German Reunification Explained

German Reunification almost didn't happen. It was opposed by nearly all world leaders.


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[hardcorehardo]

Sadly, the people living in Prussia didn't just get to be polish or Russian.. they were forced out of their homes and had to flee westwards. Do to the hard winter conditions many lost their lifes or were mistreated and murdered by Soviets

[KohlerSAStudios]

Now I get it. France, USA, Britain and the Soviet got so sick of Helmut Kohl saying “Germany will be united” they eventually gave in so he would shut up.

[beageler]

I will never forget that evening, when the wall came down. I was seven years old, on TV the were people dancing and singing and fireworks were going off. My mum was crying. I didn't understand then what was happening. But everybody was glad and hopeful and relieved. It was awesome.

[quietdignityandgrace]

Historically speaking, when Germany says "unite", the rest of the world gets a little nervous.

[notmaireelneim]

Germany will I can't remember how it ends because you didn't say it often enough.

[PurpleCrownVic]

It kills me how the border guards were like "we aint paid enough for this" and opened the gates lmao

[dr_flaming]

Margeret Thatcher: the dominant people in Europe would be German
another person in the background: yey

[Loser]

Germany: can I be unified

All of Europe: *war flashbacks* n o

[omkargadewar]

One man promised that Germany would be united: Otto Von Bismarck.
LOL

[BigAl-ue]

**Looks at a map of modern Germany**
Otto von Bismarck: Look at how they massacred my boy.

[AsisTM]

Sorry I didn't get the Germany will be united part. Can you repeat it like another 100 times please?

[AustrianGuy]

Donald Trump: Man, it's hard to build a wall...

Walter Ulbricht & Erich Honecker: First time?

[duwang]

I need to correct you about something. When you talked about the kaliningrad oblast and the lands east of the oder neisse, you said that the people there now would live in russia and poland. But that's wrong, because shortly after the war almost all germans from these regions (and in general east europe) where expelled or killed, leaving only a small part in upper silesia and Transylvania

[Moritz]

I am from Berlin and I was there when the wall fell. The atmosphere was crazy. Everybody was so happy and full of hope. So many people openly cried tears of joy. But I only was 9 (or 10) at this time. So the real extent of this historical event wasn't clear to me back then. I mean: I was born in West-Berlin and grew up with 2 Germanies as the normality. I didn't know it differently. So it all felt like an adventure to me.

[romanbaranovichi]

Massive like for correct pronunciation of Gorbachev

[NathanS__]

“These people were now Russian... polish”
That’s a nice way to say millions of Germans were expelled and replaced by Russian/polish settlers.

[seansantos]

Who else cant get over the fact that all of this wouldn't have happened if some Serbs hadn't killed a austro-Hungarian guy

[MHG]

The explanation regarding Helmut Kohl´s decision not to demand those territories taken over by the Soviet Union and Poland is a bit misleading.
It is true that he attempted to get back as much as possible.
But he was aware that this would not have been possible and didn´t push too hard for that.
He just needed to show certain organizations (representing those that had been expelled from these territories) in Germany that he did his best ...

Otherwise Poland would have demanded back the territories that were taken by the Soviet Union (these territories are part of Ukraine today btw.)
So, insisting on these territories by Germany would´ve created great chaos through shifting back various borders - without helping anybody since anything German in the western Polish and anything Polish in western Soviet Union / Ukraine is gone.
So, returning "East Prussia" to Germany was not going to happen - under any circumstances -

In particular in Kaliningrad area there´s very little German cultural heritage (e.g. housing, etc.) left and since it is a major Soviet/Russian navy installation they were never going to give it up again - ever.
Helmut Kohl knew that.
After the war the German inhabitants of the (now) western Polish territory and East Prussia (Königsberg/Kaliningrad) were expelled and had to leave behind everything they possessed.

But - the same happened to the Polish people that lived in the area of the western Soviet Union (now western Ukraine).
They were moved to the former German territory in western Poland.
That´s a fact that these organizations of expelled people in Germany silently ignore all the time ...
These Polish people had to suffer the same fate as the expelled Germans.
So, we can´t turn it over all again without creating new tensions/problems.

Germany got the max out of what was possible when the big wall fell.

We´re lucky !!!

[Hollywood]

Your drawing of Gorbachev is hilarious

[juanchoalbertonity]

Take a shot everytime he says

G E R M A N Y

W I L L

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U N I T E D