Walled in! The inner German border...

[Marc von Martial]

This is a very nice and well done CG Docu released by Deutsche Welle.
It cover what was all day live in Germany still 20 years ago. I remember much of this stuff "live". Good it's gone...

This is the link to the docu video on Youtube, it is available in HD also:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwQsTzGkbiY

Here is the link to the article on the Deutsche Welle website:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4440098,00.html

[andym]

I lived i  Germany during the "Cold War" and visted the border on many occaisions.It was a great day when the Wall came down,i for one shall never forget it.We went to East Berlin on a trip,at the Tomb of the Unkown Warrior we were approached by a small child with a small suitcase.She spoke very good english and asked us to take her out of the DDR,i have never forgotten her and often wonder if she was a "plant" by the Stasi or genuine.When we lived in Celle,we could recieve DDR television,it was archaic and typically Soviet Orientated.Both the West and the East had a childs programme called "The Sandman",it was ointeresting to see the difference between the Eastern version and the Western version.Happily a lot of the Border between the "old" East and West has now become a Nature Reserve.

[06 Maestro]

Thanks for the link-thats a keeper.

I went to Berlin several times in the early/mid '70's.  The "wall" was not as lovely as it was when that film was shot.  And I thought it was a joke about the "beautification" of the wall.

When I saw it the eastern side had a hundred meters or more of dirt and tank traps, no second wall, and then more uninhabited, ruined tenement buildings for a block or two-a very dismal scene.  The East German guards had wooden towers from which they could look into West Berlin.  I recall laughing at those guys a couple of times.  They were looking at us through binos from about 50 meters away-showing off their high tech tools I suppose.  The way that the wall cut through sections of the city was particularly bad-some areas right through cemeteries and so on.  I was told that the guards were regularly rotated so that they did not become buddies with fellow guards, as they might escape together.  There was a small museum in West Berlin that detailed many of the escape attempts-both failed and successful.  The commies had a full time job trying to keep people in (prison).  Of course, there were some, like Angela Davis that wanted to go East-she did it in broad daylight-and no one tried to stop her.[:D]  (She has since snuck back into the good ole USA.)

I will never forget the profound difference from East Berlin and West Berlin.  My unit went there 3 times-including into East Berlin a couple of times (in uniform).  It was like leaving a world of color and going into one of black and white-I'm not exaggerating.  The sense of sadness and dejection was quite evident.  The only thing that was impressive and had a little "color" to it was the Soviet war memorial.

I really hope that there were some documentaries made of that era.  It would really be a sad thing if some volks started yearning for the good old days of the DDR.

Again, thanks for the link.

Addit: The 1 K zone along the main border did not even have a wall back then-that I recall ever seeing-it was a fence, barbed wire and land mines. Of course, it was heavily guarded and patrolled.

[JudgeDredd]

Brilliant. Thanks for that Mark. Great stuff and added to favourites.

I was brought up in this era also, with the threat of a Soviet breakthrough West Germany very prominent, but I knew very little about the Wall. I certainly didn't know how elaborate it was!

[Lützow]

At the night of 10th november 1989 I was standing with 1000's of others at the top of Berlin Wall, straight across from Brandenburger Tor. The mood was indescribable and when I finally went home, next morning at 09.00 AM, the east german relatives of my spouse were already waiting at our doorstep. [:)]

[Zakhal]

Both the West and the East had a childs programme called "The Sandman",it was ointeresting to see the difference between the Eastern version and the Western version.Happily a lot of the Border between the "old" East and West has now become a Nature Reserve.

I watched finnish dubed version of the eastern "Sandman" when I was kid:


http://yle.fi/pikkukakkonen/historiikki ... matti.html

[Monkeys Brain]

ORIGINAL: Marc von Martial

This is a very nice and well done CG Docu released by Deutsche Welle.
It cover what was all day live in Germany still 20 years ago. I remember much of this stuff "live". Good it's gone...

This is the link to the docu video on Youtube, it is available in HD also:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwQsTzGkbiY

Here is the link to the article on the Deutsche Welle website:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4440098,00.html

Germany is very nice country. I lived near Esslingen in place called Nellingen. Now it is in fact small city called Ostfidern Zwei (2). I think that Ruit and Bercheim are also part of Ostfildern 2.
My father worked on company called Festo as engineer.

Stuttgart is also very nice city, I like it very much. This is all in Badden-Wurtemberg state.

I have also lived some time in Goeppingen and Reichenbach (great woods there!). Hmmm but I have been in many other cities in Germany. Munich, Hannover etc...

From Germany and German people you can learn lot of good things, culture, dedication to work, discipline, and in democracy they are also strong. Great nation which I respect very much.




Mario

[JudgeDredd]

[Marc von Martial]

I remember when we did our anual vacation in the Harz region (near Hannover). There the border ran over a moutain called Brocken. We went up to a little "museum" there and my father took me later into the woods, we crept through the underbrush, very close to the border. My father, being an NCO in the Bundeswehr back then, had a bino with him and so we could check out the guards on the other side. I remember him saying "now they got us" when he pointed over to two guards that were looking in our direction and taking photos. It scared the shit out of me. I think I was around 7 or 8 back then. I would have never guessed they could see us...
I wonder if that film was ever developed and the photos are archived somewhere [;)]

[EUBanana]

ORIGINAL: andym
We went to East Berlin on a trip,at the Tomb of the Unkown Warrior we were approached by a small child with a small suitcase.She spoke very good english and asked us to take her out of the DDR,i have never forgotten her and often wonder if she was a "plant" by the Stasi or genuine.

Ouch. [:(]

[Marc von Martial]

ORIGINAL: andym
When we lived in Celle,we could recieve DDR television,it was archaic and typically Soviet Orientated.

Oh yeah, I was glued to the "Der schwarze Kanal" with Karl Eduard von Schnitzler, Propaganda as best as it can get. When we visited my grandgrandma in the Harz, I always wanted to wtch that show. It was so strange and "not from this world" [:)]

I loved their fairy tale movies and children series as a kid though. Mostly stuff produced in Czechoslovakia.

[andym]

ORIGINAL: Marc von Martial

ORIGINAL: andym
When we lived in Celle,we could recieve DDR television,it was archaic and typically Soviet Orientated.

Oh yeah, I was glued to the "Der schwarze Kanal" with Karl Eduard von Schnitzler, Propaganda as best as it can get. When we visited my grandgrandma in the Harz, I always wanted to wtch that show. It was so strange and "not from this world" [:)]

I loved their fairy tale movies and children series as a kid though. Mostly stuff produced in Czechoslovakia.

LOL,i loved the "Lets speak English" programme,it was straight out of the 1950's,very much in the vein of Mr Cholmondley - Warner


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx_6WekXKcM


Also the Soviet inspired Worker of The Month Show!

[Monkeys Brain]

ORIGINAL: JudgeDredd

No need for flame popcorns [:'(][:D]

[Carl Myers]

I don't know about these smooth bare areas mentioned in the video. When I was stationed at Radenbeck, I would visit the border and many times would see gangs of men raking straight lines in the bare dirt. We always assumed that straight lines would be harder to recreate at night.
If we got bored, we would take our own cameras down to the border and play jack-in-box with the East German guards. The guards were supposed to take pictures of us but were not supposed to have pictures taken of them. When the guards pulled out their cameras, we pull out our cameras. The Guards would pop down out of sight and we would hide our cameras. After a few seconds, the guards would pop back up and then would try to take our pictures before we could pull out our cameras. Most times, they would stop trying to hide after few minutes.
And of course, there is the occasional GI who would go down to the border and moon the guards when the GI was FIGMO.

[andym]

T here was a book written quite a while back about the Wall from a BAOR perspective.It had many interesting and funny tales,shame i cant remember the title.I do know of some British Soldiers "mooning" the East German Border Guards,there was an "official Complaint" made.LOL   so somewhere in a file there must be a shot of some British hairy arses!!!

[Doggie]

How long before members of the "intellectual left" tell us this is all a myth?

[GaryChildress]

ORIGINAL: Doggie

How lopnmg before members of the "intellectual left" tell us this is all a myth?

Shame, shame Doggie. Political discussions on Matrix Forums are forbotten. [:-]

[06 Maestro]

ORIGINAL: Gary Childress

ORIGINAL: Doggie

How lopnmg before members of the "intellectual left" tell us this is all a myth?

Shame, shame Doggie. Political discussions on Matrix Forums are forbotten. [:-]

You're absolutely right Gary. Doggie should not have used the term "intellectual left". He should have used the term "moronic revisionists". That would be more to the point, and non political. In defense of Doggie, I don't think he was referring to Matrix members when he mentioned members.

[Doggie]

The holocaust never happened. 9/11 was an inside job. Pitiful death camp survivors stole "Palestine" right out from under milliions of Arabs. Canadians are humans. [8|]

How long before the Berlin wall gets the same treatment?

[GaryChildress]

ORIGINAL: Doggie

The holocaust never happened. 9/11 was an inside job. Pitiful death camp survivors stole "Palestine" right out from under milliions of Arabs. [8|]

How long before the Berlin wall gets the same treatment?

Virtually no one believes the holocaust never happened or that 9/11 was an inside job (not sure about Palestine, I don't pay much attention to Israeli history) And I don't think it's only the Left which comes up with wild conspiracies.