How the Berlin Wall Worked 

As John F Kennedy put it: “Democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in.”

The longstanding difference between the two sides of the wall is crazy to see. There are many statistics in which you can still see the divide where the wall used to stand.

I actually remember when my parents took me and my brother to see the wall. We were on vacation in west germany, and one day we went there to Berlin, just to see the wall. Several years later we saw on CNN how the wall was torn down. My father felt it was important his kids got to see it, as he had been a journalist who on several occasions had been to the Warschaupact for stories he wrote for magazines. I guess it was trips like this that instilled in me a desire to know about history, how it gets repeated, and how we rarely seem to learn from it.

A former teacher of mine who was a guard at the wall for the east when he was young told us how he started questioning it once he realized that it looked like it was keeping them in rather than keeping others out. He said he was glad that he never encountered anyone during his duty, because if he had, he wouldn't have had the chance to deny doing his job. Knowing this, the seemingly inhuman guards become more complex too. You see someone approach and know that they will change the rest of your life right there, if you weren't unfortunate enough to encounter someone several times.

My grandmother escaped from the east on new years eve of 1961 by passing through the border checkpoint with the pass of a woman from Belgium that looked very similar to her which was smuggled in by my granfather who was living in Westberlin when visiting her. Of course the border guards noticed the missing immigration stamp on the pass but after 12+ hours of cross-examination they let her go.

I was stationed in Berlin from 88-92 and worked in the Meddac (hospital). I took a trip to East Berlin Before the wall came down. You had to get special permission and go as a group in our Class A uniforms so there would be no confusion that we were there to do anything other than shopping and eating. I didn't buy much while there because most of the things I wanted to buy was fine China and crystalware which I couldn't store anywhere since I lived in the barracks. I was off duty for the two days when AFN (news) came on the TV saying that the wall was open. I watched in shock and confusion, then realized I had a decision to make. Was I going to say and watch it on TV and wait for the orders to come from Headquarters to stay what we could and couldn't do? One of my roomates and I decided we were leaving before official orders came down to lock us o base. One of the best decision I ever made. We left! We got to be right smack in the center of this world changing event. CheckPoint Charlie and the Brandenburg Gate (within walking distance). I got to get on top of the wall and got a few pictures (I wish a digital camera was thing then). I helped East Germans up and over the wall. I ventured where no American had been in civilian clothes, East Berlin. I stayed to celebrate all night and into the morning. I knew I couldn't go back to the barracks because they were not allowed to leave. So I stayed out, but eventually I went to my girlfriend's apartment and got some sleep. It was in the early morning hours and I didn't go far as I was scared something might happen to me. In the days and weeks after the wall opened up, I went deeper into the east with my German Girlfriend on our bikes. Trust me know I was taking part in world history and I took it all in.

Escaped with my family to the "golden west" in 1970. Thanks, father. Best present you could make to a child growing up.

My grandparents had their house less than a kilometer from a small river that marked the northernmost section of the border. And there was a little pub right down at the river where my grandfather would sometimes take us to get icecream when I was 5. That section of the border was basically a swamp, so the actual fortifications were a couple hundred meters inside East German territory, and completely hidden by the trees growing on the east bank. So it really just looked like a completely unremarkable little river maybe 15 meters across. However, my aunt says when she was playing down at the river with her friends, they sometimes saw East German soldiers patrolling the other side, and sometimes you could hear mines getting set off by deer in the distance. It's really weird to realize later that the Iron Curtain ran just behind my grandparents backyard.

That shot starting at 6:30 is absolutely insane, beautifully modeled. Incredibly sad what it is depicting though, and the lengths went to in order to keep people separated. Great explanation and breakdown, thank you!

Berlin has to be one of the most historically interesting cities in the world. This, the Cold War era alone is like something out of a dystopian movie. A huge city divided in ideology, economy, technology, currency and general way of life, yet the people on both sides want the wall torn down. It went from being the centre of the Nazi-regime to being a chess board where western capitalism and eastern communism competed, and the inhabitants played the part of pawns. There was no time to adapt.

Finnaly after 2 months my fav RU-vidr posts

There's a section of the Berlin Wall in my home city, Canberra. It sits out the front of the Harmonie German club. My father and I visited it a few weeks ago and had a very solemn moment staring at this monolith that once played a part in cutting a city and more symbolically a nation in two. When my Father was watching it fall on the news in 1989 with his family it was a moment unbelievable to everyone there, like up become down in a matter of hours. Great video as always 👍

I will say, I signed up to nebula so I could watch the balloon escape story, and it did not disappoint! Honestly had me on the edge of my seat and happy crying. Hopefully that’s not a spoiler!

Neo single-handedly makes Nebula worth it. There's other content on there thats amazing, but Neo's Nebula content consistently makes me feel like I've gotten my monthly subscription-worth of money.

Ive waited so long for a new video, thank you so much neo. You are such an inspiring human. Thank you for entertaining us. (:

Lovely. I was reading and watching a lot about the post-war period, the Berlin Wall and reunification for the last two weeks. Perfect timing. You have an excellent channel.

Stunning and beautiful video! Your animations just keep getting better. You're the only RU-vidr that has convinced me to subscribe to Nebula because your content is just that worth it for me to watch. Keep up the good work!

When Wim Wenders made his masterpiece Wings of Desire, he was not allowed to film with the wall in one scene, so he created a faux wall that is a hilarious take on the original.

I saw it as an 11 year old in 1984. My dad worked as a civilian for the British Army in W. Germany and we went on a trip to Berlin. There were viewing platforms on the west side where you could look over. We also saw a checkpoint being repaired and East German soldiers guarding the workers so they wouldn’t run off. I’ll never forget it .

loved the video and missed your uploads so much

"Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in." - JFK

I just wanted to say that aside from the incredibly elaborate and interesting videos you're making, which are super complete and well explained for even people like me who has just recently started being amazed by this huge universe built around arquitecture (specially when you explain the possibilities of the "impossible" buildings of the future), your voice transmits so much positive energy and you have a charming smile which pours on the video and at least in my case, cant help but to smile in return. Thanks for your hard work!

how do these videos keep getting better and looking better at the same time. he is too good to be true. ILY NEO keep it up

Thanks Neo, amazing visuals and animation as per!

I was stationed at the US Army Garrison at Ledward Barracks in what was then Schweinfurt, West Germany. We were 20 miles (32.2 Kilometers) from the then border. I was a combat medic who was in charge of driving an M113A2 MEDEVAC vehicle. Many times did the infantry have to go to the border and take their turn. Part of that was to help East German citizens into West Germany if needed. I was at a remote location one time, providing medical support for the troops there. What you didn't mention was the mine fields and anti-vehicle ditches that were outside of populated areas. I have witnessed the attempt of 28 East German citizens make an attempt to escape to West Germany. They were in a big truck with an open area in the back. It looked similar to the US Army's 2.5-ton truck, commonly called the duece-and-a-half. Of the 28 people crammed into this truck, only 2 made it to the west side alive. The others were shot and killed by East German guards. We could do nothing unless they shot at US Troops. All we could do is watch people die. As a medic, the two who survived were the only two that actually made it the camp, although both were badly injured. I could only save those two. But so many more died not only that day but throughout the time of East & West Germany. Much of the things that went on still haunt me to this day.

I love every second of this sorta stuff istg

This is a great video on the wall. I've seen several and this is probably the best at fully describing it in detail and visually.

My Grandma which was from Germany had told me that in the later years of the wall, east German soldiers were always in groups of two during patrols. She said that if one soldier was to try and escape, the other soldier was to shoot the one escaping. It's insane how such a community very similar can be divided by ideals and then forced to be divided by strict measures with the wall.

Very well done! I was stationed there in the early 80’s. I have memories and pictures but this puts it into perspective. Thx

My mom actually has a decent sized piece of the wall. Quite a historical souvenir if I do say so myself.

Content is of extreme quality brother. keep at it!

Great video that explains the situation in a really succinct way. TY.

I love these videos! They are just so entertaining!

amazing graphics

Dude, epic work! Thanks or sharing, much appreciated!

Hats off to your wonderful work. The animation and story telling is incredible. Wow! I will definitely re-watch this video after some time.

It would be nice to include a timeline of how they decided to build a wall. What was the final straw.

my grandparents were in west germany on a business trip when the wall fell, my grandfather brought back a few pieces of the wall and I have one of them on my desk, my father and grandfather have the other two

6:30 That consistent shot with the combination of ambient music and audio effects are so well done. Very dramatic.

What a great video. I was always curious as to how it worked.

That JFK quote always hits hard "I know Democracy isn't perfect but we never have to build a wall to keep our people in"

The Berlin Wall and Inner German Border of the Iron Curtain were the most militarized borders during the Cold War.

Great content, enjoyed watching and learning more about the wall. Have seen it in Berlin, but mustn't of understood at the time the lengths the East went to by 1975. Absolutely mad.

Great video as always, also the pronunciation of "Stalinallee" was absolutely perfect 👍

It's easy to forget the human impact of such historical events as the Berlin Wall. This evocation of the brutal separation it caused is truly heartbreaking. Took away much more than roads and jobs, it took away relationships and loved ones.

The classic adage "The Berlin wall was meant to keep the East Germans in, not keep the West Germans out". Also, the Berlin Airlift was such a flex.

Thanks neo for the amazing animation style

These are the type of informative videos that we need !

I walked across at Check Point Charlie in 1967. I also broke off a piece of the wall that same year

I don’t remember paying for RU-vid Premium 👏

Awesome video! You are so underrated, I don’t know why more people watch!

Some of the eeriest consequences of the wall and division of the city were "ghost stations" on the U-Bahn (subway). Before WWII Berlin had an extensive subway system, or U-Bahn. After the wall went up the U-Bahn was divided just like the city. Some of the lines existed entirely on one side or the other. Some lines that originally spanned both sides of the city were cut in two. Trains would travel up to the newly created dead-end, then turn around and go back from where it came. There were a few lines that served West Berlin, but crossed under a small section of East Berlin. The stations which those lines had once served in East Berlin were now closed. The street entrances were blocked off and bricked up. Barbed wire was strewn along the edge of the platform to prevent any East Germans who had somehow found their way into the station from boarding a train bound for West Berlin. The stations were dimly lit, and the booths that had once sold tickets became guard stations. Trains would slowly pass through the station, but would not stop. As it passed by the dark empty station, West Berliner passengers would see a station frozen in time, untouched from the moment in 1961 when the wall was erected.

Nice to see a video like this when I couldn't find a detailed video on the Berlin Wall before. Other channels like this love milking about North Korea or something when there's no new info 😅

This wall was completely insane. And the thinking behind this wall is working until today in Russia. "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!“ Reagan said. They built this wall anew.

My West-German parents travelled to China in the late 80s and for some reason, their itinerary brought them through Berlin (and from there via Moscow to Beijing). Years later, we went on a family vacation to the unified Berlin and as we drove towards Brandenburg Gate, my mom started to cry. When she saw the Gate the last time, it had the Wall around it. It was off limits. I was still very young but I think witnessing this emotion, triggered by a past I never lived in, shaped my understanding and appreciation of our current times a lot.

Great animations and video as always!

Fun fact: This is the world that Putin laments when he dreams of 'reuniting' the Soviet Union...

Berlin wall did not separate two counties, it surrounded a city, so my question is, how the actual border looked like, one 170km to the west of Berlin?

This is an amazing video great job

Very impressive. The video was excellent too.

With the expense of the wall they could've built something to improve lives...

anyone know how to animate and create banger videos like neo?

The escape stories are amazing

Bold title for a wall which didn't work

The perils of clinging too stubbornly to ideology. If your own citizens want to escape, you know you’re wrong. But if you don’t admit it, you start trapping them in against their will because you can’t admit that your ideology is faulty

i love your vids, there so detailed and have cool animations

video quality is really good ngl !!

I can’t wait for the Air Force 1 episode

My OCD hates you for constantly putting East on the left!

Thanks for sharing - - this is a great video. 🙂👍🏼👍🏼

Very good video. Congrats

Not a Border wall but a Prison wall. East was the Prison.

All communist dictatorships are socialist, but not all socialist nations are communist dictatorships.

The footage of the building of the wall is insane

For anyone that is interested in knowing more about the Balloon escape, there is a great movie about it called "Ballon". But no stealing watchers from his video about it, never watched it before but will definetly in the future! Amazing vid!

Babe wake up Neo posted.

Great video on walls Neo! Now that you covered the one that was in Berlin, cover the one that is in the West Bank 🍉🍉🍉

yesssss, neo finally posted

YAYYYY NEW VID AND AWESOME TOPIC

How the Berlin wall worked...until it didn't.

a bit anti climatic ending :/

WE NEEDED THIS 🗣🗣🔥🔥💯💯💯💯

beautiful animations

So this is just an ad for your main video on nebula. Fraud.

Funny how people tend to flee west and not east...

Danke für dieses tolle Video ❤🇩🇪

I love your videos!

“Capitalism has its flaws but we’ve never had to build a wall to keep our people IN” - Kennedy

Yeah so wording and context is quite important here. I see that a naive approach provides a good introduction to the video, but nobody "had to build a wall". That was an incredibly cruel political decision that still has painful repercussions in Germany today.

Border guards were obliged to fire warning shots before shooting at escapees. This was also a problem when for some time a automatically shooting system was introduced. Another nice detail to mention is that on the western side of the wall about a meter of ground was still officially East German land. So anyone decorating the wall at the time was standing on East German soil.

Great video, super interesting!

sad that people think socialism is the what we need, those that advocate for it. clearly have never read a history book.

Seems like a logical and appropriate solution at the time given the centuries of aggression, genocide, and shocking degree of global conflict required to mitigate this rogue territory. Humans are flawed and forgetful to stupid around past events, this of which caused significant grief for my own grandparents.

Well written, amazing artwork and production level. This is what 10/10 content looks like... Like I just watched Fern's video on the same topic earlier and it was abysmal. The whole thing looks like it was written and produced by some AI off Alibaba ffs.

I touched a piece of the Berlin wall. There's a large section of the wall at the National Infantry Museum in Columbus, GA. It's an amazing museum and would take more than one day to take it all in.

The amount of liberals and or youth who’d choose socialism over free market capitalism in America today truly have no idea what socialism, and communism do to the people.

Not sure why they bothered, I've been repeatedly told that walls don't work.

the pact this showed up when i am learning about the berlin wall in school is wild

My grandmother and her sister were orphans in East Germany after WW2 and were adopted into different families at a young age before the wall was built. The family of my grandmother fled to the West, while her sister stayed. They didn't see each other for a long time. Today they regularly visit each other. It's just crazy to imagine being torn apart like that.

America taking notes...