Destination Berlin (1989) - British guide on getting to West Berlin

A guide on how to get to West Berlin through East Germany by car for first-time travellers.

Produced by RMP TV.

#eastberlin #history #1980s

[eddievhfan]

Really makes you appreciate the relative ease of entering Arsotzska from Impor.

[nikousenpai]

Going to Germany next week, this video was very informative, thank you

[AsbestosMuffins]

"this man will salute you, no matter what you must salute them"

[BluJean]

Videos like this are my favorite kind of horror: totally mundane, procedural, and yet built around insane circumstances and calmly addressing terrifying outcomes. And all throughout the kafkaesque absurdity looms the hinted at possibly of being detained (officially or unofficially) by a hostile supervisory superpower…

[kazikian]

I was told this about traveling in Russia. For minor offenses, speak Russian and offer a bribe. For major offenses, speak English and show your passport.

[bcdm]

How do I explain to the algorithm that this kind of video, and exactly this kind of video, is what it should be offering me non-stop

[athomicritics]

"do not agree to anything"
Soviet soldier : "Pretty nice weather today eh ?"
British : "NO"

[oliverrugg]

I have no idea why, but the line "We *acknowledge* East German traffic laws, but we only *accept* Soviet authority" goes hard as hell.

[hoodio]

Schengen Agreement was quite the upgrade

[mrjockt]

Never did the journey by road, only by train, but do remember that when our identity cards were returned to us they were all warm from having been photocopied.

[phalanx]

My left ear really enjoyed this video.

[janhanchenmichelsen]

Interesting, but remember this was only for military personell. I travelled many times by car through DDR (on transit) as a tourist. A bit of paperwork and thorough car checks, but I never encountered any problems. All papers were good and we carried no contraband. Like certain literature, radio transmitters, printing equipment and so on. The border control guys were looking for this all the time.

[kazikian]

10:30 Photography is strictly forbidden in the DDR zone. Now here’s some video footage of that zone!

[envitech]

Excellent video!! I'm going to West Berlin next week, direct from West Germany. I'd be sure to follow all instructions here and salute the Soviet soldiers.

[watcherofclassics]

About the breakdown procedure, you must understand that most people back then did NOT have mobile/cell phones, so they really had to do all of that to make sure that the RMP knew what was really going on.

[insulanerin]

Grew up in West-Berlin at that time. Every holiday started with border checks. My parents stricktly told my younger brother and me never to annoy a border guard. We hated that and told our teddy bears to look angrily at the guards because we weren't allowed to ...

[xpaul]

This documentary perfectly shows the atmosphere of the iron curtain.
I spent several holidays in the DDR (GDR) in the 1980s and always wondered how (West) Germans and Americans could travel between West Berlin and West Germany. As I learned here, it wasn't as simple as I thought.
My father told me that on his business trip he saw an amazing thing in a buffet in (East) Berlin: a Soviet and an American soldier eating bratwurst at the same table.

[kurtnowak]

This video was created at great time and expense and became an invaluable resource for traveling military personnel- for a few weeks in 1989 before the wall fell.

[matthewgraham]

It’s wild how little the Allies acknowledged the East Germans.

Everything while in the GDR defaults to “ask to speak to a Soviet officer”

[ulrichs.]

I now wonder what else is in the travel pack that makes it so important to keep out of the hands of the soviets/GDR Vopo. "The debriefing officer is upstairs at our checkpoint" can't be it. Maybe it's "you're not allowed to take photographs, so _hide_ your cameras".
(Also, as every rule was added for a reason, there's somebody who made them put in the "Salute all four times. Yes even if you're not in uniform.Yes even if it's a female soldier.")