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As an American soldier in 1984, I remember standing on a rise looking over the wall at two East German guards on the other side. One with binoculars and the other with a notepad as they were gathering names and patch info. from our uniforms. the road beside us ran straight through the west German neighborhood, ended at the wall, then continued on the other side into the east German neighborhood. Couldn't help thinking,, just because you lived two houses down, you were doomed when the wall went up!! I threw a pack of Marlboro Reds in a box across the wall and it landed at their feet.. one of guards picked the cigarettes up, looked at them, looked at me, smiled and waved...

Another strange legacy of a divided Germany: Deer who lived along the border between East and West Germany quickly learned to avoid the mine fields, and deer still avoid those areas like the plague to this day - even though any deer alive today would be several generations removed from the time when the land mines were still in place.

My dad was one of the few westerners who managed to cross checkpoint Charlie into East Germany. He was not a communist but went to teach English. Apparently, he would speak to his pupils about what it was like in the West. He went back to West Germany almost a year later. He brought back a East german flag as a relic.

Both my parents grew up in East Germany. It is always interesting when they tell me about their life in the GDR. My father actually got to sing in the Army Choir. They sang in front of many high officials. He even went to Leningrad (St. Petersburg) and Moscow for performances.

Suddenly I understand why Dance Dance Revolution was renamed to "Dancing Stage" in Europe. I imagine the "DDR" acronym would go over like a lead balloon.

East German Worker: This Paycheck sucks That German Worker who is secretly a Stasi Police: *Hallo*

Old joke from eastern europe: what has twenty years of capitalism done that seventy years of communism couldnt? Make communism look good.

The best thing that ever came out of the DDR were Honecker's official photos. He always looked like a friendly nerd. Or a middling insurance salesman from a small Midwestern city.

East German : Woah, this day sucks Stasi : WRITE THAT, GUTHROFF!!

Stasi: because Google and Facebook was not yet invented.

interesting fact: That animation of the punk sitting next to the man in uniform on the train, is based on a real picture of real people. It was real emblematic of the situation of the the last days of the GDR. That country has intrigued me since I was a child, as my grandma fled from there and I have relatives in the former GDR

I live in Thüringen at the direct border to Hessen in germany. And even here you still feel differences from the old east and west. Sometimes just in wages or in the way apartments were build but sometimes even in Cultural means. My Dad was in the GDR a Grenzer (Grenzschutztruppe or in English Border Guards. The part of the MfNV that protected and watched over the border.) thats why we live so close to the border. He always spoke good about the GDR and the SED. And my Boyfriend who lives in Mannheim is the Son of an American Soldier from back then they kept living here after the reunification. Its kind of Hilarious.

The nostalgia referred to is called Ostalgie in German. Ost means East and Nostalgie means Nostalgia. Well, East Germany is still behind the Western part of the country, sadly. And the Ostalgie is there for a reason. I once talked to a man, an Ossie, a former East Berliner. In 2010 he told me: "I used to have one job. I couldn't go where I wanted, for example Paris or London. But I could go on vacation to Prague, Budapest and the East-German and Polish coasts. We always went on summer holidays. Now, I have two jobs, and I barely make enough money to sustain myself. I can't go anywhere these days. I haven't been on a holiday for over 20 years now."

Father: "Are you winning son?" Son: "...y-yes...." Wall: "He's lying..."

My dad grew up in east Germany, he told me while life was not exactly great, it wasn’t better when the German reunification happened since he and the younger locals grew up with communism, so they were not used to a capitalist society. when he got older he when around the Soviet Union with his friends and even traveled to Bukhara in Uzbekistan after communism fell he moved to the us for a better life… and that’s were he met my mom.

Fun fact: In West "Democratic" means free election, but Communists by the word "democratic" meant rule by the people => rule by the majority => majority is proletariat (workers) => proletariat (workers) dictatorship => Dictatorship by the workers is democratic, because they are majority.

My Grandfather served in the East German army. he had forbidden my father to go to the protests because he feard he had to shoot at them

I was a tourist in Berlin in November 89. One day, I decided to see the East, just for fun. I went to a couple museums, and some book stores, and eventually found a bowling alley. I ate some bad East German food and bad beer, and hung with some other younger folks, and talked about what life was like on their side. But it was getting late, the S-Bahn had stopped running, and I had to get West, and the only way was thru Checkpoint Charlie, before it closed for the evening. With my new friends' help, I made it with no time to spare, and was the last through the gate, and as it turned out, one of the last ever that had to, as the next day, the Wall was brought down.

My father lived in the DDR and life wasn’t that bad, he actually made good income because he was a musician

I grow up in east germany and the childhood was quiet nice. Not so much plastic toys, more fantsy. Summer camps with lot of fun. But for adoults it was not so comfortabel. You need a lot of conections to get buildingmaterials, better food, western clothings and stuff like that. But everyone have worke, food and flats was cheap.

KGB: my secret service methods are good Stasi: Comrade you are wrong, it is OUR secret service methods

0:36 me trying to draw a straight line

Speaking of "Ost nostalgie" it makes me remember an ol' Polish joke: "It took Communism 50 years to make the Polish nation hate it, but Capitalism did it in 5 years"

I'd recommend anyone to visit Berlin at least once in their lifetimes. It's a city bursting with history and culture, but it's still a very friendly and fun place to be.

As someone coming from the east, I'd like to say that for my parents (born in mid 70s) East Germany was actually seen as the most prosperous nation in the Warsaw Pact, for example it was considered prestigious to serve in East Germany as a Soviet citizen

From what I was told by both my father, his parents and my neighbour, who all grew up in the GDR, life for the average person wasn't that bad. The worst thing for them was that their work was basically sitting around after they matched their quota and waiting very long for luxury goods they bought, especially cars, which sometimes took years to arrive. Also alcohol, very much alcohol.

My family is from East-Germany and life wasn't that bad, especially in the countryside. Everybody hab work and housing. Essential goods were cheap and only luxury goods were often unavailable. After the reunion, capitalists from the west didn't build a stable economy in the east. They just exploited the East. That's why many people don't like the west still. Now I live in the west myself because the infrastructure and the chances are a lot bigger than in the east still, after 30 years. And I have to say, most people from the east are more humble the people from the, just because their still different upbringing

So... I have a story about the Stasi. My father lived in the GDR and one evening, him and some of his friends were in a bar. Time progressed and the alcohol flowed. They all were a bit drunk. "a bit". Then him and his friends made jokes about the GDR and they laughed. My father was going to the toilet afterwards. One of his friends followed him and told him, that he (my father's friend) was in the Stasi. He could have reported my father, but he didn't. He warned him not to do that again and left the toilet. Yeah xD My father has already experienced a lot of crazy My father has already experienced a lot of crazy things. Maybe I tell them if you guys are interested.

Why do Stasi officers make such good taxi drivers? *You get in the car and they already know your name and where you live * I'd love to do one of those tours where you drive around Berlin in a Trabant. The history of the DDR is very interesting

People of East Germany: Leave. East Germany: hippity hoppity here's a wall so don't leave my property.

Meine Großeltern und meine Eltern sind in der DDR aufgewachsen, ich selbst in Ostdeutschland....so schlimm wie man jetzt nach diesem Video denkt war es nicht...es war nicht so toll...aber man konnte auch in Ruhe und Frieden leben. Keiner wünscht sich den Staat zurück, aber viele haben eben ihr Leben zur damaligen Zeit verbracht und sich gut Erinnerungen an diese Zeit.

Owning a sewing machine in the GDR was allowed with a license. It was a somewhat subversive device because a sewing machine could be used as an underground business. Also, a seamster could create clothing of the western styles which the officialdom frowned upon. You could get your clothing torn up right on the street as you walked along.

Stasi veteran: "we used to have ten photos from each citizen's personal lives" -"amateurs" Stasi veteran: "what did you say punk?" NSA: "AMATEURS"

East German Citizen: Mein gott life here sucks Stazi: G u t e n T a g

My mom’s cousin lived in West Germany since the 1980s. She was at the wall when it went down and actually has a few pieces of it. She made a necklace out of a piece and gave it to my mom. She still lives in Germany

Love it, you do a great job of visualizing history in a simple and sympathetic manner. I think it would top it off even further if you added a timeline at the bottom that follow through the whole video and becomes indicated whenever you mention a new even taking place during a certain time. Would help us giving that broader more understanding picture of whats going on. Also some outside references to the times. Thank for the great videos!

Why did Stasi agents travel in teams of three? One could read, one could write, and the other could keep an eye on the two dangerous intellectuals.

I once went on a school trip to Berlin and we visited an old stasi prison. Our tour guide was a former inmate who was falsely imprisoned and who has mentaly tortured. He told us about the mental torture methods the stasi had invented which included the silent treatment. He was kept in a cell alone for 8 months the guards brought him food twice a day and weren't allowed to talk to him. He said it was the most horrible time of his life. He told us that after the wall fell he ran around the streets laughing, singing and talking to everyone that he met.

Both of my parents grew up and lived in East Germany, and both of them always say to me that many things were done much better than nowadays (eco-friendliness, social benefits, pension, etc.)

i am a romanian and the same phenomenon is happening in Romania. The people who worked under the communist regime untill 1989 are always nostalgic about those "glorious" days.

Gestapo : Who are you Stasi : I am you but better

I’ve got a friend who did multiple tours in Northern Ireland and served in the Falklands, all that bombing and shooting and death didn’t hold a candle to the tension he felt walking the Berlin Wall.

What I consider a most peculiar thing about East Germany was that its armed forces adopted uniforms that were very similar to the ones that were worn by Nazi Germany’s armed forces during WW2 with the exception of the model 1935 and model 1942 stahlheim (steel helmets). They even adopted the old Imperial German field gray for their dress uniforms. The reason for these choices in uniform styles and colors was that East Germany wanted to be seen as the true and legitimate successor state to Imperial Germany, the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany and for West Germany to be seen as illegitimate puppet state of the USA and the rest of NATO. They also wanted a distinctive look very different from the Soviet forces stationed insideEast Germany during the Cold War. Plus they had their own steel combat helmet actually designed by the Wehrmacht during WW 2 that was never used and sometime after 1960 (not exactly sure when) the East German army developed and adopted what was called a rain pattern camouflage battle dress / utility uniform. East Germany or the German Democratic Republic has a most fascinating history.

The only thing great about East Germany was their national anthem. It was one of the greatest national anthems ever written.

My dad used to live in east germany and in Poland, he said the communism in Poland was not as bad, but he said in east germany the police and communism there was awful, He said it was so bad that he kept getting stopped by the Stasi for absolutely no reason at all and always had to give them his papers+he said they would purposely take extra time on his papers because he was Polish and one time nearly got arrested because they thought he was a spy.

East German 1: "I got a new car! The model is only 13 years old." East German 2: "Sweet!"

For reference, the GDR police state had an incarceration rate of approx. 180 per 100,000 people. The US today has an incarceration rate of approx. _700_ per 100,000 people.

Watching this in honor of my mom. She grew up in East germany. She was 12 when the wall fell.

One thing about the reunification you have to understand is that, while most people in the GDR were in favor of a unified German state, what many people hoped for was an actual merger of the two, with a new constitution that would have been negotiated by both states as equals. The way reunification actually occurred was more comparable to annexation, the GDR was incorporated into the Federal Republic of Germany without any significant measures to actually facilitate the creation of a truly united state. In the 90s wealthy western investors bought up a significant portion of East Germany, dismantling industrial strongholds of the east and effectively leaving entire states to rot, their population left to fend for themselves in a country that had effectively stripped them of their livelihoods. Today East Germany is a hotbed of far-right populism, in huge part due to the fact that ever since the 90s the reigning center-right conservative federal government hasn't been willing to truly invest in the east, instead facilitating its exploitation at the hands of huge corporations.

The quality of animation has really improved

Wonderful video as usual!! When I studied abroad in Germany I lived for five weeks in the former East Germany in Wittenberg and it was... well it was almost surreal. If I wasn't aware of where I was I would have never known there was anything different about it-not that I had anything to compare it to as my whole time was in the East. I will say though I heard many stories about how stark the difference was, especially in the 90's after the wall collapsed. I also remember my host mother making us what she said was a typical East German dish, and while I can't remember what the dish was I remember her explaining how they used to have to get creative with their food. When travel becomes safe again I would love to stay somewhere in the West and see if there really is still a huge difference.

I am a German... ore better jet, an East-German. I was born in the year 2000 and did not see everything that went on in the GDR. My parents did, my grandparents did, and so on and so... I am very interested in my roots and therefore I informed myself a lot. Many people say that the Eastgermans were simpleminded People, that was lazy and therefore the GDR was way inferior to the BRD. Well... as it was pointed out the Eastgermans were used to equality. not only between Men and Women but also between sexual prefrences, Different lifestyles, Persons with other Nationalities, and so on. These are Things that the Westgermans still have to grasp. The Unification of the BRD and the GDR was actually not something that was wanted by the Eastgermans. More than half of the Eastgermans were for the establishment of a new Political party whit new Politicians. The Unification of Germany was more an Annexation than a unification. East German Factorys were sold off to Westgerman Companys for laughably low Prices, sometimes for a symbolic West-Mark. The people that were there for Years often were trained again in a job that they have done for years Prior, and the Infrastructure was renewed by Companys that did not really have done any work, but took the high rewards for it only that the east germans could pay for it again. My point is that even when there were so many so unbelievably bad things like the Stasi or the "Mangelwirtschaft" People cared for each other, helped each other, and had everything they needed to live a good but not Luxurius life. That changed. The east is still far behind with its Infrastructure, many people can't pay their Bills whit only one Job, many more need to travel across Germany to work. Often when I ask people from the east, they wish that the "Unification" did never happen. It ruined and still ruins so many lives. And more and more People see the old times come again, but only the worst parts of it.

10:10 The moving of a subjects furniture around, is not meant to make them think they're going insane. It's meant to send a message that they can be reached at any time and that the Stasi are watching you. Typically agents would move the furniture around while the subject they were investigating was asleep in their own apartment. So when they woke up the next day, they would realise the Stasi had been there. Its a tactic to scare and intimidate.

As much as I love these videos those walking animations are about as smooth as zuckerberg trying to act human.

>enters >doesn’t watch the video >says video is American capitalist propaganda >doesn’t explain >leaves Chad.jpg

The population in GDR was not 16 million when it was founded, it was 18 million. It was not the ”Russians” that dismantled the factories and shipped them to ”Russia”, it was the Soviet Union. The recurring map shows an unknown outline of West Berlin. It looks like Treptow and Köpenick is part of West Berlin, which they were not.

Imagine being that DDR guy that put all your savings into buying a Trabant in 1989

Mark Felton productions:Allied occupation of Germany The Armchair historian:Life in Soviet East Germany *Perfectly balance,as things should be* Edit:Guys please don't say which is better,both are some of the best historian youtubers we have for this generation

Hi, I am a German who emigrated to Italy. i used to live in east germany, and i still want you to return sincerely. Because there was work and prosperity. At the fall of the Berlin wall there was a great crisis and I emigrated to Italy.

I was in "East Germany" (Berlin and Dresden) in 2009. I remember a man telling me "In the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) we worked to live. Now we live to work". Neonazis gang were flourishing in the former GDR zones. I think capitalism has its own propaganda and fascination methods. It is like the models, they are perfect and always young. Every woman wants to look like a model and every person wants to live in capitalism. Later, when you discover the truth, there is no way out.

Can't wait!!! 🏗

East Germany : People start leaving because quality of life is worse Moscow : I'm gonna pretend I didn't see that

I feel always funny, when people, who wern't even born at this time, try to explain me the country, I lived in for more than 20 years. :)

You mentioned how not having access to the Ruhr valley impacted East Germany, but didn’t mention how loosely Silesia to Poland also impacted East German industry.

Stalin: Guess What? Hitler: What? Stalin: Capitulation Hitler: I don’t get it. Stalin: Exactly.

About Stasi: there are estimates, that there were so many stasi agents plus informants, 1 in 5 people was actually a rat. To give the number into another perspective.

As a none german, but very much intrested in the GDR. I was once on a holiday near Rostock and Stralsund. One week, but on 1 day went to Hamburg for a day trip. I noticed a difference in the people, in Stralsund very friendly, no to little trash in the streets and no homeless people. In hanburg, everything felt very money oriented. Much more self centred people, the second tou crossed the "border" on the Autobahn, it turned into ME centred jungle of not giving way etc. In Hamburg itself, it took about 5 minutes to be harrased by a homeless guy and getting annoyed with overall appearence of the city on a ground level, while up higt everything was shiney and expensive. And regarding the fact that east is still behind on the west, idd say not true. The east had allot of EU money being put in roads etc everything is shiney and new

Rammstein is from the DDR. They still speak very fondly of the days before the fall of the Berlin wall. Life was simple. You didn’t have to chose one of 50 different brands of peanut butter. Flake the keyboardist has said if he could go back to the DDR, he would.

Sure glad I don’t have an oppressive security state violating my privacy and monitoring my private communications!

All the dislikes are from the Stasi.

as someone from Hong Kong, this is hitting too close to home

Hey Stallin I successfully starved my people instead of actually helping them! - East German General secretary

Okay, so basically it's like Among Us when you're in public on East Germany.

I know (very anti-communist) Bavarian farmers who are huge fans of GDR-Made milking machines, because those machines were wayyyy more durable than their western-counterpart. Quote: "The West builds products, the East builds tools".

Spot on! These videos are great!

11:43 This exact frame is basically the "Daniel VS The Cooler Daniel" meme.

My mother lived in Eastern Germany when she was a child and she liked it there.

I have to pee but this is more important

My Parent´s grew up in the GDR. I always enjoyed to hear story´s from my Family or other people´s that lived in this time. Really good Video.

"rEaL cOmMuNiSm hAs nEvEr BeEn TrIeD"

A former corporal from East Germany here! I served as a corporal in East Germany and was about 20 years old when the wall fell. A lot of information stated in this video is true. The living standards after ´63 increased greatly but there were always shortages on supplies. Nontheless was it something you had to deal with it and tried to get along (you were encouraged to repair your vehicles and most of them are driven till today) I think the bigger problem was the fear and stagnating progress in intellectual ideas led the people to rebell. I was so shocked when I went to West Germany and saw homeless people because that was something you never saw in the GDR, on the other hand was I suprised how advanced their technology was. Thinking back I think it was a good time because you learned that consumptions good wont make you happy at all, and pure ideology either. It´s the balance between those things that will make the individual and society happy. If you have any questions feel free to ask me anything in the comment section!

My father served in the Soviet army in the 80s and was assigned to serve in the GDR near Berlin. He saw all those horrors of the dictatorial regime with his own eyes.. on posters that were brought from West Germany. He saw how East Germany was drowning in poverty, because his colleagues had to wait three years to get an apartment in the center of Berlin and a car for which they paid nothing. During the service, my father was offered to go to work in the Stasi, but he refused. In short, a terrible place, everyone was constantly killing each other, no one had anything, people waited for three grams of bread for fifteen years, everyone, even the janitor, was under total surveillance by the stasi, because even he could be an agent of the West, everyone was always arrested for nothing and sent to the gulag and then hung from trees.

"And led to giant hoardings of goods" Me: thinks the spring of 2020 and the toilet paper. Me: *So the whole world was east germany for a moment...*

"Ah yes that's just a condom machine." "A WOT??"

Story for you: I am not from East Germany, but I am from another ex-communist east european state. Bulgaria. Life was great according to adults here. My grandfather was a Bulgarian Officer in the army, and my grandmother was a worker at a factory. My father and grandfather both say that life was so much better than it is now. 30 years under socialism built Bulgaria, and 30 years of capitalism ruined us.

This was very informative, many thanks.

Wow, that's crazy! More people need to know. Can you share your sources please?

3 Stasi-Prisoners sit together: "Every day, I was 5 Minutes early for work.. then i was put in Jail as a Spy", "Well, i was put in Jail for Sabotage.. because i come to Work every day, but 5 Minutes late.", "So what, i came to work at the precise time... i was put here after they saw me smoking western Cigarettes during a Break"

The Stasi also known as Gestapo 2 electric boogaloo

Well written masterpiece. Well done job by explaining in a few minutes what the other so called historians neither couldn´t be able to or simply are not inclined to. Greetings from Brazil.

There is a section of the Berlin wall that, in a garden of chaotic graffiti, was left bare with only one sentence written on it. it was clearly written in the early days of the wall and all of humanity recognized it as being the perfect sentiment. it said, "ITS NICE TO BE FREE."

“Mom why is it so cold inside?” Mom: “YOU’RE UNDER ARREST”

Nobody is talking about the Soviet dude who waved the flag of the USSR in Berlin

Legend says even on this very day, the stasi are still watching you guys while you’re reading my comment.

my grandpa is from east Germany but moved to the Ruhrgebiet to work as a coal miner where he met my grandma. My dads family would visit his eastern relatives and smuggle things like coffee and other "luxury" goods across the border.

I was born after reunification in West Germany, but my father grew up in the east. He and all his relatives suffered a lot under SED rule (my grandfather was head of a school while also regurarely going to the church, an absolut No Go in East Germany), but they also embraced the strong feeling of community amongst the citizens. Most had little so they shared and helped each other, something my grandparents started to miss after reunification.

My in the GDR born father still tells me sometimes "Not everything was bad".

i cant stop watching these videos

Whats the difference between SS and Stasi? The second one has other letters between the two S