The Fall of the Berlin Wall - The Beginning of the End of the GDR | DW Documentary

Nov 8, 2024 | The Berlin Wall divided Germany for almost 30 years. It tore families apart and destroyed lives. Both the construction and the fall of the Wall were key moments in German history -- and beyond. The film explores the history of this important structure.

The construction of the Wall was preceded by a veritable countdown. The supporters of the Wall defended it as an "anti-fascist protective rampart” and a bulwark against capitalism. Nearly three decades later, the Wall’s supporters were taken by surprise, unable to prevent it from coming down without risking a global crisis.

Back in 1961, it was just as hard to believe that a political system would imprison its own people as it seemed impossible, 28 years later, that the Wall could fall peacefully. The fall of the Wall was also preceded by a countdown. The film recounts the milestones that, starting with the autumn of 1988, culminated in the historic fall of the Wall in November 1989.

American Defector: Victor Grossman | East Germany (GDR) / Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR) | Documentary

Jul 1, 2020 | Victor Grossman defected to the Soviets from the US Army in 1952. To this day he still lives in what used to be East Berlin.

WIKIPEDIA: East Germany.

An Evening with a Socialist Defector: Victor Grossman aka Stephen Wechsler

Oct 5, 2019 | An American journalist, writer and popular speaker, who defected to the USSR in 1952, Victor Grossman has since lived in East Germany, then the reunified Germany, chronicling life, politics and humanity.

Victor's latest book is published by Monthly Review Press and titled "A Socialist Defector: From Harvard to Karl-Marx-Allee": [Click here.]

Recorded at Der Rote Laden, Friedrichshain, Berlin on 3 October 2019.


Please note that I am posting this video for educational purposes only. I have no liking for that economic system. Not at all. However, I am interested to know what day-to-day life was like behind the ‘Iron Curtain’. Furthermore, Victor Grossman is a rather fascinating character. – © Mark Alexander

Related video here.

LGBT Rights in East Germany

Dec 6, 2023

Please note well that the mere fact that I am posting this video here should not be in any way misconstrued. I am not posting it because I have any liking for the then GDR, communist East Germany; rather, I am posting it for educational purposes. I, for one, had absolutely no idea that the GDR was progressive in matters gay rights.

Truth to tell, I have trouble understanding why others have trouble with two people of the same sex loving each other anyway. Many people’s attitudes would point to them being in some way pious, whereas, in actual fact, they are usually most certainly not. And how many of those homophobes eat shellfish or have tattoos? Lest we forget, these two things are STRICTLY FORBIDDEN by the Bible. Check out Leviticus! And how many of us mix fibres when we dress ourselves in the morning? Or transgress when it comes to the many other dietary laws and restrictions — the many proscriptions clearly set out in the Bible? – © Mark Alexander

A Socialist Defector: From Harvard to Karl-Marx-Allee

Jul 16, 2019 | Victor Grossman defected to East Germany while serving in the US military in the 1950's. His latest book recounts his assessment of life in the US, in East Germany, and in the united Germany. We discuss the book with the author

Beyond the Wall: Part 1 - The Rise of Germany's Far Right; Part 2: From Germany to Bulgaria, What Happened to Hope? | People & Power

Last East German Leader Still a Convinced Socialist
THE LOCAL: Communist East Germany's last leader Egon Krenz said this week he still believes socialism will triumph over capitalism in the end, almost 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

"I am still optimistic and cannot believe that capitalism, with all the crises it generates, can be history's very last word," Krenz, still sprightly at the age of 72, told reporters on Thursday.

Krenz took over from long-term communist leader Erich Honecker on October 18, 1989, as the regime vainly sought to regain control of a country engulfed in a peaceful revolution that brought down the hated Berlin Wall just three weeks later.

Eleven months on, communist East Germany, also known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a thing of the past as it merged with West Germany to form a single country.

But inequalities remain between the two halves of the country.

Just ahead of the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Wall, unemployment is twice as high in the east, and eastern German towns are losing their youngest citizens as they seek work elsewhere.

"We've achieved quite a few things in reunified Germany, like building roads, motorways, and renovating town centres," Krenz said. "But at what price? Freedom without work isn't freedom," he added. "Today's walls in Germany are those separating the poor from the rich."

He also had some sharp words for Germany's current Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in the GDR, saying she has been "bad" for the country.

But he took pleasure in pointing out that she once belonged to the communist youth organisation (FDJ) when she was growing up behind the Iron Curtain.

In Sunday's general election, which is expected to give Merkel a second term, he said he would vote for socialist party The Left, a party made of former GDR communists and defectors from the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).

"I back its programme, so you know how I'll be voting," Krenz said. >>> AFP | Friday, September 25, 2009