Transcripts For DW Germany And The Cold War 20240712

Critics alike join us the metal stuff stops. Cold war was an ideological war people said you know it is not clear what system is best what system will prevail. In track of our long time the issue of who was more confident economically to use was not totally clearly just and in the west the sputnik shock caused total panic sets africa. How surprising was that now its us who are showing the west showing the americans what technical progress is taking issue faults. Down the hudson got to see an immunity to the military doctrine at the time was mutual assured destruction we were prepared if they had a chance. Really were. This is going to throw in the 1st 15 minutes of a war germany would have gone up in flames like a tool which. In fact we were really scared because it could all kick off any time someone goes crazy and bam were in the middle of a 2 month. The 2nd world war came to an end in europe in may 945. 00 with germanys Unconditional Surrender the victorious powers divided the ruined country into force zones of occupation it was supposed to be temporary but communist leader Joseph Stalin was in little mood for compromise with the western democracies france britain and the us. This Ideological Division led to the cold war a battle for dominance over the world that would last for decades and split europe into 2. Nowhere was this more evident than germany where the iron curtain ran through the middle of the country and the city of berlin was divided by a wall. Here and is alone in western germany the war came to an end on april 16th 1945 when american troops arrived. It ultimately became part of democratic west germany. But not everywhere liberated by the americans ended up 3. D. Is the version that most people could accept was to say who liberated us that we were liberated by the americans and we suffered under the russian city in this one thing that was the short form in other words the soviet unions contribution to liberating germany from fascism shrank to virtually nothing in the suits and then. There were similar scenes at 1st in holland as in eastern germany. In late april 945 it too was taken by american troops. For 9 year old. The liberators were enemy soldiers but they were quite different from what he had been told to expect. They entered the town in good spirits and she had any as if it were nothing special at all because we met them and looked at them stupid as it was we bravely rejected the sweets and chocolate they offered us full for the eagles but that was how we have been brought up sadly the americans were soon replaced by the russians allied produce wasnt done for that it wasnt. The russians came and the americans left. The allies had agreed that holland would fall into the soviet occupation zone the days of sweet scent chocolates were over. For dinner was assured out now to announced we were afraid of the russian soldiers of one of them had assaulted our mother on her way to night school especially to learn russian for us fortunately it happened near our house got so drunk i heard my mother screamed and ran down until i was only 9 years old at the time i just saw the russian let go of her and disappear was a funny obvious show interest on fox wants to. Write from the start relations between russians and germans were fraught with problems it was a different story from the western sectors the division of germany had already begun. In late july 945 stalin met with u. S. President harry truman and british Prime Minister Winston Churchill in pottstown near berlin but no longer united against a common enemy there was little they could agree on. At the meeting in poland stern stalin had said right. From the start the germany was not to be divided i think that truman categorically rejected that idea in his briefcase his assistant was carrying 3 all full models for the division of germany where they give. The victors mistrusted one another. Now that the struggle against nazi germany was over each wanted its own germany its own sphere of influence its own buffer against the others. Germany was divided into 4 parts. French. British american. With the 2nd world war behind them disagreements between the soviets and the western allies were out in the open the soviet union had lost more than 20000000. 00 people and was economically devastated stalin demanded 10000000000 dollars and access to the royal Industrial Area in western germany stalin needed coal and he held a bargaining chip much to the. German prisoners of war. Stalin had thousands of them herded through moscow even before the war was over. But this humiliation of the losing side failed to achieve its desired effect. This and. The mayor was silence and people just stood there and looked and there was no shouting no outbursts of rage just this total silence absolute the shtetl in his own minds on the dimensions of the tragedy on both sides were so massive thought that had to my view to my you might say that People Fairly quickly felt sympathy for the germans they were hungry and racket. In 1945 more than 3000000 german men were imprisoned in soviet camps many would not see their home again for many years. But all. The german prisoners were forced into reeducation. Socalled and tea for schools for anti fascist were designed to expunge the old ideology and instill communist ideals. And move us the who would know me the red army colonel tried to free us from this nazi ideology this view so that our return to germany we would actually be educated marxists who are coming from in prisons and as friends of the soviet union would fall in theres a soviet dont you think you function of. Naziism was thoroughly discredited and communism and to fill the ideological vacuum the soviet union now controlled one half of europe and believed there was only a matter of time until it controlled the rest communist ideals had attracted many followers in the west now there were fears communists could take advantage of the postwar instability to seize power as one miscarriage because i have from this the angst spitta history it is important to understand i think that there was this great fear that socialism was still a seductively ideology feel that the shit if you look east at a during the 1950 s. People spoke about a domino theory and this and this fear was not unjustified after all for a long time socialism had been a fascinating idea it is. Unlike today and back then it was often one has a notion of freedom if liberation and selfdetermination in steps pushed to move. So was the soviet triumph over nazi germany not also a triumph of communism over a meaning the ocean over did you even admitted you were for the before the war there were many people in america in france and in britain who were convinced of the superiority of the soviet system he would. Some had come from the United States to help build up the system then claim the show would. Feed benefit to the soviet union in so far as roosevelt and churchill to acknowledge that it was russia that had stopped hitler and broken his back so it is really yet to watch and. After. As a result respect for the soviet union had grown. I believe churchills famous speech in missouri when he used the term. The start of the cold war. The need to. Reveal something. Thats wrong. In the. Tree and in the adriatic and i are. Graphic. I will look at the age state of central and. All the famous it is. Why. Im not here. The us responded with a show of by natural might in 1947 it approved the marshall plan. Officially known as the European Recovery Program it was designed to immunize europe against the spread of communist ideology. Containments was the term president harry s. Truman used to describe this investment. I believe. That it must be the policy of the United States to support. Our resisting it tempted subjugation by minorities are by outside pressure. The United States made 12400000000. 00 available to help western europe to rebuilt. Germany its defeated enemy was also given the support. But stalin rejected american help for the soviet zone of germany in the east. And instead of helping to rebuild the region he sent 70000 officials to dismantle its economy everything was taken away minerals machinery entire factories and part of the harvest. It was the very opposite of reconstruction shortages remained widespread. In the west occupation took a different form. 1948 the deutschmark was introduced a strong currency backed by the u. S. Dollar west germany began to flourish and the Occupying Forces began to be seen more as friends. Many u. S. Citizens sent care packages for the needy over the next 10 years the 3 western zones of occupation received 10000000 consignments of food. The americans also introduced Free School Meals slowly people in the western occupied zones began to look ahead to the future. The currency reform saw the 3 western zones unite economically forming a tries own that was far bigger and stronger than the soviet occupied east. The 4th zone was sealed off from the others. The leadership in moscow installed loyal communist emigrants to run it. And at the top was a hardliner brushed who later built the berlin wall. He expressed hopes that the communists would soon take over the western zones and rule the country from berlin. In reality berlin was divided into 4 occupations sectors and it became the very front line of the cold war in 1948 angered by the western currency reform the soviet union cut off the western zones from their land supply routes. Trying these barges and wrote transports were stuck. To the United States britain and france were responsible for 2 and a half 1000000 people in but let all their food and fuel for their homes and factories could no longer be brought to them overlap. In a spec tack. Other action planes landed and took off around the clock bringing in around 2100000. 00 tons of freight above all the food and coal the berlin airlift as it became known ensured the survival of west berlin within a year the communists capitulated and reopened the land routes 1949 saw the founding of the 2 german states the democratic west and the communist east the division of germany was sealed. Here for the most but some do so if. United him and. What followed were decades of hostility between east and west as they bite for military supremacy. At 1st the americans believed they had the upper hand because they had the atomic bomb. After they were used on the japanese cities of hiroshima and nagasaki the terrifying power of these weapons was clear by the time the cold war came to an end the americans had carried out more than a 1000 nuclear tests. But in 1949 the soviet union caught up with atomic weapons of its own the Nuclear Arms Race had begun. By 998 the soviet union had carried out more than 700 tests during the cold war a nuclear test was carried out on average every week and a half reviving old fears to display all who feel that wilson blown off to the 2nd world war as was when i was a child at the center of stuttgart was still in ruins in where all my relatives come from the cathedral was Still Standing but everything around it had been flattened so naturally we were afraid that something similar might happen again. You know combed those beers never went away nor did the victorious powers military barracks sprang up all over germany and the east the soviet army stationed in the west where the americans the british and the french promised and became the us has biggest military airfield outside its own territory the ultra modern Us Army Hospital that was built in the small town of blonds which was also its biggest outside America Military training grounds were followed by Housing Estates and schools the western forces also had their own Radio Stations. Allied protection didnt come cheap in the 1st year of its existence the young west german state paid half its tax revenue to the occupying armies. The Occupying Forces had a huge Cultural Impact on west germany bringing movies and magazines that cave many germans a taste of the wider world the. World of the profiles the wires of a fee radios broadcast the sound of a new era that is in the west. In towns and cities in the east ruins were still visible everywhere the soviet union didnt and best it took frustration grew many people just wanted to get out some 200000 left the east in 1950 alone by the time the berlin wall was built 11 years later more than 2 and a half 1000000 had gone. East germany responded to this exodus by founding it secret police the stasi it undertook surveillance on a massive scale people lived in fear of their own government. We always put a coffee pot cozy over our telephone because we thought that was where the bug was it was only much later that we learned it had been installed. Old in the ceiling but afterwards i found all the conversations weve had in our living room well documented in the stasi files we were always able to send many of our friends a letter outlining half an evening in which they had said this and that. Afterwards that was really amusing or was he doesnt doesnt look back then it wasnt as well thats not going to stick how much need. For a short while there are still appeared to be a final chance to end the division of germany and the cold war. Against stalins last suggestion that germany should not be divided came in march 952 when he also proposed pan german elections and japan German Government we would have to turn to you. But he said germany must not belong to any military alliance adenauer however said before we negotiate with the soviet union on this west germany must become a member of nato. And that was that. That. Reunification became a distant dream and the cold war gathered momentum. East germany urgently needed economic success the government demanded increased output from the workforce it invented the propaganda legend of activist odd authentic a miner who supposedly had voluntarily exceeded his own production quota by more than 300 percent. The communists claim to represent the working class but it seemed they didnt know the workers very well they would soon find out how they really felt. On june 17th 1953 workers in east berlin revolted against drastically increased work quotas and went on strike many in the east heard the news from west berlin Radio Station and join them. In little by little the 2 of you are not released so wholesome of the us the mud the soft. I always followed events on rios of course like not polly was a day of great excitement and none of those men for i can still remember my father taking my mother by the arm dancing around the apartment with her tongue and saying over and over again mother from now on everything is going to get better. But things didnt get better. Shots were fired. Knowing that this day yesterday was a big deal and i think ill be going home to. The Monthly Company and the plan. And all the uprising on june 17th 953. 00 cost 55. 00 lives. West germany declared june 17th its national day. Dismissed mount became Common Mission you knew the desire to be a dustoff the freedom that it just gets worse duncan took over missed was i. The escalating tensions between west and east fueled fears of war. Is what is up and for your trick thats also what i thought when the korean war broke out its also what my family found we had a Small Business and they began to hoard not hearing much of those things are now really dangerous they said another war could begin so we must make sure we are prepared for the flip of. A 1000 kilometers away in korea the superpowers faced off against each other just like in germany. Korea was divided into north and south. The economically and militarily strong north was allied with the soviet union and stalin gave his approval for. To invade the south. The Lightning Strike nearly succeeded but the us was soon able to drive back the invaders. In total the americans sent 1700000. 00 soldiers to korea china and the soviet union supported north korea while the us led United Nations forces fought alongside south korea. The war ended in the summer of 1953 with the 2 sides facing each other along nearly the same border line on which the war had begun. For west german chancellor kahn about out an hour there was no getting around moscow a decade after the end of the 2nd world war some 10000. 00 germans were still in present in the soviet union on an hours goal was to bring them home the price for that was recognition of the soviet union the hated communists under control matic recognition of the soviet union by auden our was an initial step towards normalization why there was fierce resistance even from elements of the government who had accompanied him to moscow tided damani but od an hour got his way because so many germans were leading the terrible lives in russian camps after west germany recognized the soviet union the last remaining german prisoners of war were released to do and which critique of. The return of the 10000 was an emotional moment for many it was only now that the war had truly come to an end. But with fears that a new conflict could break out in 1055. 00 west germany established an army the bun dispair. Neighboring countries viewed the poor mation of German Military units just 10 years after the end of the war with great concern. The new german army has gone off the use of. The german army is not easily accepted by people with long memories to others to think you one created by not germany was even looked on like it or not the family is with us again. The bun despair was a member of nato the North Atlantic Treaty Organization right from the start soon to military blocs would be facing each other. East germany established its National Peoples army and early 1956 and it soon became a Founding Member of the communist military alliance the warsaw pact. That had been going to be going big for but i dont jog because you cannot do this and even figure out how to get me and i to me and i think thats good been seeing each action provoked a reaction each block justified its actions as a response to those of the other bloc. If war broke out between the superpowers it would happen in germany if the warsaw pact invaded it would probably go through the folder gap and a deliberate region in the middle of west germany along the border to the east the area quickly became highly militarized. And with tensions high the west was unprepared for perhaps the biggest shock of all sputnik when it launched this 80 kilogram satellite in 1957 the soviet union opened a new front in the cold war space. Difficult thing to sputniks the sputnik shock utter dismay in the west since it because it thought that those who had historically always been a bit back. Especially the russians had now overtaken it gets into and. How surprising was that done there was great rejoicing does the soviets are in front now it is us who are showing the west showing the americans what technical progresses faults with the soviet satellite cetera every 95 minutes over 500 miles up at a speed of 18000 miles an hour and when not to done pretty under force dont become you realize that its meant the soviets had missiles that in a worst Case Scenario could carry Nuclear Warheads and reach other continents intercontinental the fraud on. At 1st the space race look like that between the tortoise and the hare the 1st living creature in space the 1st man the 1st woman. The 1st unmanned landing on the money those were all soviet successes. These triumphs were all sold to the people in the soviet union and its client states as big juries of communism. But again the fact that you know this the propaganda was always based on a comparison of youve got vast and weve got theses i can do this well so what can you actually be more to the objective is not to portray something objective libs its even more stupid as a shrewd american folk singer once said to a 5 year old kid who doesnt want to sleep because even a lullaby is propaganda if you need to get a good look at the new widget spites going to be in the door of. The Common People reacted with scorn no food on our spoon but a plaque on the mouth. Nixon and khrushchev these are the historic almost unprecedented scenes from the American National exhibition in moscow. Russians might have been far ahead in space but the average American Household was a world apart from its counterpart in the soviet union as the 1959 American National exhibition in moscow showed. Naturally the exhibition only showed how americans live community. When he saw this kitchen with a dishwasher a refrigerator and so on which were totally normal appliances for the average American Family a machine that nikita say gave each crew shove who wasnt a stupid person regarded it as total propaganda you know. There was no way that could be true he said. If life in america seemed so much wealthier than in the soviet union that could only be interpreted as propaganda. Captured on videotape a new american invention the heated discussion between nixon and khrushchev became known as the kitchen debate yeah i knew if i dont know everything and i would say that you know absolutely nothing about communism nothing except fear of it you must not be afraid of ideas. Even if thats what were telling you dont be afraid of idea we have nothing to fear but time has passed when ideas karens the cold war and its very essence was an ideological war. And we forget so easily that in the 1950 s. And 1960 s. People said you know that its not clear what system is best what system will prevail. In 1959 on in our call for the bun to spare to take part in the planning and deployment of Nuclear Weapons. A concept known as nuclear sharing. Those Companies Wont because weapons frightened me because by now well gee what had happened in hiroshima and nagasaki occupancy into done. So we visited various military training areas in the vicinity of hamburg can we believe that we would be able to see from the card whether any Nuclear Weapons were stored there or anything else and then on december 6th there was a headline in the local newspaper vics honest john missiles tested in. And i said right thats where im going even if i have to go a lot of this year you know going to your line of view. The temples staged protests against rearmament culminating in west germany 1st easter peace march in 1960. The organizers faced widespread public anger. The relation we went in to cure that would soon have been harmless we were soundly cussed and of course regarded as communists go back to the east they shouted. Next to that thats. The Peace Movement failed to resonate with people enjoying west germanys unprecedented Economic Growth. This rapid Economic Growth was drawing people from east germany via west berlin. And the 1950 s. Easterners could still travel there easily. The brain drain that result. It was a serious problem for the easts communist rulers. In video messed things up to ensure you covered when we start of the new school year on september 1st half the class was always missing because they had left over the Summer Holidays gone with a spending and its roof looked for a few to give i wouldnt name austin fits right fix it cost him a comment on say to go have a go very. Easy meat fruit so i can start trying to. Conclusions to inputs to my plants as big as you can see and be did just before its on me is to make the ship station in plops hell need to shift so we did. On august 13th 1961 east germany closed the escape route by building a wall around west berlin. The berlin wall became the very symbol of the cold war. It was an admission by the communists that they had to build a wall to keep their people in. This craft who owns an absolute shock it was an absolute shock for us i mean with of my mother was born in saxony in the east and still had family that has sister was married to a man in east berlin so suddenly she was in a different world she was just not there and not on the. Germans and east and west were horrified. What was going to come next. Intact fine vividly remember that day in 1961 and i found it all really frightening its i was as white as a sheet i went to my parents and said now theres going to be war this as a kid in the question who had been born during war time world where up is a former secret and were highly sensitive to such thing and its not. Going done on your oath do you panta down american tanks then drove to checkpoint charlie to the Border Crossing point on tradition gossamer live where they were face on the other side by soviet armor on the right one p. O. V. Addition there were only a few meters between the use of and we waited with bated breath hoping nothing what happened it. Does could be. Done. At the time there was a military doctrine of mutual assured destruction or mad for short from the east room in english a cuckoo and it really was crazy in a kind of if you attack me ill strike back and then well both be dead when and how theyve been there were enough Nuclear Weapons in the world to destroy our planet not once but several times over. In the near 5 in need of 2 yards. But the most dangerous moment of the cold war was still to come the cuban missile crisis in 1062 american war condescends aircraft discovered that the soviet union had built Missile Launch sites on cuba only a few 100 kilometers from the us the missiles would be able to strike washington and numerous other major cities with ease from the caribbean island. They dont look at its cuckoos you supposedly have quite a few the cuban crisis was perhaps necessary because the americans were facing a real threat from outside for the 1st time if the. President john f. Kennedy accused the soviets of a dangerous escalation. In you know being the policy of this nation to regard any. A Missile Launched from cuba against any nation in the western hemisphere as an attack by the soviet union on the United States. Britain could be a school case maybe for the city. During the cuban crisis we 2 were only seconds away from a nuclear war. Very. Cool that one of our submarines which had Nuclear Missiles on board was attacked by the americans with depth charges. He lined with his orders the captain was ready to press the button and fire his missiles. Could see that no good to secret Service Officer stopped him and told him to wait for a confirmation signal from. What would have happened had he launched those bombs. The world seemed on the brink of Nuclear War People everywhere prepared for the worst. Being im. Sure remember what bert the turtle just did bens because every one of us must remember to do the same thing and cover and cover just as you do in your school as if you had. We were all terrified that a nuclear war would start tomorrow. So you should be after all there were purely psychological things that we have had to learn like hiding under our school dismiss the shelter even bombs started dropping outside i was really scared of things like that unscrew. The cuban missile crisis was resolved because both superpowers took a step back without loose. Face there was a glimmer of hope that they would talk to each other to reduce the risk of nuclear war or saluki should use 4 fifths of the whole wolf was for good in skokie reasons it was after the cuban crisis the 2 sides set up a hotline away why of course they knew they were in my city it was direct connection between the command center of the soviet general staff and in the american situation recently called lets use news folk a position to look for new media going in the if anything happened we would inform each other if its. President kennedy made history in 1963 the speech in west berlin. He appealed to the world to support the divided city at the heart of the cold war. Its remembered by one phrase in particular. The proud of both wars. He would roll on us soil. In the world of freedom. The proudest post. If i believe i was to dainton unfairly in crash because a student in berlin i was there when john f. Kennedy was a simpler team he was highly popular just like American Music and the american lifestyle were also popular especially in the sixtys its again. Only 2 days after kennedys speech soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev visited east berlin we are in the cold war he said and i too am a berliner the us president had captured the hearts of west berliners in just one day khrushchev visit lasted 3 days and was soon forgotten. This american rocket was designed not to launch missiles but to overtake the soviets in space. In 1961 kennedy had pledged to put an american on the moon by the end of the decade up to 400000 people worked on the apollo project named after the greek god of light the massive effort would finally overcome the humiliation of sputnik. Kennedy would not be able to witness his countrys triumph he was assassinated in 1963 the launch site was named in his honor the Kennedy Space center. It was the site where apollo 11 was to blast off on july 16th 1969. The moon landing 4 days later was the event of the century viewed live around the globe. Ive known him since 1969 i was living invest in that house on the Western Island of serious shit when you know radio and t. V. Show up during the moon landing we stayed open all night in case someone stevie said you needed to paraguay and see how i was fit because from the early everyone watched west German Television and so we of course were also able to see the landing on the movie. I just graduated from college and was living in a small apartment was lying i was lying on my my bed watching the all armstrong come down that ladder and announce you know this is one small step for man one giant leap for mankind. The 2 superpowers could now see eye to eye in space. For the 1st time. Im human beings had seen their planet from the surface of another celestial body it was a giant leap for mankind and a brief respite in the middle of the cold war in which fear of Nuclear Annihilation gripped the world. Kickoff. Fights. At the match is dramatic and munich grabbed 3 more points. Shaka is defeated again thanks to their shocking 4 performance like 6 Interest International break at the top of the table. 90 minutes on t. W. Every 2 seconds a person is forced to flee their homes nearly 71000000 people have been forcibly displaced the consequences coming to sisters in our documentary series displaced depicts traumatic humanitarian crises around the world you know. What a good thing we dont need and i didnt go to university to kill people. Or to have my boss come to me and tell me to kill someone he got mad if i dont theyll kill me. Taking the field for their lives and their future so they seek refuge abroad but what will become of the person who stayed behind its a way up until my husband went to peru because of the crisis that i wanted that if he hadnt gone there we would have died of hunger manana now. The bisla starts october 16th to dump. This is d w news live from berlin and a political crisis in kurdistan descends into violence protesters stormed the Parliament Building following a disputed parliamentary poll reports say that the result has now been old as the president insists hell still in control also coming up