Why didnt East Germans just jump over the GDRs border? #history #coldwar #gdr Call Me Steve 2025-07-31 | So if a bunch of East Germans lived in town along the East German border, why didn't they just...jump over The Wall? Besides needing to break a world record when it came to the high jump, that is.Some reading: "Beyond the Wall" by Katja Hoyer"Politics and popular opinion in East Germany 1945-1968" by Mark Allinson
Did the CIA train pigeons as spies? Yes. #history #coldwar #historyfacts Call Me Steve 2025-07-27 | During the Cold War the CIA needed to find new ways to spy on the Soviet Union: enter the pigeon. And, for some reason, an otter. Espionage in the Cold War went to some weird places.Fun fact! Pigeons have a LONG history of being used for military purposes, including people attempting to fit cameras on them.
Did the US Army just drive over East Germans? Yeah, sometimes. #history #berlin #coldwar Call Me Steve 2025-07-20 | Did the US Army really just drive over East Germans in East Berlin? Kind of, yeah, sometimes. It's because agreements on the Cold War and the conduct during it were with the Soviet Union - and the West liked to pretend East Germany didn't exist.It sort of leaves you wondering just what the point of the Berlin Wall was.
Video Games, the Stasi, and East Germany! #history #coldwar #gdr Call Me Steve 2025-07-13 | Video games weren't banned in East Germany. Kind of. It was complicated.If you could get your hands on them, however, you could find yourself suddenly having more opportunities than the average person.Even after breaking the law and being monitored by the Stasi. And the Free German Youth.
Cold War Germany: just how many were there, and according to who? #history #coldwar #germanhistory Call Me Steve 2025-07-07 | East and West Germany disagreed on an important subject coming out of World War II: just how many Germanys were there?! The West would claim they were a continuation of the original, while the East would claim Germany ended and two emerged. They both would attempt compelling arguments.
The Berlin Palace (every version) is still found all over Berlin! #history #coldwar #gdr Call Me Steve 2025-07-03 | The Berlin Palace was the home of the Electors of Brandenburg, Kings of Prussia and German Emperors from 1443 to 1918.The Palace of the Republic hosted the parliament of East Germany (and a bowling alley among MANY other things), from 1976 to 1990.And now the Berlin Palace is...well.And despite every successive Germany wanting to pretend the old version didn't exist, you can still find them scattered around Berlin!
Berlins statues have a history of losing their heads. #history #berlin #coldwar Call Me Steve 2025-06-28 | The history of Berlin isn't one of statues and monuments never changing. The history of Berlin is one where they're CONSTANTLY changed.The Berlin Wall, statues of Lenin and Ernst Thälmann, even the Victory Column have all been changed multiple times.There are even statues lost to memory that were incredibly important at the time!This video covers a bit of Berlin's ever changing, moving, and very non-permanent memory!📚: “Enthüllt, Berlin und seine Denkmäler,” Zitadelle Spandau; Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Spandau.
The Soviet Union and China almost had a nuclear breakup. #coldwar #history #wwiii Call Me Steve 2025-06-24 | The Soviet Union and China certainly had a messy breakup, and during it they asked the United States how cool they would be if they employed the nuclear option. Literally. All documents at the National Security Archive, "The Sino-Soviet Border Conflict 1969: US Reactions and Diplomatic Maneuvers."
Why were East and West Berlins borders so weird? #berlin #history #coldwar Call Me Steve 2025-06-20 | Why did the Berlin Wall follow the course that it did? Rather: who in their right mind thought that it should go right through the middle of streets like that?Well, you can blame a mustache from 1920. And Prussia, in a round about way. And World War 2. Mostly in that order.
Toilet humor on the Berlin Wall. #history #coldwar #berlin Call Me Steve 2025-06-15 | You can learn a lot about history and Berlin based on how a toilet got up onto the Berlin Wall. 🖼️: Homage To Duchamp, Noir and Bouchet, 1984📕: “Berlin Calling: A Story of Anarchy, Music, The Wall, and the Birth of the New Berlin” by Paul Hockenos
Secret tunnels and tragedy at the Berlin Wall. #history #coldwar #berlin Call Me Steve 2025-06-09 | Berlin has had a LOT of secret tunnels, and this one ended up in tragedy. A tragedy that, itself, was born from the tragedy that was the Berlin Wall.🧱 Jercha wasn't a spy, he just wanted to help bring people out - something East Germany objected to and defended themselves from. ⚠️ The unified German courts recognized this gray area, something that the West hadn't done during the Cold War: East Germany had a right to defend itself.🏛️ Jercha, ultimately, is the victim of the Cold War whose tragedy has been boiled down to a plaque on the border of Neukölln and Treptow.Most of the documents here (including the West Berlin police reports and the Stasi police report) can be found on Chronik der Mauer.
Berlins statue of Frederick the Great isnt always where it used to be. #history #prussia #berlin Call Me Steve 2025-06-07 | The famous Equestrian statue of Frederick the Great is a few meters to the right of where it used to be. About 28000 in fact. Both are, of course, because of East Germany.Don't blame me, talk to Walter and Erich about it.I also have a MUCH longer video all about East Germany’s relationship with Prussia.
The Berlin Walls second victim, an ugly East German reality. #history #berlin #coldwar Call Me Steve 2025-06-02 | The GDR slandered Günter Litfin as a “degenerate” to excuse shooting him for attempt to escape. Read more:- Neues Deutschland (the official newspaper of the Socialist Unity Party): https://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/material/180309/ein-denkmal-fuer-puppe-wie-die-sed-presse-den-getoeteten-ddr-fluechtling-guenter-litfin-diffamiert-neues-deutschland-1-september-1961- Der Spiegel: https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/das-erste-maueropfer-a-949332.html- "Love in the Time of Communism: Intimacy and Sexuality in the GDR" by Josie McLellan
The Berlin Wall’s Second Victim and Gay Rights in East Germany Call Me Steve 2025-06-01 | Günter Litfin was the second victim of the Berlin Wall and the first to be shot trying to escape. But what East Germany did next revealed an ugly truth: they excused their actions because he was gay. This video takes a look at how the GDR viewed gay men and lesbians beyond just what the law said.Because your rights on paper don't mean much if society doesn't agree you should have them (right, America?).Sources include:- "Love in the Time of Communism: Intimacy and Sexuality in the GDR" by Josie McLellan- “Gay Liberation Behind the Iron Curtain,” Samuel Clowes Huneke, Boston Review. bostonreview.net/articles/gay-liberation-behind-iron-curtainNeues Deutschland articles mentioned are available at:- https://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/material/180309/ein-denkmal-fuer-puppe-wie-die-sed-presse-den-getoeteten-ddr-fluechtling-guenter-litfin-diffamiert-neues-deutschland-1-september-1961- https://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/material/180310/mordhetze-aus-der-frontstadt-neues-deutschland-2-september-1961#history #berlinwall #lgbt
Berlins box: East Germany, Prussia, and everything between! #history #coldwar #berlin Call Me Steve 2025-05-23 | One of East Germany's most popular tourist attractions was because of western visitors! The Memorial to the Victims of Fascism and Militarism and it's changing of the guard ceremony held a place of honor in East Germany.Today it's the Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Victims of War and Tyranny. The guard ceremony has been mildly altered, and so has the memorial itself!
A secret of Berlin’s TV Tower (and no, not the one about the Pope!) #history #berlin #coldwar Call Me Steve 2025-05-19 | This one involves, who else, the Stasi. @whitlamsberlintours reminded me of this! He has more on the supposed revenge of the Pope.🙋🏻♂️ The TV Tower served another, non-obvious purpose: it was proof a socialst state COULD build something like it. And it remains an icon of Berlin.📸: All Stasi documents and photos from “Fototechnik auf dem Berliner Fernsehturm” on Stasi-Mediathek.
East Germany and Modern America: How Similar? Call Me Steve 2025-05-17 | It can't be a video about East Germany without mentioning Zersetzung, can it? East Germany's obsession with eliminating antisocial behavior, cultural policing, and how threats are treated weren't unique to them. You see it on the news everyday.This isn't a history lesson - it's a mirror.This video looks at how the Stasi and the Socialist Unity Party attempted to craft their state. It explores what was left over from the Third Reich, Nina Hagen, and what wearing what blue jeans meant. It looks at what happened to those in East Germany that went outside of the State’s concept of acceptable culture…and how that compares to the modern actions by the Trump Administration. +Did I not realize I had misspelled "Asoziale" in that chapter title until it was pointed out to me in the comments? Sure didn't! Don't bounce between two languages and edit on little sleep, kids.+0:00 Introduction1:44 Asoziale 3:50 Decomposition6:33 Blue JeansSources include:- "Rock in der DDR" by Michael Rauhut- "Jeans in der DDR" by Rebecca Menzel- "Gemeinschaftsfremde" : Quellen zur Verfolgung von "Asozialen" 1933-1945 / bearbeitet von Wolfgang Ayass.- Mike Dennis, Norman LaPorte (2011). "The Stasi and Operational Subversion". State and Minorities in Communist East Germany- "Richtlinie 1/76 zur Bearbeitung Operativer Vorgänge," Stasi-Mediathek. Link: https://www.stasi-mediathek.de/medien/richtlinie-176-zur-bearbeitung-operativer-vorgaenge/blatt/316/- "The day the GDR took my mum away from me," The Berliner, 07.11.2014- "Cultural Repression by the SED Central Committee (December 1965)" GHDI- "Inside the ‘Tropical Gulag’ in El Salvador Where U.S. Detainees Are Being Held," Annie Correal, New York Times, April 18, 2025- "Trump admin continues releasing information to paint Abrego Garcia as violent gang member as outcry against deportation grows," Michael Williams, CNN, April 19, 2025#history #coldwar #germany
An East German fate worse than the Stasi and Zersetzung: IKEA. #history #coldwar #historyfacts Call Me Steve 2025-05-10 | Being a danger to the East German state wasn't all about listening to Iron Maiden or being subject to decomposition by the Stasi: you could end up working for IKEA.
Santa Claus, West Berlin, and the East German border. #history #coldwar #berlin Call Me Steve 2025-05-05 | See "Exchanges of territory" Berlin.de, and "Christmas in Steinstücken" on “The Berlin Wall – A multimedia history” by Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg.
East Germany, the Berlin S-Bahn, and May Day #history #coldwar #trains Call Me Steve 2025-05-01 | See "Die Deutsche Reichsbahn in West-Berlin: Interzonenverkehr, die S-Bahn und die DR" by Bernd Kuhlmann
The GDR and the Beatles #coldwar #history #musichistory Call Me Steve 2025-04-27 | Main source: “Rock in der DDR” by Michael Rauhut. Yes that is Walter Ulbricht’s voice.
Stalin, Bowie, and the GDR (really) #history #coldwar #davidbowie Call Me Steve 2025-04-24 | What a casual reference to Stalin Avenue can tell us about East German culture.
How coffee brought down East Germany Call Me Steve 2025-04-12 | In 1977 a shortage of coffee almost brought down the East German government. Failed coffee crops, an oil crisis, and changes in the geopolitical landscape made EVERYTHING more expensive in East Germany in 1977 - and it effectively broke East German society. AND NONE OF THIS IS APPLICABLE AT ALL TO THE CURRENT DAY.Consider this a 'best of' of about 5 other videos I've posted.0:00 Introduction1:27 How we got here2:52 The Black Market6:45 How to ruin an economy8:24 The Crisis Begins11:00 The collapse of East GermanyReferences:- Kloiber, Andrew. Brewing Socialism: Coffee, East Germans, and Twentieth-Century Globalization. Germany: Berghahn Books, 2022.- Communism Unwrapped: Consumption in Cold War Eastern Europe. United Kingdom: OUP USA, 2012.- Kaminsky, Annette. Illustrierte Konsumgeschichte der DDR. Germany: Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Thüringen, 1999.- "Coffee, East Germans and the Cold War World, 1945-1990," Andrew Kloiber, Doctoral Thesis, McMaster University, 2017.- "Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949–1990," by Katja Hoyer- "NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SURVEY 13A; EAST GERMANY; GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS," CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110019-3All of the Stasi's reports to SED leadership can be found here: https://www.ddr-im-blick.de/jahrgaenge/jahrgang-1977/report/september-1977/The other reports are on Stasi-Mediathek, here: https://www.stasi-mediathek.de/medien/hinweise-auf-reaktionen-von-sed-mitgliedern-und-funktionaeren-auf-die-lage-in-der-ddr-1/blatt/32/#history #eastgermany #coffee
The Port of Hamburg and…East Germany?! #history #coldwar #gdr Call Me Steve 2025-03-29 | Featuring @whitlamsberlintours and my inner Walter Ulbricht.
The Failure of Truth: Times Man of 1938 Call Me Steve 2025-03-15 | The American news media fell down on the job of covering the rise of the Third Reich, with Time's 1938 Man of the Year often used as an example. Yet, the article itself is a blistering condemnation of its subject. So why is it still a perfect example of how just telling the truth failed?Chapters:0:00 Introduction1:43 Seizure6:01 Objectivity10:40 Man of the Year17:05 ConclusionSources include:- “How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days,” by Timothy Ryback, the Atlantic.- “When the News Doesn't Fit: The New York Times and Hitler's First Two Months in Office, February/March 1933” by Gary Klein. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 78(1), 127–149.- “The Liberal Media Always Fails Against Fascism” by Robert Evans, Shatterzone.- “The Coming of the Third Reich” and “The Third Reich in Power” by Richard Evans.- "Takeover: Hitler’s Final Rise to Power" by Timothy Ryback.- “Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism,” by Rachel Maddow.- “Popular opinion and political dissent in the Third Reich, Bavaria 1933-45” by Ian Kershaw.#history #wwiihistory #newspaper
Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, and the GDR. #history #berlin #coldwar Call Me Steve 2025-03-08 | Well there’s this giant block in Potsdamer Platz, you see…Sources include:“Märtyrer des Sozialismus: die SED und das Gedenken an Rosa Luxemburg und Karl Liebknecht” by Barbara Könczöl.“Rosa Luxemburg” by Fred Oelßner“A Heroine of Revolution,” Hannah Arendt, The New York Review of Books. October 6, 1966.“Luxemburg-Liebknecht-Demonstration,” Jugendopposition in der DDR, Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, 2019.“Beschlagnahmte Transparente von der Liebknecht-Luxemburg-Demonstration 1988.” BStU, MfS, HA IX, Fo, Nr. 1375, Bild 1-14. Stasi-Mediathek.
East Germany, the Constitution, and Depeche Mode?!?? #history #coldwar #gdr Call Me Steve 2025-03-01 | ...
No Nukes: The KGB, Stasi, and Kraftwerk Call Me Steve 2025-02-08 | The anti-nuke movement had a LOT of support from the KGB and Stasi...but in the Soviet Bloc there was a distinction between the atom of war, and the atom of peace. And in the West the atom itself was the problem.It wasn't just the CIA who had their plans and propaganda blow up in their face. And this can all be charted with the music of Kraftwerk.Chapters:0:00 Introduction1:39 The Atom of Peace4:10 Not just Kermit6:24 Wir sind die Roboter8:20 A Policy of Truth11:31 Final ThoughtsSources include:- SCHMID, SONJA D. “Of Plans and Plants: How Nuclear Power Gained a Foothold in Soviet Energy Policy.” Jahrbücher Für Geschichte Osteuropas, vol. 66, no. 1, 2018, pp. 124–41. - Lynch, Lisa. ""We Don't Wanna Be Radiated": Documentary Film and the Evolving Rhetoric of Nuclear Energy Activism." American Literature (2012) 84 (2): 327–351.- Milder, Stephen. “The New Watch on the Rhine: Anti-Nuclear Protest in Baden and Alsace.” Environment & Society Portal, Arcadia (2013), no. 6. Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society.- "Ministry of State Security (Stasi), 'About the Talks with Comrade V. A. Kryuchkov'", November 7, 1983, Wilson Center Digital Archive, BStU, MfS, Abt. X, Nr. 2020, S. 1-7. Translated by Bernd Schaefer.- Information des KGB über Aktivitäten der Umweltbewegung in der Umgebung von Kernkraftwerken. Stasi-Mediathek. BStU, MfS, HA XVIII, Nr. 3665, Bl. 5-8.#history #gdr #sovietunion
Germany: it took two months. #history #wwii #nytimes Call Me Steve 2025-01-30 | Same as it ever [still is]. 📕: “The Third Reich in Power” by Richard J. Evans📝: “How […] Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days” by Timothy W. Ryback
The Stasi and Manchester United #coldwar #eastgermany #history Call Me Steve 2025-01-19 | A bit of East German history gleaned from a Manchester United scarf in East Berlin.📸: “Gewalt, Hooligans und Rechtsradikalismus „rowdyhafte” Jugendliche im DDR-Fußball,” Im Objektiv der Staatsmacht. 📕: “The People’s Game: Football, State and Society in East Germany” by Alan McDougall“State and Minorities in Communist East Germany” by Mike Dennis and Norman LaPorte
Punk politics in East Germany #coldwar #gdr #punk Call Me Steve 2025-01-12 | What were the politics of the punk (and skinhead) scene in East Germany? Allow me to get Crass.
East German Punks, Goths, and Metalheads Call Me Steve 2025-01-04 | By the end of the 1980s East Germany's Stasi had identified a major issue plaguing the people's state: punks, goths, and metalheads. They understood them as nothing more than negative decadent youths who needed to be weeded out, like thistles in the socialist rose garden. And thus they missed a big reason why the East German state collapsed.Chapters:0:00 Introduction1:24 East German society3:14 Punks against the State7:38 Metalheads AND the State10:26 I am Goth and I never laugh12:21 A tentative embrace14:31 And here's Bowie!Sources include:- "Rock in der DDR," Michael Rauhut- "Burning Down The Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution and the Fall of the Berlin Wall," Tim Mohr- "Heavy Metal in der DDR," Museum in der Kulturbrauerei, Berlin- "LIEBER ANDERS. SUB- UND JUGENDKULTUREN IN DER DDR," Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Leipzig.- “Metal Militia behind the Iron Curtain: Scene formation in 1980s East Germany” Wolf-Georg Zaddach, Metal Music Studies, Volume 2, Issue 3, Sep 2016- Dennis, Mike and LaPorte, Norman. State and Minorities in Communist East Germany, New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2011.#history #punkrock #coldwar
Kid punks in the GDR #coldwar #punk Call Me Steve 2024-12-28 | Why yes, gatekeeping absolutely existed behind the Iron Curtain.
BANG YOUR (state approved and monitored) HEAD. Call Me Steve 2024-12-21 | The metal scene in East Germany was one of contradictions.#history #heavymetal #coldwar
Did East Germans believe West Germany would be better? Call Me Steve 2024-12-12 | Eject buttons are fun to examine, especially with the help of the Stasi! 📚: Hinweise auf Reaktionen von SED-Mitgliedern und Funktionären auf die Lage in der DDR. BStU, MfS, ZAIG, Nr. 5351, Bl. 32-39.Hinweise auf motivbildende Faktoren im Zusammenhang mit der Ausreisebewegung. BStU, MfS, ZAIG, Nr. 5351, Bl. 40-52.#coldwar #eastgermany #history
Nixon, Hoover, and the Huston Plan Call Me Steve 2024-12-08 | For five days in the summer of 1970 it can be said that the fundamental guarantees of the Bill of Rights were suspended. At least on paper. This is a story about how Richard Nixon thought COINTELPRO didn't go far enough, and about how J. Edgar Hoover threw a temper tantrum.Somehow I wrap the Stasi and the election into this. 0:00 Introduction0:14 COINTELPRO4:20 The Huston Plan10:19 I quite honestly can't believe this really happened12:04 Some Final ThoughtsSources Include- “Watergate: A New History” by Garrett Graff- “Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America” by Rick Perlstein- “Spying on Americans: Infamous 1970s White House Plan for Protest Surveillance Released” edited by John Prados and Luke A. Nichter. National Security Archive.- Final Report, S. Rep. No. 94-755 (1976):Book II, Intelligence Activities and the Rights of AmericansBook III, Supplementary Detailed Staff Reports on Intelligence Activities and the Rights of AmericansVolume 2, Huston Plan (September 23, 24, and 25, 1975)- Tom Charles Huston Interview Transcription, 30 April 2008, Nixon Presidential Library#history #ushistory #coldwar
Berlins Two* Palaces Call Me Steve 2024-11-09 | This is a story about two palaces in Berlin: one of royalty, one of the people, and one of—wait, I thought I said two? The Berlin Palace and the Palast der Republik both stood on the same spot, both were torn down by a different Germany, and both are important to understanding just how reunified Germany got here.And actually, it's a story about victor's justice.Chapters:0:00 Introduction1:23 The Royal Palace3:01 Karl's Door4:22 The People's Palace6:15 The New* Palace9:05 The Last LightsSources include:- "Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947" by Christopher Clark - "Berlin" by David Clay Large- "Vertigo: The Rise and Fall of Weimar Germany" by Harald Jähner #coldwar #berlin #berlinwall
Thoughts on the election with Lenin. #history #coldwar #statue Call Me Steve 2024-10-28 | David Byrne didn’t return my phone calls, so I needed to seek out someone else.
The Stasis (1977) Autopsy of East Germany Call Me Steve 2024-09-29 | As part of the East German coffee crisis, the Stasi produced a report warning about why the population was so upset and what this meant for East German society. Little did they know they were producing the first rough draft of East Germany's autopsy.You can read the entire report here: https://www.ddr-im-blick.de/jahrgaenge/jahrgang-1977/report/tendenzen-der-unzufriedenheit-in-der-bevoelkerung-2/Chapters:0:00 Introduction0:57 First some backstory (I promise this is quick)2:15 The Coffee Crisis2:50 REACTIONS TO THE COFFEE SUPPLY PROBLEM3:19 Everything goes wrong in East Germany5:04 So, did they address this?8:15 The EndSources include:- Kloiber, Andrew. Brewing Socialism: Coffee, East Germans, and Twentieth-Century Globalization. Germany: Berghahn Books, 2022.- Communism Unwrapped: Consumption in Cold War Eastern Europe. United Kingdom: OUP USA, 2012.- ANDRÉ STEINER. The Plans that Failed: An Economic History of East Germany. 1945-1989. New York: Berghahn Books, 2010.#coldwar #history #eastgermany
Escaping over the Berlin Wall...to East Berlin Call Me Steve 2024-09-13 | The Berlin Wall had some weird quirks associated with it. One involved a group of protesters escaping over it in 1988...to East Berlin. Them being fed breakfast by the Stasi is the most normal part of this.Sources include:- "Über die Mauer in den Osten," by Brigitte Grunert, Tagesspiegel- "Lenné-Dreieck: Eine Massenflucht über die Berliner Mauer" by Metin Yilmaz. Additional photos are from "The amazing story of the Kubat Dreieck land enclave in East & West Berlin" at Alternative Berlin.#coldwar #berlin #history
An AI is wrong about the Brandenburg Gate #coldwar #berlinwall #history Call Me Steve 2024-09-07 | And I obviously have some thoughts about that. The book that is referenced here is “Berlin Calling: A Story of Anarchy, Music, The Wall, and the Birth of the New Berlin” by Paul Hockenos.
The Soviet magazine that helped to end East Germany Call Me Steve 2024-09-01 | In November of 1988 East Germany did something they had been doing for four decades: they censored a publication. Except this time it was a magazine from the Soviet Union, and the East German people weren't happy about it.Chapters:0:00 Introduction1:30 The Breakup3:30 Challenging the Narrative4:57 And the people lose their minds7:29 Sputnik ReturnsSources include:- Information zur Problematik von "Sputnik" und "Freie Welt." BStU, MfS, ZAIG, Nr. 14922, Bl. 1-2. Stasi-Mediathek.- Eingaben MfS-Angehöriger gegen das "Sputnik"-Verbot. BStU, MfS, SED-Kreisleitung, Nr. 4581, Bl. 35-40. Stasi-Mediathek.- Laura Bradley. (2013). CHALLENGING CENSORSHIP THROUGH CREATIVITY: RESPONSES TO THE BAN ON SPUTNIK IN THE GDR. The Modern Language Review, 108(2), 519–538. - “Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949-1990” by Katja Hoyer- “Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union” by Vladislav M. Zubok#coldwar #history #eastgermany
Were East German protesters in favor of Socialism? Call Me Steve 2024-08-10 | So, why did East German protesters do things like sing "The Internationale" and carry signs that said "Socialism Yes?" You didn't think I would have a straightforward answer, did you?0:00 Introduction0:48 The Petition Culture2:29 Education3:30 Wrapping it upAll signs from the Alexanderplatz demonstration are from the Deutsches Historisches Museum. You can find them by searching "November 1989/Transparente"The map is from the class 10 History textbook used in East Germany in 1965. The textbook pages are from the Citizenship (Staatsbürgerkunde) text used in 1989. Sources include:- "Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949–1990" by Katja Hoyer- "The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall" by M. E. Sarotte- "The People's Game: Football, State and Society in East Germany" by Alan McDougall- "The Plans That Failed: An Economic History of the GDR" by André Steiner#coldwar #history #eastgermany
The East German-Soviet Breakup: The SPD-SED Letter Call Me Steve 2024-08-03 | In August 1987 West Germany’s Social Democratic Party and East Germany’s Socialist Unity Party agreed that the Cold War didn't need to be fought anymore. There was just one major problem: the East Germans had forgotten to run this crazy idea past the Soviet Union first.Chapters0:00 Introduction0:55 The SPD Situation3:50 The SED Situation6:05 Not for you lol8:42 Wallpaper Changes10:43 Ch-ch-changesSources include:- “Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949-1990” by Katja Hoyer- “Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union” by Vladislav M. Zubok- “Gemeinsames Papier von SPD und SED: "Der Streit der Ideologien und die gemeinsame Sicherheit"” by Christopher Beckmann, at the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung- “20 Jahre Dialogpapier: Wie SPD und SED die DDR destabilisierten” by Franz Walter, in Spiegel Online.“Die Stasi zum SED-SPD-Papier "Der Streit der Ideologien und die gemeinsame Sicherheit"” in Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv. #coldwar #history #eastgermany #sovietunion
Were the Stasi really hiding behind every corner? Call Me Steve 2024-07-14 | If popular media is to be believed, literally everyone in East Germany was informing on each other. Let's explore the truth of how many people helped East Germany's Ministry for State Security, the Stasi, control the population.Sources include:- "The People's State: East German Society from Hitler to Honecker" by Mary Fulbrook- "Burning Down The Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution and the Fall of the Berlin Wall" by Tim Mohr- "Die inoffiziellen Mitarbeiter" by Helmut Müller-Enbergs- ""Participatory Repression? Reflections on Popular Involvement with the Stasi" by Gary Bruce, in 'The Stasi at Home and Abroad: Domestic Order and Foreign Intelligence'#coldwar #eastgermany #history
Was East or West Germany more politically independent? Call Me Steve 2024-07-02 | Question from a viewer: who had more independence from their benefactor, East or West Germany? Let me talk about why, to the East German leadership, they had no desire for this political independence. And how this can be illustrated through the use of Soviet tanks.Recommended reading includes:- "The People's State" by Mary Fulbrook- "Beyond the Wall" by Katja Hoyer- "Driving the Soviets up the Wall: Soviet-East German Relations, 1953-1961" by Hope M. Harrison- "Letter from Honecker to Brezhnev", November 26, 1980, Wilson Center Digital Archive, SED-Politburo und polnische Krise 1980/1982 (Band 1: 1980).
October 1962: The Cuban Missile Crisis as it happened Call Me Steve 2024-06-30 | What did the Cuban Missile Crisis look like to the average American that was living through it? Let’s take a look at how American newspapers covered the lead up to one of the closest moments the world came full scale nuclear conflict - and look at previously classified information that fills in the gaps of what people didn’t know!Special thank you to @LadyIzdihar and ProfessorMeredith!Chapters:0:00 Introduction1:07 14 October 19622:32 17 October 19623:45 19 October 19624:42 21 October 19625:54 22 October 19627:31 23 October 19629:51 24 October 196211:44 25 October 196212:46 26 October 196214:29 27 October 196215:14 28 October 196219:41 29 October 196220:18 Epilogue Sources Include:- “One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War” by Michael Dobbs- “The Silent Guns of Two Octobers: Kennedy and Khrushchev Play the Double Game,” by Theodore Voorhees- “The Soviet Sixties” by Robert Hornsby- “The Cuban Missile Crisis in American Memory: Myths versus Reality” by Sheldon M. Stern - “The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962: 40th Anniversary” at the National Security Archive- “13 Days in October” by the JFK Library and Museum#history #coldwar #cubanmissilecrisis
