As a visually impaired person I can’t thank you enough for interpreting the German speakers and footage rather than just subtitling it. You’ve made this more accessible to and enjoyable for many many people.
We all German east and west Namreg west and east The Berlin Wall was a guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Construction of the wall was commenced by the German Democratic Republic on 13 August 1961. The Wall cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany, including East Berlin. Wikipedia Destruction began: 9 November 1989 Construction started: 13 August 1961 }
@LOL19410 US joined the war only after Japan bombed them and Germany declared war on them. How do you ignore all the other countries that were at war before the US got involved? You mistake the old US with the one that was born from the ashes of WW2.
Let me explain whats fascinate me about post war japan n germany. Its how its people devastated by war, pulled together n worked hard to create the germany n japan we now know. Granted both country were already heavily industrialized prior to the war. Another good example of this is south korea.
Amen! My father was born smack dab in the middle of the WW2. He saw people suffer in Vietnam and here in America. How can you respond with all the many deaths of the Kennedy brothers, MLK, Kent State. And not the mention the Cold War! I want to say we are progressing as a nation but I don’t know I was born in the 70s.
I'm English guy living in Australia I have studied the wars with fascination. I know that people are not like that. We get tangled up with politics and go with the flow. But we can all agree on so many things. It was a terrible conflict, this video shows the human side. How we move on and become great again. And be a beacon of peace.
My grand mother died age 107 and she lived through both world wars 1 & 2. She use to tell me how lucky we are in the modern era to have our liberty and freedom. She use to stress how much many people don't realize how lucky we are. We are damn lucky to have not crossed Hitler's path. Especially me a British born Caribbean man
@@jamesbedukodjograham5508 Thank you. She had seen stuff and events during her time, especially during the 1st and 2nd world wars that we in the modern world, would find unbelievably shocking! how evil human beings really are. Now we have advance Nukes and AI approaching. What the future holds? No body knows.
@@life107familyfitnessboxing8 The future is clearly biological and what is scary is that potentially new dangerous Virusss might emerge at any time to threaten Human Civilization in 2022.
I absolutely looooove DW documentaries. Excellent narration and true to facts. I speak fluent German and it keeps me in tact with my language and every time I learn something else! Danke viel mals fuer hervorragend dokumentazionsfilme. ❤❤❤
Something different here! I want to thank you for making this video so accessible by not using subtitles and using interpretation and almost what we blind folks call descriptive video! Well done well played! Very enjoyable!
DW makes quality documentaries on current topics all over the world. But they really excel on the history of their native country. It's fascinating to me that after WW2, Germany lived as two seperate nations for 40 years. DW's The Stasi and the Berlin Wall documentary is the perfect follow up companion to this one.
Excellent program, DW! I lived in Berlin (stationed at Tempelhof) before, during, and after Die Wende. It was an amazing change that was long overdue. I took classes at The Freie Universität and learned a great deal about German history from both the professors and equally from my fellow students, especially the history of both post-WW2 Germanys, which sadly wasn’t available to college students in the East, who were restricted to rightthink by the SED and the UdSSR. By the end of the 80s, it was obvious to everyone that the East Germans, in large numbers, had become disillusioned with their ruling elite, who lived lives of extreme privilege in segregated communities (first in the Majakowskiring, then in Waldsiedlung) where they wanted for nothing, while the citizenry led lives of deprivation. This was not unlike the apparatchiks in the Soviet Union and their luxury lifestyles, while the proletariat and intelligentsia struggled to survive on what was on offer after standing in lines for hours. I have to give DW credit for presenting history in a non-political way, letting each “side” speak their own stories and relying on the intelligence of the viewer to get it sorted. Thank you.
4 years earlier. You killed 60 million people in five years. Condemning half of Europe to total communism, after your murders. You still haven't even paid a cent for Europe that became communist ... because of you. You have never had and you will never have honor.
@@jacorozycki3976 I have to wonder what Stalin would have been up to with the CCCP had Germany remained a peaceful nation in 1939? Do you think he would have sat there idle after the war with Finland, annexation of the Baltics and war with Japan? You have German-Americans like Boeing, Kaiser and Studebaker to thank for your freedom.
There’s nothing ‘ amazing ‘ about it. Not at all. Read. Familiarize yourself with precisely h o w both Japan and Germany were ‘ permitted ‘ by the victorious Allies to reincorporate war criminals into political, business, educational, and judicial positions of responsibility. Not to mention the resuscitation of the shattered militaries of both fascist states by fanatically anti-communist Western ‘ conservatives ‘.
If I was a Jew who had managed to escape the clutches of the Nazis, there's no way I would return to Munich like that family did. In fact, I wouldn't be able to live anywhere in Germany, not after what they did to my people.
See you don't understand what was going on. Those Jews saw themselves primary as Germans and then as Jews, especially those that fought for their fatherland in World War I. There were exceptions to the Nuremberg Laws that gave those Jews the full status. That those exceptions were worthless became clear pretty quickly, nevertheless after WWII those Jews were still Germans and Germany was still their fatherland and home. So they came back. Just because a few crazy idiots in politics try to oppress and kill you, doesn't mean you change your heart on where your home is.
@@fugelkusch3722 so basically there home is no more israel??is that what you are claiming??cause as far as i know jews may live any where in the world but they claim israel to be their homeland.😊
@@fugelkusch3722 The last paragraph of your comment minimizes the Shoah. Far more Jews fled Germany & Eastern Europe, following WWII after surviving the Holocaust at the hands of Nazi's & collaborators. However, many survivors remained in German DP Camps, established by the US, as they were destitute & merely awaiting visas to come through. Most countries had immigration quotas. Many more survivors were in German sanitoriums for YEARS recovering from starvation, abuse, & numerous diseases such as TB & the effects of typhus. German Jews considered themselves German above all else, especially veterans of WWI...until their country decimated them. Jews did not merrily skip back to Germany...aside from maybe checking to see if any family members survived. 🇺🇲❤🇮🇱🙏🏻🇬🇧✌🏻
Excellent documentary, my late grandfather served in the British quarter in the army until 47, I remember him telling me in his later years how tough the German people had it after the war but how industrious they were as a people.
@@papaschlumpf332 iam German myself, but why do you think the allies should cared after the German bombing of Rotterdam, London, warsaw, Henin-Lietard, Bruay, Lens, La Fere, Loan, Nancy, Colmar, Pontoise, Lambersart, Lyons, Bouai, Hasebrouck, Doullens, Abbeville, Plymouth, Swansea, Birmingham, Sheffield, Liverpool, Southampton, Manchester, Bristol, Belfast, Cardiff, Minsk, Sevastopol, Stalingrad, Paris, Liège, Lille, Antwerp, Bucharest and many more. Half a million Soviet citizens, for example, died from German bombing during the invasion and occupation of Russia. And dont let us begin to talk About the bombing attacks from german allies like Japan and italy. Stop trying the victim shoes on. They dont fit.
I'm from the USA and have recently discovered DW. I've been listening to your side of the Covid-19 pandemic. It's very interesting to hear the German perspective. I wish our federal government was more proactive instead of leaving it to the individual states. It has been a disaster. This documentary is something that I was never taught about in school. It's of particular interest to me because as a young child my best friend's mother was from West Germany and my children are part German on their father's side. I will definitely look for more of your documentaries. What our educational system fails to teach us, we must seek out on our own. Thank you for educating on the two countries of Germany.
Change is in the peoples hand, vote for changes and you will get them, democracy is the definitive way of the American society, you can choose how things turn out in the future, always think positive and vote for your values and change will happen.
@@AKAHEIZER I hope it stays that way. There are still many here who believe that our election results were "rigged" as Trump put it. It's not true, but they believe him because they don't seek out multiple news sources and didn't listen to his own attorney general. I hope that the Republican party can move away from Trumpism. It's very reminiscent of the Nazis...brainwashing propaganda, hate for Jews, hate for anyone that looks different from them, unwilling to take responsibility for your mistakes...saying that it is the successful people's fault, and trying to overthrow the government from within. They even threaten the lives of those who speak up against them. Currently, many our Congress are wearing bulletproof vests and have hired security because their lives have been threatened. The doctor that is a key figure in our fight against Covid-19 has had his life and that of his family's threatened because he spoke up when Trump lied. Now we're having an impeachment trial. Many of us seriously doubt that Trump will be convicted. January 6th was just the beginning of the sad days ahead...I fear. Stay safe and Covid free!
@@marywood8794 u think Trump is is the cause of bad days ahead!? Ur a fool stop worrying about what trump supporters beleive and why they believe that and get truth in ur own head!!! This documentary is about Germany post ww2 only a stupid Biden supporting American can bring trump into this!! History sn’t all about spoiled Americans ?!
While Serving as a Military Police Sergeant in The U.S. Army I lived in Heidelberg For three years in the 1980s I left on October 31 , 1989 Some 10 days before the wall came down. I can say I did not see that one coming! I was back in the U.S. at that time and I was Very happy for the News. Deutschland Ist Wunderbar!
Perhaps you can tell me; as a US military man, did the USA ever claim/admit that it was largely responsible for the division of Germany...and Korea and Vietnam after 1945?
In 2020, just got my history education on east and west Germany what happened after ww2. Having lived in Czechoslovakia i learned in school only how great Soviets were because they won ww2. Books forget to mention their citizens hardship while immunity was available only to Soviet elite. Communism was so great that they had to put up a wall in east Germany. This documentary is very informative, it should be available in all schools. Thank you.
Vlasov fell into the hands of U.S. soldiers. The Red Army units entered Prague a day later only once the war had ended. The Russian think they liberated the Czech from the Nazis in 1945 and 1968. There's simply no other way to justify any of this than with a lie.
Since these dokus have so much historical footage, it would be great to have either online somewhere a timestamped reference to who, what, we are seeing. Would be great to know "who' we are seeing. thanks for the great work
Thank you DW. Your documentary series has been a godsend during my lockdown. The footage of the GDR denouncing "Fascism and Militarism" while surrounded by men wearing Soviet military uniforms is interesting...
A fabian socialist police state was thought to be better than a fascist police state . I hope now German people see the flaws in both methods of management .
Having lived in Berlin for a year in 1968 and seeing the division of this great nation first hand I never thought she would be reunified. But the miracle happened. I found the 'background' testimonies in this excellent documentary of those who were involved in the creation of the Bundesrepublik very informative. Konrad Adenauer was the right man for the job. Thank you once again DW - very informative and educational - great research.
We have Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan to thank for providing the right conditions for eventual German reunification by demonstrating to Gorbachev that his system of government could never succeed. They did so much good for Europe but unfortunately Russia allowed a tyrant to rise up and the new democracy there followed the wrong road. But remember - everything changes.
@@fujohnson8667 I did mean Gorbachev but do you think I was wrong? Surely it wasn't Yeltsin who visited UK and stayed at Chequers etc? I can't imagine Margaret would have him as a guest...
If my teenage daughter comes home saying she watched this in school I'd tell her of the thousands in the following decades who were shot in the back trying to escape to the West. And gift her a copy of Solzhenitsyn's "Gulag Archipelago", ...which I plan to do anyway. What is not mentioned in this documentary I find most disturbing.
Fascinating. My God, but people need to remember the past in order to avoid the same mistakes. Germany is a prime example for the rest of the world to examine - what was, what is, and what could be again.
@@queenfubi I know. Just like individuals, every nation should occasionally take a hard look at themselves and critique their past and present behavior.
@@curiousworld7912 yes, that is saying it politely. Ahmadinejad said the US is "rigged for demolition" like the twin towers. I'm afraid that about sums up the US.
@@emilobe are you actually trying to say that Germans do not have a spirit or are you just being bigoted because big bad Germany did something to your country like 100 years ago? Lmk if youve discovered the irony in your statement.
Beautiful and inspiring. Love how Germans overcame the defeat and fought to become a true democracy! Kudos to DW for making such a beautiful documentary
I was a 5 year old kid when my father was stationed at Bad Kreznach, West Germany. This was 1971 and I remember West Germany has if it was yesterday. The Red Faction Terrorist group was well known, kidnapping many West German officials and military officials. Frankfurt was a high security area. I even remember several German demonstrations. Picket signs, the chanting, but I had no idea what they were saying. I remember the old fashioned radiator heaters in the American Apartments, but between the buildings was the playground. To be honest it seemed like life was so much simpler back then. My grandfather was in the war there, my father was there when the Berlin Wall was built and I was there serving when it finally came down. A very emotional day seeing families seeing each other in the first time in years. Hearing about the stories from behind the wall, how awful life was for East Germany and the other Soviet Bloc areas.
@Archelaos Archon But it was the CURRENT generation of Germans who took in 1,000,000 Middle Eastern refugees and displaced people only to find other eastern European countries slam their borders against more and refuse to share the settlement load while still claiming the benefits of being in the EU.
@Pustekuchen Hate is destructive of the hater. It's futile. Just don't forget that the Germans launched a war of annihilation on Russia. They murdered millions. Consequently, very little goodwill was expected from Stalin and the USSR post-1945 and that proved to be the case - long after he was dead, and embalmed, condemned and partially rehabilitated. Better to build bridges, understanding and co-operation now. We, alive now, had nothing to do with that war. It's terrible history has many important lessons for us. Above all, don't hate, don't resent. Don't separate the people of the world into good and bad. I've met many Russians who admire and like Germany and wish their country could be more like yours. I'm assuming you're German. I'm English. What good would hating the Germans do for all the damage they did. My mother had nightmares about watching her house burning, unable to save the 3 children trapped inside. It never happened - it was in her head.
So poignant to see there were Germans after the war who didn’t want the US occupation of their country, who chanted “Americans go home!” And yet three decades after reunification they are still there, with the most bases on German territory of any nation in Europe!
Very disappointed. Looks like that the documentary was made right after 1949. Why? Because, at the end, there is no mention of the fundamentally differences between the two groups of power that controlled the two separate areas. When you analyze that we are dealing here with the same group of people (Germans), that have the same way of thinking, the same way of acting or reacting, the same believes, the same approach towards work, etc and they were under control of two different systems. We can see the results after 40 some years. Are the results even close? The west, under the Ally forces, let the Germans be Germans, when the Russians had controlled and suppressed the East. We do not have here one nation on the West and different nation on the East. No. Same people, but two different systems. This should be enough for anybody to see what a FREE society (West Germany) can accomplish in the same period of time, versus a controlled (USSR) system (East Germany).
I really admire germans the way they rebuilt their lives after everythng what they owned was destroyed…it was literally starting from scratch and in no time was a super power again…
Mandy T, so true. I lived in Germany in the 60s and the ppl were truly great, focused, organized, hardworking, and generous. I studied WW2 all my life bc I could not comprehend how such ppl could have allowed the extermination of 11 million ppl in camps. (Please remember the killings were not limited to Jews. 5 million non Jews were also murdered and many more devastated in their survival. And these ppl are rarely even mentioned, much less mourned by the masses, in remembrances of the holocaust.) Today, as an American citizen, I have finally understood how any majority of ppl can be worked up to hate others to the point of not caring what is done to them. And I understand why it is done.
They rebuilt "really quickly" cause they had help! when you have America, England and Russia helping you rebuild you're country even though you were trying to kill them and bomb them is why they had any chance of coming back from all that destruction. It's also weird how countries like the UK and America can bomb the shit out of african nations and countries like Syria etc and just leave them with nothing but a pile of rubble, no food and no roofs over their heads or their children. How can you help a country who were trying to dominate the world and killed millions of people yet leave the African and arab countries in ruin with no help and a military force? Heck the Americans can't even leave Africa or Arab countries alone forget helping they cant even leave them in peace! So many lives and countries destroyed because of Americas and England's greed.
Yes. This is the difference between Germans and most others. Both East and West Germany became the largest most prosperous economies in Europe in their respective systems within a few years. The sheer incompetence of most peoples in the world, especially the third world, ironically makes you wonder if the master race proclamation has been verified by God’s will through this tribulation.
@@schoolofgrowthhacking 🇺🇸 Germany was definitely a Super power during the war. It didn’t last but still. It’s not a good thing to be a superpower. The USA loves Germany though. Germany the older wiser brother, the usa: the younger bigger brother. “The way you treat your enemy will decide how many generations of wars you will fight with them. Respect your enemy.” It’s very easy to say but very hard to do. Canadians are actually very good at this. The USA and Germany bicker with eachother and it only makes us both stronger. People say here that America controls Germany and that is not only untrue it’s propaganda. Germany doesn’t agree with USA frequently. This is a good friend, not a fake a friend.
In 1949 it was already pretty good in Western Germany and you did not need any ration-stamps any longer to buy food, but money was tight. I was lucky to survive the war and made it in 1946 from Silesia to the city of Hamburg.
@@simplicius11Quite possible. In the west, the ration fell often as low as 800-1,500 calories per day, or far below the recomended minimum of +2,000 for the same period. All the while shiploads of perfectly edible food reserves were stalled in buildings or even burnt
Germans are some of the most proud, resilient, smart, and tough people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting and befriending in my life. No other People could simultaneously reckon with their past, suffer for their country's sins, and face their uncertain future as a divided nation.
As a former Rheinpfälzer, Adenauer is and always will be my greatest political friend. As an Englishman I was a member of his youth organisation in Cologne. I am very proudly pro-European. I campaigned endlessly for his politics. His candlestick will always be my light and not the torch of imperial, and Nazi hatred. Europe is for all not for the privileged or the best. The SED also have a special place in my heart as a West Berliner I watched their children's TV and heard their inspiring pioneers sing, one of which is my true love. They chose to join our European Union eventually in an act of extreme bravery my friends from Leipzig took on their government to say how much they loved me. Now the UK is divided.
Man amazing Doc. thank you, my grandmother was from Berlin she left shortly after the war an lived with my parents and I til passing at age 102. I have huge interest in pre an post German society.
Fabulous documentary...so thorough and concise! To think that it only took 4 yrsto get the two countries on their paths and people were finally able to start living their lives. The Germans in the East didn't have to wait long till things started going awry in the sense that Stalin and Moscow were dictating how the East would proceed, politically. I remember when the wall came down...I was speechless, because that was the end of Communism (in which I grew up till I was 16!). I am not German.
The beginning of this, from the perspective of my fiancé (who lived in East Germany and has the most tragic WW2 story I've ever heard) is simply not true. Before the war, someone in their family was murdered bc he had polio; he was "verschwunden und nie wieder gesehen" but they know he was murdered bc Hitler had all mentally and physically disabled people killed. After the war, his family was separated and it stayed that way for 40 years. So his Opa lost one brother to death and another to the separation of East and West while his remaining brother was in West Germany. My Verlobter thinks Hitler "did nothing for Germany. It was all for himself and nobody else."
I come from a German family, but we felt like we lost our identity being immigrants. My family was looked upon for speaking german, names had to fit into our new nation's standards. My father told that he once saw people throwing dog shit at Germans . We paid for the past.
Lesson to everyone thinking that they are superior to other people because of technology,,,All humans are created uniquely but equal,,you can have this but not that,,no one has everything..When you hate someone bcos of the gift of nature,you are indirectly hating yourself. THE ARCHITECT OF THE UNIVERSE WILL ALWAYS HUMBLE THOSE WITH PRIDE AND HONOUR THE HUMBLE 🙏
You did ...?!? (I guess I'm getting really old! Being born in 1965, for much of my life I didn't believe I'd ever see it re-united. I served in the U.S. Army in the '80s; and the frontier between the two Germanies was a big focal point in our consciences. Something those of our age looked upon as, "the way things had always been".)
It’s so crazy how the two countries were able to come together in the end. Today there is still a stark difference between eastern and western Germany but at least they’re finally United
You can feel it overseas. I had a West German waiter and a east German kitchen hand in my Restaurant in Australia. They didn't get on the West German Was lazy and from a wealthy family. The east German was a hard worker From a poorer background.
D kory...try to understand, these people who produce, upload etc... need some recompense for their efforts;it all costs something for us to watch for free. Socialists will tax to you till tomorrow and nobody will want to create anything if they get overtaxed - capitalsim gives us the opportunity to create and experience products we never thought we needed or existed"!
