REPORTAGE : A wave of nostalgia for the former GDR is sweeping parts of Berlin. Eighteen years after reunification, knowledge of the communist regime is fading, and its most unpleasant aspects are beginning to be glossed over.
As an East German, I want to tell my sight of things here. After the Wall fell down, people thought that all things will get better, but they didn't. A lot of people lost their work and everything changed very fast. Several people from West Germany tried to make money with the new situation. For example, they sold broken cars for a high price. Towns in the east also lost a lot of inhabitants, thats a problem until today, also the unemployment. Today Germany is managed by a few rulers of industry, military and trading. That's not much better as in times of GDR, I think. But in the east, things have changed a lot. Towns have been renovated and invite to a visit. Most of the streets are new or repaired. People like living here. They're polite and courteous. What I don't understand is why people in East Germany still earn less money than people in West Germany and why 25 years after the German Unity still a lot of people from West Germany have never seen the east of the country. Finally, let me say: If you have the chance to visit this place here, you won't regret it.
+1988deef My brother was a British soldier over in West Germany during the Cold War. He also had to do a stint at "Check Point Charlie". I was only a kid at the time and I remember my parents speaking about "The Iron Curtain". I though that part of Europe had a big curtain dividing it. It wasn't until I was a bit older I realized it meant secrecy, silence, spies and people not being able to move about freely. I went there recently to Berlin to visit all the sites my brother had worked at. I have fallen in love with Berlin, the Berliners east and west are an amazing people. It must have been hard for the two sides to integrate and be as one however I hope it is working and things will only get better.
+Ms eldee Thanks a lot for your comment! I find it nice that you like Berlin. I hope you get the chance to visit some other German towns. And, of course, learning about history by visiting historical places like the "Check Point Charlie" is the best. Lots of people don't know that we have a lot of British things here. For example one of the biggest museums about the Beatles. I've never been in Britain, but I plan to visit it soon, especially London.
1988deef, 1988deef, I do believe that east germans miss communism. I am an communist myself. But........why don't people vote for a communist party? And if people miss communism why is there reported rising in far right neo nazis? Just wondering since you live there
@@erikzelada5578 Why lie? Polls have consistently shown that people want socialism back, you being a petulant little child doesn't change that undisputable fact.
Born in East Berlin, my mother told me that she had a bttter life there rather than now, well, she knows more. I do enjoy Berlin as a whole as is my home and where I grew up, but yes, many old generations keep saying that old times were better. One of the things that extremely bothers me is why we get less money than the west, why? why the west in some point keep pushing us apart when they listen us speaking our accent. I am 100% Berliner and I will always support the East.
I think the division between east and west is a cultural/political problem, take for example how much people live in both east and west, more people = more business = more attention to that side, the second division is between politics I think, since East Germans have experienced an authoritarian far left wing government, they now lean to the libertarian right wing more. The opposite happened to the west. They have only experienced the WW2 government and they lean to the left wing more. And finally the last division is between religion. East Germany has one of the most atheist population in the world( because of communism and lack of reason to care , which I can understand) , western Germany doesn’t have an atheist majority because religion wasn’t banned like in the east. So basically to put it shortly : different experiences created a division that could possibly heal if both sides just worked on a new solution( maybe more government care in the east perhaps). Thanks for reading this wall of text lol
@@truthseeking6611 yes, we are entitled to the exact same wage for the exact same work, not 15% less. Opposite to the gender wage gap this number accounts for hours worked in same jobs and only base salary instead of averages spanning fields of employment and bargained wages.
A guy from East Germany once told me he used to watch the black channel, a state sponsored show with Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler (Der schwarze Kanal). He and his friends used to laugh about it and call it communist state propaganda. But when the GDR fell in 1990, they realized "they [the SED] were telling the truth. Capitalism is dehumanizing and cynical."
Why doesn't "socialism" have a real German word? I mean, "Sozialismus" sounds ridiculous and artificial. You have "sauerstuff" for oxygen maybe something like "folkheit" will do?
"The socialist regime was not a police state nightmare, but simply a different kind of state with different priorities." One of the American commentators wrote this here, and it is perfectly true. East Germany strictly differenciated between what was needed for everyday life and what belongs to the so called luxurious goods. What is expensive today was much cheaper then: rents for flats, textiles, food, heating, education without payment, healthcare without payment, dentists without payment, no drugs, no unemployed, no prostitutes, no homeless. Everything was provided for. Cheap music schools, cheap tickets for opera houses and concert halls, regional libraries etc. People lived in absolute safety without any fear of their future or the future of their families and children. The back side of the coin was a lower variety of consumer goods, less coloured paper and adverts on the walls, very expensive cars, TV sets and radios because people needed them maybe every eight or ten years only. And travelling to the western countries was fairly restricted. The life in the sphere of employment and family was much more free than today. Without any bureaucracy and oppression. East Germany was an ideological dictatorship, today the western countries are fiscal and economic dictatorships. East Germany was more pleasant to the employees, todays societies are more effective and profitable to the employers. Just as simple as that.
I thought it was the opposite, that the wall was put up because people wanted out of the DDR? Overall though, DDR was not as bad as people seem to think it was. They actually had the highest standard of living out of any socialist state.
However, the East Germans did not compare themselves to Mongolians, Albanians, or Poles, they compared themselves to West Germans, their visiting relatives whom they could see on visits, and watch on TV. Mene, mene tekel upharsin....
Totally agree with MrHistoryman. History is written by the victors, and also, by those who control the media i.e those that are most threatened by socialism. The GDR had many positive features which should not be overlooked
Yes. I asked an old Afghan man, who have seen the monarchy, Daud Khan, Communist PDPA rule. The old man told me, during the Communist PDPA rule, they have a greater freedom.
Fun fact: At the time of it's collapse, East Germany actually had a very slightly superior HDI (human development index) rating to contimporary germany with it scoring a 0.953 and modern Germany scoring a 0.942
Yeah, real life in east germany was pretty normal and relaxing. Yes we had a lot of difficulties to get things. But in the end someone knew someone and we hat nice tabacco, coffee, washing machine or whatever.
@@petebondurant58 well i mean , they were, but they didnt give them space elsewhere besides universities and public speeches (limited speeches by the authorities).
@@AkhmatProductions There was a communist party in the United States. There were no opposition parties in any Warsaw Pact countries. There weren't "limited speeches" by leftists in American universities. Leftists had carte blanche to say and do whatever they wanted at US universities from the 1960s to the present day. You're just making things up.
Back then jobs were runned by the state. They may not have everything that they want. But had cheap food prices,free education, health-care and were always guarranteed to get a job. Today many people I know, have paid college degree education and can't get the job they studied so hard for it while food prices go insanely high and health-care is dumb expensive for a lot of people with all that economic inequality. Mid class is strangled by high taxes while the upper class is less affected by them.
Yes. I asked an old Afghan man, who have seen the monarchy, Daud Khan, Communist PDPA rule. The old man told me, during the Communist PDPA rule, they have a greater freedom. He told me that Communist Afghanistan was better.
@@MichaelJ44 majority of east germans felt life was better under communism, nearly 60 percent of russians deeply regret the fall of the ussr. Im pretty sure its way more than one person
Heya. My grandparents once went to your country (They are Russians) and my grandpa said that my grandma was surprised with the stuff you guys had there but didn't have in the USSR, like clothes, cars and etc. But i didn't learn much from it so i found you. Could you tell me what stuff you guys also had?
It will be back. No doubt about it. We must keep agitating, educating and organizing to expedite the process. People remember the glory of socialism. They will certainly join us in the final fight.
Yeah Because Germans are so great at choosing their own leadership. Every time they go unchecked they end up with dictators who destroy Europe with forced invasions and annexations.
People don't see it as a dictatorship, because there are so many positive aspects, such as guaranteed food, healthcare, housing, education, clothing, etc., etc.
And the dictatorship part is irrelevant then, since life is simply better. Not to mention that in many socialist countries there was democracy, even workplace democracy.
won't work lads, democratic socialism is another excuse to establish an authoritarian state. it'd be like letting hippies into the government, unless you have someone who isn't as simple minded as saying they'll pay for all these things, explain how you will fund these projects? how will this socialist system handle benefits? you all have different motives for this type of government, it is untrustworthy
"The GDR was more democratic, in the original and substantive sense of the word, than eastern Germany was before 1949 and than the former East Germany has become since the Berlin Wall was opened in 1989. It was also more democratic in this original sense than its neighbor, West Germany."
No gdr was a dictatorship, they didnt allowed any other opinions and their secret police stasi had hundreds thousands of members and many relatives spied on each other you couldnt trust anyone so stop defend this evil leftist regime you left winger...
Communist Consumer products are high quality. I have many electronics products from the Soviet Union and an East German Transistor Radio. They work. I am happy. I can see many hipsters who did not grow up in Communist countries, buying these products and enjoying them....They are good quality, products from a lost world. The West may think they are crap, and inferior to Western products, that they are cheap knock-offs. I assure you these products were anything but cheap to purchase in Communist countries. Consumerism in Communist countries, that contradiction tickles me the right way.
@HairOfTheDog2000 You mean thats what you were told about what communists believe? if you are going to spread lies, at least make them minimally believable.
again, in a communist system there is no state. The "Dictatorship of the Proletariat" happens during the socialism phase-not communism. Eventually, the state "withers away" in F. Engel's words, and the proletariat abolishes itself as a class leaving no classes at all. see Lenin's "State and Revolution" August Bebel "Society of the Future"
@@kittycatwithinternetaccess2356 The GDR was no more a Soviet territory than the FRG was an American one. Allies, but politically, economically, and culturally seperate.
I have lived 4 years in East Berlin in mid eighties and studied at Humboldt University, and later moved to west and lıved on there until I leave Germany, those were great years of my life.
@@LeanSaucer Communism entails a stateless, classless, moneyless society. Simply by virtue of the GDR being a state and having currency, it wasn't communist but socialist.
@@MrCmon113 Neo-liberal ie everyone who thinks the way to build the best society possible is to squeeze the Third World dry by force and treat most of your own citizenry like they're disposable in the name of profit.
Communism is classified in the same way as Nazism, that is, it is an unconstitutional organization. Pledging allegiance to one can result in imprisonment in Germany. Carrying symbols like the hammer and sickle or the swastika can also get you jail time.
The comments are surprisingly smart for once... Anyway, nice video, its nice to hear what the people whom were first concerned with East Germany think about it.
@@haxario6560 That's wrong. That island was not given to the East German State, but it was given a German name to represent the friendship between Cuba and East Germany.
Well you can. You have more choice in food, you can actually work at what you want rather than what the party says and your education is informed by the best of what we know about reality rather than what's politically accepted.
Nothing wrong with communism, don't like capitalism, what I dislike is people being bullied and told how to live, that will ruin the way of life under communism or capitalism. What works best for the majority is a left wing democracy. We've gone a distance from that in the last 2 decades. I don't like to think of the eventual outcome if we keep on like this. Ruled by businesses. It was authoritarianism that failed, not communism.
That is what most people have a gripe with is the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. Communism was never achieved unless it's a small village of like hippies or something, not a gigantic mass of land.
@Robert L S Jr Capitalism has consolidated colonialism and "given birth to fascism, terrorism and apartheid and spread wars and conflicts, the breaches of sovereignty and self-determination of the peoples; repression of workers, minorities, refugees and migrants."
@Robert L S Jr The Dictatorship of the Proletariat. The definition of democracy in terms of class rule gives meaning to the concept 'the dictatorship of the proletariat.' It simply means rule by the proletarian class in its own interests instead of 'the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie' for its own interests. There always has to be class rule, therefore there is always dictatorship by one class or another. The concept has nothing to do with totalitarian government or indeed with any particular form of government. It is an analytical description of the basis of political decision-making in a society and it is wrong, therefore, to conceptualize the Soviet form of dictatorship as being similar to that practised by Hitler, Mussolini, Franco or Pinochet. Indeed, those dictators and bourgeois democracy had much in common for they served similar class interests.
@Robert L S Jr The primary contradiction in the world today is between United States imperialism and the rest of the world it seeks to dominate. As the political and economic crisis deepens the struggle for markets and spheres of influence becomes acute, so much so , that US imperialism, in its need to win the battle for markets and mineral, turns to war, and crude methods replace diplomacy and negotiations.
People don't know how good they had it till it was gone, They had free healthcare housing education etc. Didn't worry about having to go into debt, or even their children's future!
___ Arch if you are referring to the doping scandal...check the headlines the US just had a London medal removed for the EXACT same reason but it didn't make the headlines like the GDR did for some reason..... Hmm I wonder what that is....
scarletrobin Do you really think the US Olympic committee would not support an action like that behind closed doors? Do you really think the US (or any other country for that matter) is above doing that. You think the US hasn't put pressure on an athlete to do steroids and what not? Give me a break.
Cody Chapman Oy vey, here come the conspiracies. The GDR and USSR used the Olympics as a way to show the superiority of the communist lifestyle. That is why they cheated. The US has no reason to have a special doping program so why would they bother. I know you think it's cute to idealize things which do not exist anymore and bemoan those that do, but there is a reason why those things went away in the first place
conspiracy theories??? WTF are you talking about.... I love how you are just putting words in my mouth.. If you don't think the US didn't see the Olympics as a place to compete with the USSR to show off the capitalist lifestyle then you are off your rocker. Give me a break with this garbage you are spewing.
People is sooooo tired of the brutality of capitalism that leaves everyone at the market's mercy... that OFF COURSE they are going to miss the days when the government took care of them... it is not ideal. But humanity is at a turning point in which we will have to design a system that merges the best of both systems...
Typical western capitalist TV channel, interviewing only those who said the gdr was bad. Typical misleading title of video, so they can tell those of us who are curious that 'its just nostalgia, nothing else'.
@@techissus7449 They hold nostalgia, because they conveniently forget all of the bad elements. That is the same with all nostalgia. In the DDR in the 1950s and 1960s, people held nostalgia for the Third Reich.
Die war nicht Gut Meine Oma ist Von preußen geflohen und dann aus dem Osten in den Westen geflohen als sie von dem Osten verwante besuchen durfte blieb sie einfach im Westen
'2. The Transition from Capitalism to Communism Marx continued: "Between capitalist and communist society lies the period of the revolutionary transformation of the one into the other. Corresponding to this is also a political transition period in which the state can be nothing but the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat." Marx cited by Lenin in "State and Revolution" (pub.1918)
I feel that after WWII, it was important to keep Germans down. These people started two world wars for God’s sake. I enjoy seeing the Germans under the heel of the Soviets.
DDR was a social state. It was better that BDR from many points of view. But nowaday Germany is a social state, too. As long as the schooling is free and the unemployment is small, it is a better state than USA or UK
'most unpleasant aspects are beginning to be glossed over'. exactly the same, how the social damages of capitalism was being glossed over by Kohl's 'blooming landscape' propaganda. the social history of the DDR wasn't all about the stasi, the schandmauer & the stubborn SED gerontocracy.
retrospectively its not reunification, its annexation. we have the same problem here, where the "losing" side felt disenfranchised and discriminated against by the "victors", which is true to a certain extent. reconciliation goes a long way.
But if you don't kill them...you can't stop them. Do you see the paradox? If everyone who wanted to leave...did leave...East Germany would have quickly collapsed...which is why the wall was built in the first place. It was built to keep people in.
Where do you come from? Canada? Like you have slightest idea how fatal the collapse of the socialist states was. All the years the progressive movements in, be they ecological or peace minded, have got constant support. Only with the achivements of the GDR in the "neighbourhood" our workers got the good wages and social services they had. Now everything is being shortend and abolished. Germany is involved in war again, the third world is exploited like never before with no one to stop them.
@President Donald J Trump How about living in a massive Prison State like US? is that paradise mr president? How about living in a country that behead you if you forget to show up on mosque like Saudi Arabia? is that paradise Mr president?
@President Donald J Trump I know you hate Math Mr president, but since when 2,3 million Prison population is lower than 1,7 million?? not to mention China+north korean combined have more total population than US
@President Donald J Trump you're just describing America Low wages High Prices and low quality of services illusion of freedom of expressions Two party system, both parties have the same agenda
I have historical evidence, too, but thats quite easy to postulate. Behind most of so called "facts" are class interests. Quite difficult to know its full truthfullness for sure. But if you understood Marxism and its scientific nature and looked on the topic out of an marxist, dialectical and materialist perspective you would know which side is right.
If it was so pleasant, why were people trying to sneak out of East Germany at the cost of their lives and of the families that remained behind? People should reread the accounts of the people who attempted (if they're still alive!) or who have succeeded in doing so.
except, that East-Germany was prison itself.... I don`t know how old you are, but I was in GDR in the 70s and in the 80s and I could see the reality there, from the situation of my relatives. It was exactly a mild version of what my grandparents told me about 3rd Reich. Communism and facism are two sizes of the same coin.....
Living off of Gov't. handouts does not make a country great. Its the work ethic of the people, their inventive minds, and the products they develop. The people who want to go back to the DDR days are the types that would produced 5 pairs of shoes a day, and expect to get paid the same amount as a worker who makes 50 pairs a day.West Germany made Mercedes, Audis, et.al. while the DDR made Trabants (w/a plastic body?). I was there and saw the new East Germany, It has come a long way since 1989.
you probably don't know anything about history, people in communism had jobs, imagine, in a factory producing steel, 50% played football while the rest worked, they all had the same wages.
Think about it. If you have the right to travel because you can afford it you might ask yourself, why can't I go to the west. But today it's much more invisible. If you want to travel you need money and only if you have this money you can travel to places where it's cheap, because you can't afford more. Travelling isn't a right it is dependend on how much you earn. And don't tell me that people who work at lower paid jobs are lazy. They do much more for our society than Managers or Bankiers.
@@Ghreinos This has got nothing to do with East Germany. People in East Germany were not allowed to travel anymore not because of money issues but because of the brain drain that happened before 1961. And this is not unheard of. None of the communist countries people could travel for exactly the same reason: Any skilled labourer would never come back. Communism does not work!
@@mathisnotforthefaintofheart You dumb I travelled every holiday, because the socialist programs allowed that. Even for the ones, who weren't that rich. We couldn't travel to the west, but we could go to all eastern block countries. My children were on summer camps in Hungary (Budapest), even though me and my wife didn't have alot of money during this time, because we renovated our house. There was only one big Problem in a socialist country. The Country was basically the union and therefore you couldn't form any other Union and couldn't demonstrate.
@@Crow44195 Without minimum wage employees, no fast food CEO's would exist. These workers are the people who actually make the commodity. Capitalism cannot exist without them.
No wonder people are missing the DDR: Affordable housing No unemployment Social equality Women rights Sport facilities Public transportation All this in a country that ended up the war completely destroyed with a huge debt and demographic issues
Capitalism = Capital owners make the laws. Socialism = Society as a group make the laws. Communism = Each community as a group male their laws. We are slowly evolving and at this time 90% of the World population lives in Socialism.
DDR is always for me a bit misterious. Anyway I like this DDR, at least it was better than the old communist China, btw, China is no more communist country though it is ruled by the communist party.
Those 'germans' were children when the wall came down! They only experienced the nice sides of the GDR... I just got a whiff of the unpleasant aspects of that system, but it was a stench of reality nonetheless.
@@TheQueen-sw4th What kind of point are you even trying to make? All of the stuff that people in the USA are in for, they would also be in for in any socialist country.
The thing that you hear from some Germans that there is still is an invisible wall dates back from 1989 to 1990. Why? Well, when you have grown up with ideals and traditions and suddenly all that changes within a year its all too quick to fast. IN the GDR they had to sacrfice a lot of socialist services they provided for years for the free market system.In West Germany, you had to share the prosperous economy with the GDR.It was a lot of give and take, sacrifice, and the fear of the unknown.
