Germany for us after the end of the 2nd world war balanced between devastation and new beginnings and of course facing some dramatic changes and a good band playing and playing good on. It is a good. Player played it playing playing last player i. Play a bit in that. I played in. A day. A leader. In. The old germany was gone in the small town of lloyd store from the rhine like everywhere else it was all about just getting through every day life. Was a good 3rd wasnt much discussion if we passed a piano standing in the street would ask where should you go. For and then wed pick it up and carry it off. Without fear of. Crying shots was in the catholic Youth Organization. And charging the via the main thing was to do something to act sports seminars and studying werent enough we realised we wanted to have a say in things as well. The parish priest encouraged younger generations to look to the future and take things into their own hands. Had already had political experience bad experience like millions of other young men he had been a member of the hitler youth years the the main issue for me and for my generation was not the nazis but what can we eat do we have a roof over our heads. How can we get through this day those were our priorities and where for our politicians as well. And therefore. At the beginning of 949 another former hitler youth returned to germany by train from a prisoner of war camp in the soviet union his captors had inspired his new world few hands ma drove had lost his home in pomerania and his family had been torn apart but he had a burning desire to do. I wanted to make amends in those who knew i had spent my imprisonment in the soviet union and the region around moscow where the front lines were. If. I saw a scorched earth open do you pretty easy hard shelled trees in the forest so that homes could be rebuilt i was like you bought. More trucks brother lived in hamburg but he went straight to the soviet sector of the way he wanted to help build a new society. He thank you if i understood that this must not be allowed to happen again with lead in forces my side experienced war and ive experienced fascism and that this is not life youve even conceptually speaking i wanted a new germany the 1st though i had no idea about how it could or should be oh you know it all skip like really spring in munich after the giant statue of a very overlooks the light field of the tech easy and b. s and in the background the following in the foreground at the fest visa which again lives up to its festive name this spring. Munich had been the capital of the Nazi Movement still a jewish lawyer and his daughter decided to move back to their old house on the to resume visa in munich. Fritz neulander had escaped the holocaust i had survived by hiding in the countryside. Its not for me. It was incredibly important for me to know that i definitely wouldnt be staying in munich i didnt want to go back there because i didnt want to meet the people who had done this to us and i couldnt imagine that but he will think if were stink and i believe ill move you off munich here the streets here are bustling with life and there are still the ruins but the streets and squares are clear and reconstruction work is going on at. Where our resources permitting at least. Heidelberg had been largely spared by the war center of the old town was the university which stood ready to greet its large student population one of them was going to do and he had served in the war and joined the student council. This is what i believe in he runs this this was a life like you cant imagine i would so forget about heating even in winter but we toughened up live on army with soldiers and so this though. The situation was diaf many students had so little money for food housing and books that the university was facing closure. Dhamma done zone. So we went on strike against closing the university any on harm done i know and then we set up the students help Students Initiative of the fault. In fact everyone got involved. And you referred goal not meet the goal of the modulation up to students to keep their free tables have not made a fight you should which were these special places where students could eat for free as far as i know they showed so much solidarity it was incredible. The highlight was a demonstration on the main street the u. S. Garrison commander brought up his tanks but the students didnt allow themselves to be counted. As was or not over because there was this open mindedness almost a joy that Something Like this worked and does what that was the type of democracy we loved and fought for the one for the villains under she a time. In the spring of 949. 00 germany was a divided country. Split into a state and west you could feel that especially on the elba. Gets right on track not 2 hours on sunday afternoons the authorities on both sides of the border would turn a blind eye to the law they were happy reunion to see that the familys catching up and even enters on tea parties and i think that. A a in my 945 the 4 victorious powers divided germany into occupation zones the American British and french in the west and the soviets in the least and right in the middle of the soviets are equally split into 2 you see i think it was the kind of a hit of 949 was the treats onesie a song it became the unofficial anthem of the strange western zones which had begun working closely together. Because the winners had never managed to agree on a common policy strong germany now the western powers will put in a trip so new zealands on course to their own separate western german state education. And the soviet Occupation Forces had been blockading west berlin since the summer of 948 after the Deutsche Mark was introduced against moscows express will whisper lynn had become a frontline city in the cold war if you got there the you people of the world people in america in england in france look at this city such. As. The aerial resupply of west berlin became a political p. R. Success for americans and britons both here and in west germany the airlift lady Emotional Foundation for a turn towards the west. Would. Be identified here from us air traffic from west germany to berlin. Unsteadily increases police and eastern sector are increasingly restricting road traffic within the city i think it set up your blocks on a sector borders and spam as a nonentity through it right back in 1949 and saw the Exchange Rates it was absolutely clear this is the west was stronger than this and wanted to use the Exchange Rate to show off its strength and the soviets couldnt keep up with can they were the losers which is why they piled on the pressure with. The new indian tocome off. Drove who was already a member of the east german communist Youth Organization f t j now officially joined. The socialist unity party. The trying to mechanic was sent to a locomotive factory in the berlin of henning still there he was supposed to find recruits for the new system the traces of war and the nazi era was still to be found everywhere. So i became a mechanic again. In this case at a plant in endings dont know her own thoughts even in 1949 there were engines waiting for repair there which still had to keep the wheels rolling for the war banners in creek im tired aboriginal on this believe part of the workforce where west berliners one of my name is of god not that hes and some the lads in the factory began calling me the russian horse because everyone had noticed out like he always argues im a bad mouth the russians these on their side getting your snow theyve been tied to the host. It was a tough position to be in but hands madrasa didnt back down. Its been the here im also a jerk like you and you have a different idea of the world to mind but one thing is clear were all germ. D. V. S. The north 1st new postwar locomotives leave the heading start land its a promising start to the new year it is not your 1st of our 2 year plans with honest. Reconstruction was the most important issue in both eastern and western germany rebuilding houses and roads the economy and maybe even the state oh perhaps of 2 states. Politicians in both east and west would busy trying to build support for their Different Solutions young people one else supposed to play an active role in political life the politics and parties had gotten a bad image under the nazi regime and people were loath to have anything to do with them anymore. I mean were. There cant be a worse climate than the anti Party Climate post world war 2 of us Going Initiative i dont know how many 1000000 members of the nazi party have. Their war i dont know how many members an organization is affiliated with the nazis. There was one in every family there were then suddenly everything was wrong and ordered everything was criticized and rightly so i was asked many times how i could join a party again. Since the ocean of 940 s. Politicians from the state parliaments in western germany had been meeting at the Pedagogical Academy in bonn drawing up a democratic constitution for the new Western State at the behest of the occupying power as. This lower class was like well those on top of the establishment and now the new establishment are at it again well id say weve had enough of the establishment separation meant to mention it wouldnt get into the sea if people didnt care very much at all they had been defeated and he had no strength left and they didnt care about this or that law. He says because its in this case its. Public view 61. 00 men and 4 women in the Parliamentary Council were discussing the future. But chairman Konrad Adenauer also wanted to take the pinions of the young people into account. The climate at Heidelberg University had come. Then one day a postman turned up in the office of the student committee. Which he noticed today come i can still see the telegram from conrad i dont know are inviting me to attend the meetings of the Parliamentary Council as a guest was it the name accommodation and meals are provided by us but please bring badly and it would be debated treasurer me playing. By then going to durham and was working regularly as an assistant to the Parliamentary Council in bonn which gave him direct access to high level politics. As shyness one morning i was walking along go to stagger i lay on my way to the Plenary Session when i dont know where drew up in his mercedes met status for why it was raining and he pulled up next to me rolled down the window and said when i take it youre going to find a recession so its a come on ill give you a lift. Otherwise youll get wet and so on when they arrived he told the driver this young man here if you see him again give him a lift in the name meet. The common goal of the delegates was to build a functioning democracy for which the parties were working closely together. The social democrats most important men Carlos Schmidt had even been sent from gothenburg to bone in place of a cd delicate. 8 kind of financial part time there was no interparty political hostility apart from with the communist party. Because there was always a run on reiman who was at that time the communist partys faction leader made inflammatory speech is full of getting a logical jargon which the 1st we reject you. They were dropped. And so did the Occupying Powers the british even had max reiman arrested. The angst for the income of his was the fear of communism the fear of the east was already there especially among the many people who had come from the east of and had already experienced communism and fled from it and from common this was the florence and. Jewish aid organizations had settled in munich smoosh and around them lots of small stalls and shops servicing a large black market. Holocaust survivors from Eastern Europe who were waiting to travel on to israel or the us sold some of the russians they received in their transit camps here. The american occupiers turned a blind eye. So i saw him but he is usually jewish life was bustling there you could almost say it was a small town there were restaurants and a synagogue so it was like a real jewish village and of course there were many small stalls where they traded for their own and a lot of people not just jews came to buy things they couldnt get elsewhere and see to us the call from it was a good thing that the people there could earn a little extra money. Is that the mention could get turned this is a christian 1st at 215. 00 come. Back. And plan. And. Life in the western zones in 1949 was still tough but people wanted to enjoy themselves again even though the past was still very close everywhere. Each major sporting event after a 15 year break hines clear mind starts the 1st german 6 day race and munich. Yesterday starts would begin hans ruman one of the nazi regimes favorite act as a return to his role as the crafty euro man his comedy the secrets of the red cat became a hit in western germany. Meanwhile a cinemas in the eastern sun we usually showing most serious fish many celebrations of soviet successes. Society in the soviet zone was being systematically politicized in the face of some resistance including at the locomotive plant in heading store for. The act of a to go in his speech director berger emphasized that the 2 year plan can only become a reality through the work of us all of all the willing forces of our zone are now in the process of building a new better life for themselves through their own planned work. Doing on this year the Youth Organization try a door to uganda made up around 20 percent of the Company Staff so and so there too we were the organized part of the youth and not the majority who could march through the companies singing big lets build it songs they closed over you dont mushy and on. The back of the Parliamentary Council in bone the student going to a dorm and was experiencing 1st hand how policies a made and not just as a spectator spawn and a vonnegut mines a mythical exciting thing was the launches of the monarchy to source and there you heard a lot of things you didnt hear in the official sessions on the corner and no i dont know our came by and sat down at my table and suddenly asked me what was happening with the students or the mission thats why they were so a political but also so engaged in portly do saw and i would also argue she had read a i told him some things and. He said can we talk about this in a little bit more detail. Out now invited the student to his home in room door on the other side of the rhine for a good meal and a bottle of wine. And guns are they are anxious resi and the said goods and that is the case you write down what you told me and bring it to my office tomorrow if possible him or make you small Insurance Program that program the basis of a speech he made shortly afterwards. Of god not. Im right about identical shift on the 13th of october 1048 has gone down in history by the end of the shift henniker held by a 24. 4 cubic meters of call instead of the standard 6. 3 cubic meters on. The a c d try to use the activist movement to boost the economy in the east and turn the mind ahead of cash into a great propaganda hero you wont know when you just saw it as we were young actors the same we also wanted and because of me to my great great efforts to do a good job in my workshop and to forget recognition yes but it wasnt the s. C. D. Controlling that it was you putting your back into it so others accepted you and said no is one of us global made in most hmong they get through. But when it came to politics it was often hard for the young activist and his colleagues to find Common Ground in these and far in these issues there was always a distance one that was of course anticommunist. Undue community plagued. The s. C. D. Party headquarters determined life in the east and the s. C. D. Was doing what stalin the leader of the soviet union decided stalins most important man in berlin was volatile bridged officially he was only a 2nd. Politician but he was the one holding the reins the powers he wanted to control public life and especially the economy of the soviet zone the lots of spring fare of 949 was the shop window. Something else in mind is that for the 1st time since the end of the war the Technology Fair has returned with its former glory not the b. M. W. Eisenach stand. There be and be the baby m w 2 later 80 horsepower and a dream in blue and theres a 130 horsepower racer or even faster spirits with 3 carburetors that a delegation from the henning store locomotive works also traveled to this fair they were chosen according to political criteria and the. Party leaders were always talking can we win them over for him is he talking in our favor or against us. For the past year the s. C. D. Had been trying to counter the increasing alienation between east and west with a Major Campaign for unity and a just peace the Peoples Congress in berlins admiral palace was to represent all germans in reality the make up of the delegates had been manipulated and with everything that the east demanded stalin remained the decisive figure in the background. Keep on going give us our unity give us a just peace. Whisper lynn was still under blockade by the soviets and had to be supplied from the air things began to hate up throughout the city. To. This we want to cross to west berlin and sang americans go home we were followed of. And we were convince. Start those following us to the esperance station because we had sung americans go home that they were the ones who wanted to drive a wedge between us and. The us headquarters in frankfurt had long since abandoned the idea of a united germany the western allies wanted a new german state but on their terms politicians had to navigate a tricky path. More let alone after months of negotiations by the Parliamentary Council in frankfurt complete agreement of t