history tour in one city.....my rellies from the east (Potsdam & werder just outside of Berlin) also had a hard time assimilating when the wall came down. I remember in the early 2000's they were still undecided as to which was the better lifestyle although now they unanimously agree the change was for the better. Thanks again Rachael & the team for ensuring that their history remains relevant.
Thanks for your comment, and I'm really glad you enjoyed the video :)
woah, everytime I see something about the fall of the Berlin wall, I get goosebumps and am tearing up (was only 11year old, when I saw it on tv) ... so gratefull for their bravery and persistence
My first German teacher was from the GDR. German was my first foreign language, I started learning it age 8 in 1988. At the same time, most of the popular culture I consumed came from the West. Although one of the favourite things from my childhood were animations from the East - Krtek, Pat a Mat, Unser Sandmännchen. My family had a vacation in the US when I was 4 and I visited the USSR - Riga, Latvia to be precise - with my grandparents when I was 9. Looking back, living in a country where the "iron curtain" had so many holes was probably quite a unique experience.
Speaking of school. Our school system was modeled after the East German one back in the 1970s. In the last couple decades, delegations from all over the world - including reunified Germany - have visited our country trying to find out why we've been doing so well at primary education.
Hello jeanny
Rachel Stewart is a great presenter I always enjoy her pieces. How about a video on the differences between German cities and regions say Bavaria and the Rhineland or Hamburg compared with Frankfurt? Vielen Dank!
@JOHN APPLEBY Thanks for the suggestion. That's a good idea, we should think about it maybe after the pandemic.
Great video as always. "Good Bye, Lenin!" is a good relevant film.
Thanks! And yes, great film :)
I also recommend "Ballon"! One of the best German film ever
Lenin is best
Relevant for simple minds.
kulturfreund66 r/imverysmart
I remember going to Dresden a few years after the Berlin Wall fell...it was eye opening. The city was in the midst of "rebuilding" but, they left MANY buildings alone (in ruins) as a reminder of the war. Good video and very factual...danke. Loved you hopping at 3:43 ...nice!
You should see Dresden now, the historical center is almost completely rebuilt. It’s beautiful
I was in Dresrden in Vacation of 1989 I left communist Poland and when I'm back on the trainstation I'v heard that Tadeusz Mazowiecki become Primeminister. Than I didn't realised that I left communist Poland and when I'm back to different Poland. Soon after that I saw many people flee from east Germany by Poland. Didn't realised why it's opposite direction.Soon Berlin wall I've seen on this vacation, when I visited Berlin Wall has fallen.
Rachel's hopping at 3:43 and 3:45 ... are literally "jump cuts"!
Glückwunsch Deutschland. 🙏🇩🇪❤🇩🇪
aus der Türkei
❤️
Tesekkürler
Brava, Rachel Stewart! Immer ausgezeichnet! And with an excellent 60-Sekunden Deutsche Geschichte recap! When we were in the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig (one of J. S. Bach's churches), we learned from a pamphlet given there what a strong effect the prayer services there had had on the wall falling. We still have the pamphlet.
Thank you!
Israel and Trump are building walls to keep out Palestinians and Mexicans both indigenous people to their lands!
Did i just hear "Jein" as yes and no??
YOINK !! Mine now . . . . .
You did. There's actually a song by that name which was a big hit in 1996.
@@mikelytou danke für den Ohrwurm.... :P ;)
Jein or Jain (Ja und Nein) is used by every German
Loved this! However, kicking Nudossi away with Nutella is a crime! You can still buy Nudossi in East Germany, it tastes so yummy.
You can buy Nudossi in west germany as well. ☺️
@@andi1l549 really? Where? I was not aware of that.
@@sarahmarinaa if everything else should fail: the producer ships too www.vadossi.de/shop/kategorien/nudossi/
how about a bucket of Nudossi ? :D
Komme aus „dem Westen“ und wir haben tatsächlich auch nudossi neben Nutella stehen 😁
Nudossi wird in dem Video von Nutella symbolisch verdrängt, eben weil es als eines der wenigen Ost-Produkte für die Produzenten ohne Aufwand heute noch im Supermarkt für die Sequenz erhältlich war.
Und ostdeutscher Stolz auf Nudossi hin oder her, europäischer Marktführer ist Nutella und nach der Wende wollte auch der Osten von Nudossi lange nichts wissen ;)
Also: Perfekt von den Machern des Videos getroffen.
Dear Rachel, when you mentioned Wirtschafswunder in the west, you may have also remembered that this was largely supported by the Marshall plan which substantially helped the economy to raise from the ashes. Nothing like that happened in DDR. Hence the incredible difference..
And on top of that East Germany had to pay reparations to the soviet union because you know, Germany kind of destroyed much of the Western Soviet Union
Please mention that the Marshall Plan was open to all European countries, but the Soviet Union prevented the countries it occupied from accepting any money. The GDR had some advantages too. It extracted funds from West Germany by selling 34,000 East German dissidents for an average of 40,000 West German Marks per dissident. It also resold discounted oil that it got from the Soviet Union at a profit to the West. When East Germany was on the brink of bankruptcy in 1982, it adopted a "fire sale" export policy which sold everything from consumer goods, to agricultural products, to even rolled steel to West Germany. When that wasn't enough, it received massive loans from West Germany. Although it survived bankruptcy in 1982, the fundamental inefficiency of and lack of investment in East German production made the GDR's economic collapse inevitable. Some fascinating reading: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07075332.2019.1641542
the difference comes from many things.
The Marshall Plan. The Soviets even stripping Train Tracks for "Reperations", the Fact that the whole Industry was in the West while East Germany was for Centuries the "Kornkammer". So Agriculture was big here. Then the Resources. East Germany is part of the "eastern European Flats". Fewer Moutnains means fewer Mines means fewer Resources. Being dependant on the Russians for that and they didnt deliver as promised.
There are alot of Reasons for teh difference.
@Astir01 1,5 bn Dollar back then are 27 Billion Dollar now. Remember the Texan Budget Crisis from 2011? That was 27 Billion Dollars. Just as an example.
@@kaitan4160 Don't forget the Wismut uranium mine near Gera in Thuringia. It has been said that much of the uranium for the Soviet Union's early nuclear arsenal came from that mine. It employed over 200,000 miners in 1950 and was the single largest enterprise in the entire Soviet sphere of occupation
As a visitor to Germany I have visited the old Stasi headquarters in Berlin, and the local headquarters in Leipzig, both museums, along the the former jail in Berlin. The day after I visited the jail, I found this small museum place celebrating East Germany and life in East Germany, just off Alexander Platz. The difference couldn't have been more jarring, going from one to the other. Actually I found that small museum idealised East Germany ( Ostalgie).
Germans who think that we are united in our minds never lived on both sides...
My whole childhood I lived in believe we were united. That believe was crushed when I had to move to the west to study. Because you use different words sometimes, you'll very quick be identified as an Ossi and therefore treated as a second class citizen just like the man in the video said. Even among friends, even though they kinda playfully downplay you, but it still hurts sometimes...
Also we don't have as many universities in the east, my major was not among them, and there is a big chance I won't find a job in the east. Even if I do - my salary won't be as high as in the west.
We still are dived, politically, mentally and also cultural. I find more cultural similarities in my chinese friends than I do in my friends from western Germany... This is very sad.
And to all the Wessis out there who still think only the western part is paying the tax to boost East Germans economy: No, you are very wrong, we do pay too.
The people who said that “we are united in our minds” means exactly that btw. They mean we think that we are united but still there are many reasons why we’re still divided. Like you said economically, infrastructurally or educationally. So these people have the opinion like you ;)
Well, I'm from former East Germany living in Bavaria for 15 years now. Hardly had anyone badmouthing me for it... the few times I heard people tell me about East German stereotypes it was older people. Among my age that has never been a topic as far as I can recall.
Got to agree most of the points of the previous commenters. I'm originally born in the East, moved to the West though aged a year. Still held quite a close feeling to MV and moved back for my studies. People who seriously, apart from jokes, badmouth the counterpart are in my recollection either old enough to be able to remember the fall or have never crossed the former border, or both. It'd be wrong to say that people living in the east have the same mindset as those in the West, however the same can be said for Bavarians in contrast to Hessians.
Depending where you're from, it's not just particular words you use that identify you as east German. People from saxony seem to be physically unable to not speak in full saxon dialect. Prime example the guy I know who has lived and worked in berlin for almost 30 years now and still talks full hardcore saxon dialect.
People will always talk bad others, because they need to differentiate from others. It's the same for Baden-Württemberg, people from Württemberg make fun of people from Baden and vice versa. I have told my friends that I were born in Baden (just born, nothing else) and they make fun of this all the time...
I LOVE your channel and think you are a very smart and creative person. My wife and are Americans, but lived in West Berlin from 1988-1992. We are so grateful to have seen the incredible events of 11/9/89!
Thanks Patrick!
I'm new in Germany, went to Berlin for a couple of days, I've noticed this difference in the pedestrians stop light in some parts, i was wondering why these 2 different signs. Now i know that why 😂.
Welcome! Glad to have you around.
Very good Video! I really enjoyed it!
So good videos!
Why do I find myself watching you everyday ..... because you are entertaining and educating
I lived in Rostock for a year during the 2000s and despite the 20 years of unity, I never managed to feel at home. Too many things were different and gave me a feeling of anxiety. For example, the presence of those broad roads we don't see in west German cities, old soviet houses (Plattenbauten) and soviet memorials made me feel uneasy. And there definitely was more racism present which led to the sad consequence that some parts of my family never visited.
@Vlad the guru BIPoC
hamingja_X doesn’t the I in BIPoC stand for Indigenous? Aren’t the indigenous population of Germany German?
she said she was born in the year when Berlin wall fell. I was born just one year before. I remebered as a kid when Germany won the 1990 FIFA World cup. But then it still played as West Germany.
What is interesting is that Germany was divided into East and West in 1945. It unified in 1990. That means for 45 years the east lived operating under communism while the west lived operating under capitalism. Historically speaking that is NOT that long. It is just over two generations. It has now been 30 years since unification and the lasting effects of communism upon the east is still being felt.
You mean the lasting effects of the Treuhandanstalt...
Maybe the lasting effect of capitalism is felt more in the east, because they experienced both, greetings from Dresden
Another aussem really imformativ Video from her.thanks alot.whasnt that the oppertunity for a little Rap? Smile and regards
Can you even type?
@@droptimistic where are you from?
Jürgen Rosenberg uk
@@droptimistic I won't ask the same question reading his name
Haha ok I promise another rap will come soon ;)
I made a friend visiting East Germany back all the way in the late 70' early 80' . Her name was Peggy Leck . Hope she is doing well ,wouldn't mind finding her again.
@@nosywendigo592
Thanks for the reply that was very kind of you.I live in the U.S so I won't be able to check with the Polizei. In person. . I still have friends in Germany that tried to locate a long time family friend for me , to see if he is even still alive. She contacted the Stadthaus but wasn't able to get any info . She said if there is no blood relation they don't give out info? Maybe , if there is ever a visit back to my old roots Germany I will investigate.
Have a blessed day Hunter and thank you again.
In East Germany there were world leading technologies developed. For example the common rail diesel engine that was developed by IFA and road tested there first. Before Mercedes Benz came in after the Reunification as part of the takeover of East German Industry. Check out the CRD designation on the Mercedes-Benz cars. There had been other world leading inventions developed that due to the limits put on the East German currency on the world market. Which where never able to get developed properly. It's often overlooked by Western 'experts' that there was no free trade possible from East to West due to the non acceptance of East German currency on the world market. This created an imbalance for free trade. East German products had to be sold at considerable discounts on the world market. East Germany was the Taiwan for West Germany producing mostly for the mail order catalog businesses in West Germany. Often it resembled more of a bartering trade for raw materials. This can favorably be compared to the relationship between the native American population and the European Explorers - that were actual plunderers to be more precise. Again the winner writes the history and makes up the favorable word smithing terms for themselves.
If you think Trabants were works leading… oh yeah in pollution.
1:33 - Clemens somehow reminds me of “Cletus” from “The Simpsons”. Must be the haircut and bucked teeth.
Yes!! Hey, Brandiiine!!
Lol...
Der kam mir doch gleich so bekannt vor... 😂
Rachel is back!!🤩
I had the privilege of staying with a German family in Chemnitz in 1990, 1993 & 1994 and hosting them here in England during that time. One could see the western influence moving over very rapidly. Sadly when meeting young Western German students over here I was shocked to hear them denigrating my Eastern German friends. This saddened me, as all the people I met in the East were lovely folk. The biggest shock when in Chemnitz in 1990 was to see Russian Officers strutting around the streets!
Meine Mutter hat ihr ganzes leben lang gearbeitet und wird nicht mehr Rente bekommen als eine Hausfrau aus dem Westen, die nie einen Job hatte. Es scheint also tatsächlich noch große Unterschiede zu geben.
Bei meinen Eltern genau das Gleiche. Die würden sogar mehr Geld bekommen, wenn sie einfach Hartz IV beantragen würden.
The auto subtitles calling it „hostile ghee“ may be my favorite thing today.
I found this video very educational and a clearer understanding of the attitudes in East and West Germany. Thanks
Ima about to Jein every question coming my way when I'm going to Germany.
Danke Rachel, dass du zum Schluss "Rotkäppchensekt" aus dem "Osten" trinkst :-p
(2:21) May I recommend the UFA fiction's TV movie "Bornholmer Strasse".
Good job again Rachel!
Thaaanks :)
Greetings to you all.
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Thanks stay bless.
at 3:46 youre in Potsdams "Schlaatz Vegas", immediately recognised that hideous fountain or whatever "monument" thats supposed to be
Merkel was not one of the border crossers on that night.
In germany it is kind of a tradition, that everyone knows where he was and what he was doing at that most important and most emotional night in german history.
Angela Merkel herself admitted, that she was in the sauna at this time.
Just a small correction to serve the stereotype of German Klugscheissertum: Bonn was always just a provisional capital until reunification (which will never come as many thought after 40 years of separation even one day before November 9, 1989)
5:08 "Jein", german version of "yesn't". I have learned something cool today lol
Nice video 🤠😀
Another winning presentation, Rachel! 🇩🇪⭐️ Alex in Seattle
😇
Greetings to you all.
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Thanks stay bless.
One could also have mentioned the many dead from the Wall and from the inner German border.
East Germany is real and best Germany
This woman = high energy
Pretty normal energy by British standards
@@Donny427 not by German standards though
@@cptkapitan5378 I know
1:32 the definition of east germany in one person
That's just not true at all, have you even been in east Germany?
Hope you will feature Bonn (the capital city that wasn't anymore) in a future episode.
I mean, you all should listen to victor grossman who was among the many the went from west to east.
if i compare odays life here, i would rather go into walled in west aswell.
The sandwich was so great for me... Just like the dark beers and chocolates too... Thank you so much!
Actually I love to see Rachel Stewart 😍 and she looks incredibly stunning in this video. It makes me watch for no reason at all.
I was fortunate to be in Chemnitz a few months after reunification, but before the Russians had all left, one could see the march of westernization all around. I made many friends during my stay. For me it was an important and interesting time.
1:32 omg, wow... that's just... wow
@@arvedludwig3584 he has a last name??? I thought he was too poor to afford one
@@mikelytou You're a bad person. Mocking somebody because of his appearance...
Happy Oktober 3!
Greetings to you all.
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Thanks stay bless.
October revolution* power to the Soviets!
We have a similar divide in England, between North and South, but it is a result of a mental wall rather than a physical or ideological one.
@@markdavid3403
Go away man this about Germany and not a money scam.
then they built the M25 to make it clear where civilization ended.
Is that Soviet War Memorial still kept up? In the 60s when I was in the Army in Germany, the Berliners referred to it as the Tomb of the Unknown Rapist!
It is still there, but I personally never heard the nickname.
My Oma's birthday was 17th November. So I flew to Bremen and travelled by train to Celle, stopping briefly for some shopping in Hanover. When I attempted to get into Karstadt my way was blocked by hordes of people just staring. At the station in Celle I was looking for the bus to my Onkel's village and was asked for information by a teenager with a very difficult accent. I then discovered about the cash given to East Germans to spend in West Germany. The shoppers were East Germanys who thought the West German Television showed propaganda about the goods available in the West and of course West Germany was decked out for Christmas. The teenager was also likely to have been on the train from the East, which is why I found her dialect harder to understand.
My Tante's brother, separated post wall in the East drove over the day the borders were opened. Very early morning. He knocked on the door said Hi and returned to his car to go back. "Where are you going?" "I have to get to work. I came only to see I could without restrictions." He didn't even have time for a coffee.
5:23 Well, 30 years is almost as long as the divide existed. People born in a united Germany are parents now. Their children know as much of a divided Germany as they do of the Nazi era or the Kaiserreich. It's history.
Wow Rachel is so young
very good
I was born in Berlin to British military parents with my mother working as a M.P on the Berlin wall and my dad was R.E.M.E ( Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) . . . . . i dont really remember Berlin but i do love Germany.
TBH regional prejudice and differences within countries is quite common
First comment the only rational one!! Rachel Stewart knows Germany inside and out! Happy October 3rd!!!
Zum Geburtstag viel Glück! 🇩🇪🎉👍🏻
Jaein is my favorite word now.
The more typical response I would notice is "naja" spoken with a sigh.
@@geraldmcmullon2465 "Naja" would be better translated as "Well. . ." (spoken as "weeeeeeell" -- long and drawn out).
Fun fact: There are sections of the wall that are still up!
The GDR was an interesting place to visit. Northern Europe met "eastern Europe". Secret police, workers' militia, punk music and nudist beaches. GDR Berlin's Monument to the Spanish Civil War was a gay cruising spot. Half-timbered villages that looked like they were out of history had Mozambican and Vietnamese residents.
Western Europe met Eastern Europe...
East Germany is real and best Germany
Blessed is the land without Police secret or open. USA has about 6 Secret Police forces and even Angela Merkel is spied on!
@@julioalbertoherrera1339 Central Europe Warsaw is the Geographical centre of Europe. Russia is Eastern Europe
@@Brick-Life true, so true
Personally I think the East Germans should’ve had more of a say in the re unification. It was clear that most of them didn’t want reunification. I see it as more of an Annexation rather than a reunification
well thats normal. we south germans also would prefer not being in the same country with the rest
"It was clear that most of them didn’t want reunification."
As someone who lived in the East during that time - that couldn't be further from the truth.
In the first free elections in March 1990, the CDU-led alliance won in a landslide - precisely because they promised unification as soon as possible. The Western D-Mark was introduced very fast (waaay too fast for the Eastern economy) because people in the East wanted it. Unification came less than a year after the wall fell because that was what the East Germans wanted (and the West, and because Gorbachev was in danger of losing his power). Unification - and fast - was the clear goal of the large majority of East Germans in 1990.
Many had very rose-tinted illusions about how this process, esp. the economic transition, would take place, and had no clue about how the market economy worked, and how totally broke the GDR actually was. Those illusions came crashing down, hard, in the 90s, and that's where a lot of second thoughts on the unification process come from: hindsight.
East Germany is real and best Germany
I'm pretty sure most of them wanted it, but they got shafted by how it was done.
The BRD is still seen by a large amount of people as just an occupational provisional government.
Many want the German Reich back in one form or another.
No word about how the East was plundered by the West, with the help of the Treuhand?
And not a word about the fact that instead of a reunification of East and West it was more an assimilation of the East by the West? - There were many meaningful, mostly social, achievements in the former GDR that were simply flattened out with the "reunification". This is also the reason for the resentment of many people who lived during this time and who do not feel "reunited" but rather appropriated.
In the time of the turnaround, one had the unique historical chance to provide a prime example of the kind of reunification. But instead they simply threw it on the garbage heap of history. Because the greed for money, prestige and power were more important.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
It was the biggest mistake of Margaret Thatcher's period: her belief that German reunification was bad. However, her mistake was also a stroke of luck in history, because her hesitation accelerated the process. Her worst fears, of course, have long since vanished into thin air. A united Germany has behaved much more in the spirit of a European community than Great Britain has adhered to even for herself.
And at this point, other biggest mistakes of British politicians join this series. With the last biggest disaster since the world war: the Brexit.
Thatcher was a brexiteer
Another paradoxically thing i can add it's that Churchill a used as nationalist symbol for the brexit war in favour of the integration of UK in an european community.
@@emib6599 History teaches us that many symbols used as motivation in history do not correspond with the paginated goal of their promotional use.
@@Lennonlover06She was all for the European Common Market though, leaving that was perhaps the biggest mistake of Brexit.
I drive a car that was built in the DDR! Yep, I have a VEB Sachsenring Trabant P601 from 1988! The engines were built in Chemnitz based on a pre war DKW design. Ich leibe meine kleine Trabi! ❤️
I believe a tour in DDR Museum would have been nice. To be honest, I am not sure if museums in Berlin are open because of the pandemic. However, I am very surprised to see why people are not wearing masks.
Wearing masks outside isn't mandatory in Germany at the moment. Only inside buildings.
I really doubt that many non-germans will watch this video. What a pity. This video is great.
I'm from Venezuela and I found this information to be very interesting. They don't really teach us this kind of stuff at school
I'm from Ireland I still watched this
@@nosywendigo592 Ah super. :D Dann lass mir dir einen kleinen Tipp geben. Ich sehe das Video aus Amerika. und Ausländer mit ä.
And the definition of many is argubale.
I was born very shortly before the wall came down as well and to this day I'm convinced that that's not a coincidence.
I bet you were touched by David Hasselhoff's divine finger like Adam in the painting
2:58 What a cool haircut!
So a question.. if all property was state owned in the east then privately held.. how did that happen.. were the apartments sold off or given to government insiders..
Oddly enough, I feel like this mentality is shifting more towards a divide between north and south with the southern states having a considerably greater income than the northern states.
How do i keep up with all the "wursts"?
She is a secret hotdog lover maybe?
easy, with a side of sauerkraut
Wunderbar
There was a wall around west Berlin but also, of course, a wall between east and west Germany. This is important to note because I met people who believed that there was only a border separating Berlin.
There were no wall between East and West Germany! Only in Berlin.
Trabant is awesome car
1:33 die frise/bart/brille Kombi war freie Wahl? Ich will die ddr zurück.
What was the official name of the Berlin wall?
@Karl Striepe It depends on the point of view - GDR authorities officially referred to it as the "Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart" (German: Antifaschistischer Schutzwall), whereas in West Germany it was just called "The Berlin Wall" (German: Die Berliner Mauer).
0:30 in Germany we show the „4“ different. all the fingers without the Little one
Someday I would like to go back to Germany and see it without the wall. I was there in the 80's and the wall was a prominent feature.
So disappointed that I didn't manage to find any Ketwurst in Berlin :(
Berlin is just a very international city I think.
There is a sausage cart at Ostkreuz station that sells pretty decent Ketwurst and then there is the imbiss stall at Schönhauser Allee, where you can even get organic and vegan Ketwurst (which is a bit sacrilegious in my view, it is supposed to be junk food).
WOW!!! COOL!!! PERFECT!!!
very good synopsis. also i heard there is a tax that germans pay to continue the unification. is that true. i live in america and just love germany. such a hard working country. they are the model of how to come out of a rough time ie ww2.
The "Solidaritätszuschlag" or short "Soli", meaning "Solidarity payment" is real. Unfortunately it was used terribly wrong, because there was no control in the use of the money. Many citizens demand the disbanding of the Soli, especially the younger ones...
@@meisen1988 thanks for the response. interesting. yeh that is bad when it gets used for unintended purposes. i am sure young people want it gone. 30 years is enough. once you get a tax though it is hard to get rid of. take care.
Rachel Stewart, the UA-cam girlfriend we all need.
Just had a reality check.... I was stationed there when the wall came down and this young lady said she was born the same year........ yikes......
If it's not too much trouble:
I'd love to hear how it all played out from your perspective :-)
@@ibbpolbildung1778 No, No trouble, Ill keep it short because other than being there my story is pretty boring. I was stationed in Friedberg W. Germany from 88-90. It was not a border town, we were about an hour from our assigned sector which was the town of Fulda which was about 5 hrs away from Berlin. We did see traffic pick up in the little town but nothing exciting or overwhelming. Like I said, Pretty boring, lol. We learned of it the next day and watched the majority of it on TV. Wish I had a better story lol. I will say when we did guard the wall it was pretty interesting but that was a duty that came around just every so often. We on one side looking at them through bino's on the other and vice versa. Both sides bored to tears. lol
@@purdyquibb Thank you! It may sound boring, but it certainly is a unique perspective. Usually the people that get interviewed are (East) German citizens, not US soldiers watching it on TV from their baracks or whatever.
Sometimes a boring story can be interessting after all :-D
3:27 Nudossi still exists.
I know some people who prefer it over Nutella
Someday all German brothers and sisters will flourish in equality.....we people in West Bengal is also waiting for good times....let's see what happens in future