The Berlin Wall: Escaping for Freedom and Love

To many, this marked the beginning of the Cold War. Churchill’s ‘iron curtain’ may have been a figure of speech, but across many borders in Europe this division took the form of physical barriers: walls or structures to prevent capitalist infiltration of the ‘paradise on Earth’ that was real socialism. More likely, these barriers were to prevent citizens of Eastern Europe from fleeing repressive regimes and police states.

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Credits:
Host - Simon Whistler
Author - Arnaldo Teodorani
Producer - Jennifer Da Silva
Executive Producer - Shell Harris

[geographicstravel]

Have you checked out my latest channel Business Blaze? It's interesting business stories with a dose of ridiculousness thrown in. Check it out here:

[brya]

"he came, he saw, he conquered" Oh my. That was amazing.

[Alliebaba]

"She has since shifted her affections to a nearby garden fence" I lost it!😂😂

[fransvphc]

The story of the brothers is just amazing, amagine seeing your brothers drop out of the sky "get in nerd were goin to west germany". X')

[amb]

The fall of the Berlin Wall was extremely important in my growth as a person and my decision to study history. I was 10 years old and I watched it on television. It meant very little to me until I saw a boy about my own age amidst the people tearing it down -- it was at that point that I realized history wasn't just events from the distant past, but happening RIGHT THEN and, contrary to what I'd been led to believe from school lessons, children were part of history. Children weren't merely affected by events/history, they could be active participants in shaping history and the world around them.

[redchic]

I stood at the wall in '80. Even though I was a kid, the memories of the guards are still vivid. I tried to take a picture from the wall, of east Berlin, and a guard promptly pointed a rifle at me. Going through checkpoint Charlie, being thoroughly frisked, was something else. We stopped to use a restroom and guards were there in five minutes, frisking us and our vehicle all again because we stopped at the wrong restroom. After being on east Germany for only about a half hour, we left. All the while, we had a guide while there that told us about how part of her family was stuck there, stories she knew of people who'd died trying to get to escape to be with their family on the west side. It was sad and sickening to hear how this wall had devasted so many people... Including the family of this person who was showing us around. Even though I was only 8 when we were there, I never forgot that half hour visit to east Germany and the stories I heard while there. 40 years later and I still remember our guides name
When in high school, we were watching the news of the Berlin Wall coming down, live, in my world history class... As the east Germany people were starting to break down the wall. I couldn't contain my happiness! I think I was the only student in my class who was outwardly happy for the east German people, who could try to connect with what what left of their families and experience the outside world, while the other students seemed to think it was people just breaking a wall that happened to border their country.

[barry]

How sad is it that that poor man ended up committing suicide most likely from the shame put on him by his friends and family. He was 18 when he took that fateful jump, barely even a man. Do they expect that he should have remained and suffered alongside them because they didn't get a chance like he did?


It appears from the point of view that is presented here that he suffered a lot more than they did in the end to be driven to taking his own life.

[Iamtheliquor]

The day the wall came down, I was still at high school and ironically, we had a German lesson that day! Friday was the day that the German university student would come in . The whole lesson was talking about the wall and all this student girls hopes and dreams of what was to be her reunified country. The girl was crying her eyes out with joy for the whole hour! Its a day I’ll never forget!

[Li.Siyuan]

As somebody who was in the RAF and stationed in Berlin during the late 1970's working in SIGINT (Signals Intelligence) at the US listening post at Teufelsberg, then later in West Germany, I was in tears listening to this as I have a very real understanding of what was being said here. I witnessed a lot of the tragedy that was the Berliner Mauer and these stories struck home with a force I thought I'd left behind me 40 years ago. Apparently not.

[OriginalR]

The story of the Bethke brothers needs to be made into a movie! They are a perfect example of German inventiveness put into action.
The human spirit is truly amazing.

[princessbuttercup]

"She has since shifted her affections to a nearby garden fence". 🤣🤣 Made me spit my food out.

[Sarah_D.]

When I was in high school (mid-to-late 90's) I took a German language class via satellite. It was taught by an older gentleman who had immigrated to the US from Germany some years back. One day, he told us the story of how, when he was a young man - not much older than we were then - he just barely managed to escape on the very last train out of East Germany as they were closing the border. (Pretty sure it wasn't the "crazy train" mentioned in the video though.) Learning about it in history class was one thing, but being able to hear a first-hand account from someone who actually lived through it definitely made it more "real."

[vanessasmith]

I lived in West Germany in the mid 80's. I remember we took a trip to the East/West German border, it was very eerie too look out towards the East, hearing church bells coming from there. It's something that will stay with me forever.

One of your best ever presentations. I think you should do one regarding the Jews on the Polish ghetto.

[stevehansen]

I was privileged to serve in the US Army's Berlin Brigade in 1963/4. Several years ago I was able to visit Berlin and exercise an everyday reality for Berliners today. I walked from the former West Berlin through the Brandenburger Gate and into the former East Berlin where I bought a Coke and a Currywurst and found a place to sit and enjoy it. No police were present and the people moving about were not the least bit concerned. We won.

[corvus]

I was in the US Air Force, stationed in Germany, in the 1970s. At that time, Berlin was still considered a four-nation divided city, but the military from one nation could travel to the part of the city controlled by the other countries. So a friend and I decided to visit Berlin from our West Germany base, and we could also visit East Berlin. We traveled by train across East Germany into West Berlin, and we were required to keep the blinds closed while traveling across East Germany. We stayed in a military hostel in West Germany, and then we went into East Berlin. We were required to wear our uniforms, and we had to pass through Checkpoint Charlie. As we passed through, we were told that we had to let the American guards know when we would be coming back. So we gave them some random time. We were also told that we could not travel on East German streetcars or taxis, we had to go everywhere on foot.
East Berliners would not talk to us unless we were buying things in stores. They avoided us at all costs. We couldn't even get them to give us directions.
We traveled back to the Checkpoint, but like I said, we were on foot, so we were ten minutes late getting back. The American guards were in a US military car crossing the border to come look for us just as we got there, and we got a tongue lashing for not coming back when we said we would.
While staying in the military hostel, we watched a little bit of East German TV. One thing we watched was an English language training show. The episode we watched was about "have you got" as in "Have you got the time?" The show was teaching British English. But in the background of the show, was a very subtle anti-capitalism. The two main characters were laborers who were mistreated by the boss who owned the shop they worked at.

[joseantoniolago]

I was living in the DDR(GDR) not in Berlin but in Rostock, when the wall came down and the Trabant, became car of the year, 30 years has passed, I'm getting old.

[MStroyeck]

Simon, I've just got to say that this video is leaps and bounds better than all of the other videos that news stations have been putting up in America. And yes, I am posting a link to this video in every one of the poorly done comment sections. Keep up the awesome job!

[michellefisher]

the conrad story has such a sad end :(

[timhancock]

Simon!
Perhaps one of your greatest shows, I served in the US Marines for the last 4 years of the Cold War and some how I never heard these stories, thank you for sharing the human tragedy & triumph. Truly moving. Thank you
Tim Hancock
Boston Massachusetts

[traininYourCORE]

She really took sitting on the fence to a whole new level