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0:17

it's the only morning

0:19

on august twenty seconds nineteen sixty

0:21

one a , before

0:23

her fifty ninth birthday birthday

0:26

nurse eat a sequin is

0:28

looking down from her window to the street below

0:30

it's a three storey

0:32

drop but she thinks

0:34

she can make it over

0:37

the past decade and a half either

0:39

has grown used to living in a divided

0:41

city her apartment

0:44

block on berlin's benaud a stress

0:47

literally straddles the border between east

0:49

and west palmer's

0:51

themselves are located in the soviet sector

0:54

the front entrance opens into the french

0:58

where eat his sister lives just a few blocks away

1:01

ordinarily criss crossing the border would be

1:03

no big deal but the

1:06

we can a half ago everything

1:08

changed overnight

1:11

a barbed wire barrier went up along

1:13

the dividing line now

1:15

the front entrance of eat as building has

1:17

been boarded up with access

1:20

provided by a real courtyard opening

1:23

on to east berlin like

1:25

many berliners eat it has found

1:27

a so trapped in the soviet sector cut

1:30

off from loved ones in the other half of the city

1:34

either is determined to celebrate her birthday

1:36

in the free world and

1:39

there's only one way to get there over

1:42

the past few days other residents have been

1:44

leaping from their apartments to the street alone

1:47

there are often caught by the west

1:49

berlin fire brigade they've been

1:52

patrolling for exactly this purpose right

1:55

now there's no sign of the men with the rescue nets

1:58

that either compare wait a moment

2:00

longer he will just have

2:02

the chance to fall on her own to

2:05

, some bedding and a few precious belongings

2:08

belongings throws them out of a window to the street the

2:12

then she columbus out onto the window sill to

2:15

takes depress not jesus

2:17

of takes depress

2:21

knock knock on either side the

2:24

lands badly and is critically

2:27

injured by the impact blood

2:29

seeping out onto the west berlin pavement

2:33

too late the firemen arrive and bundle

2:35

her into the engine for the short ride to

2:37

lazarus hospital by

2:39

the time they arrive the do

2:41

is dead he

2:43

is the first casualty of the new barrier

2:46

between east and west

2:49

the ever watch police german police diligently

2:52

record the incident in their logs at

2:55

six fifty am they wrote either

2:58

, single jumped

3:00

out the window of her third floor apartment

3:03

big man was carried away by the west berlin

3:06

fire department the

3:08

bloodstain was covered up with sand

3:13

maybe the first person to die attempting

3:15

to cross from east to west but

3:17

she will not be the last two

3:20

days later twenty four year old

3:22

taylor consulates shot

3:24

dead by the east german transport police while

3:26

attempting to swim across the river spray the

3:29

border between east and west berlin has just become

3:32

one of the most dangerous places on earth

3:36

in , nineteen forty six six

3:38

six months after the end of the second world second

3:41

the former british prime minister winston churchill

3:43

described an iron curtain

3:46

dividing east curtain west he

3:48

, speaking metaphorically butts

3:51

in berlin once the capital

3:53

of hitler's rise that nightmarish

3:56

image was to become frighteningly wheel

4:01

that we began as a simple barbed wire fence

4:04

the berlin wall would

4:06

grow in cruel complexity until

4:09

it encompassed it encompassed as south coast

4:12

watch times with dogra anti

4:15

vehicle trenches electric fence

4:18

and mice not

4:20

to mention the three and a half meter high concrete

4:22

myself this

4:25

purpose to prevent

4:27

those living those living communist east to the city

4:29

the packed into the democratic use

4:33

those stuck on the wrong side of the war were effectively

4:35

prisoners of war and yes

4:38

over , course of almost three decades around

4:41

five thousand of them managed to escape

4:45

but how did this twenty seven mile at

4:47

us has become such an enduring symbol

4:49

of the cold war between the soviet

4:51

union in the united states i'm

4:54

what did it take in the end of

4:56

the walls start tumbling down

5:00

i'm home again this

5:03

is a short history of the berlin

5:05

wall

5:11

not to mention sixty one that the first barb

5:13

wire barrier goes up in berlin

5:16

the origins of the war will go back a lot

5:18

further the end of the second

5:20

world war mcgregor

5:24

the author of checkpoint charlie

5:26

the cold war the berlin wall

5:29

and the most dangerous place on

5:31

earth

5:32

obviously the cold war didn't start straight

5:35

also the second mobile there was a

5:37

long build up to it but

5:39

you could see that was tensions between the

5:41

allies or merrily between the

5:43

western allies in one camp and

5:45

the russians in the other so

5:48

by the time of may nineteen forty

5:51

five obviously hitless dead the

5:53

russians moved in berlin itself

5:55

was destroyed so the capsule

5:57

of germany of hitler's rise with

6:00

pretty much central town anyway in a five

6:02

mile radius was completely gone seventy

6:04

percent of housing destroyed but

6:06

seemingly survivors within the city after

6:09

the war germany has carved up

6:11

into for sectors each

6:14

one governed by different allied powers

6:17

what's left of berlin foes inside

6:19

russian territory

6:22

the nation's capital the city itself

6:24

is also divided into four

6:27

british american french

6:30

and russian zones

6:32

this effectively gives the western allies a foothold

6:35

in the soviet union rajan

6:38

the the russians allow the allies

6:40

into the city the

6:42

east and west turner to have very different ideas

6:44

about what a postwar germany should look like

6:47

the

6:49

russians are pushing for the country to be completely

6:52

demilitarized protect

6:54

the western border they

6:57

don't want to repeat of what happened in nineteen forty

6:59

one

7:00

when hitler abruptly tore up the nonaggression

7:02

pact launched an invasion

7:06

there's more to the russian drive demilitarization

7:08

than simply protecting their own buddha however

7:12

the western allies gone they hope

7:14

to install a government favorable to their

7:16

own interests

7:18

the americans me was a determined

7:20

to stick around and rebuild

7:22

the country

7:24

on april third nineteen forty eight us

7:27

president harry as truman signed into

7:29

law the marshall plan

7:32

names with forward thinking secretary of state

7:34

george see marshall

7:36

whose vision of a future you are free for

7:38

more hinges on a massive international

7:41

aid program

7:43

marshall's boat initiative soon begins to transform

7:45

the western economies

7:47

they contain twelve billion dollars

7:49

worth of economic aid packages

7:52

to countries western europe in the balkans which

7:55

equates roughly two about one hundred thirty

7:57

billion in today's money such a huge

8:00

investment that uk got twenty

8:02

six percent france to eighty percent and

8:05

west germany which was created the state

8:07

of west germany was created in forty

8:09

eight that go eleven percent things

8:11

were moving ah or that primarily

8:14

by the time he gets to forty eight forty nine

8:17

both sides are in shreds

8:20

though you've got eastern bloc

8:22

now is pretty much set up and

8:24

it's in the russian control the western democracy

8:27

have been built up with the marshall plan he

8:29

got an east germany got a west germany

8:31

that a now republics a you are a

8:33

very soft border which will turn into

8:35

a hard border it doesn't take

8:37

long for berlin to become a symbolic act

8:39

of room for the warring ideologies

8:42

of east and west

8:45

do not

8:47

in forty eight this months after

8:49

the first marshall plan payments made

8:52

the russian leader joseph stalin tries to

8:54

force the allies as of the city

8:56

with a blockade

8:58

road rail and canal boots

9:01

leading into berlin from the west are

9:03

all closed the

9:05

allies respond with a massive ellis

9:09

involving over two hundred thousand planes

9:11

more than a million and a half tons of supplies

9:15

the message is clear they

9:18

aren't bunch there's

9:20

more more money continues pouring into west

9:22

germany the differences between

9:25

the two sides of the city grow increasingly star

9:28

west berlin to a degree was

9:30

rebuilt and it was renovated and

9:33

then you got a lot of businesses coming in at least

9:35

almost the clip for he's been he's true

9:37

by the mid fifties bright lights big city

9:39

that's exactly what it was very commercial

9:41

lots of shops lots of bars all

9:44

the allied soldiers military

9:46

police and intelligence

9:48

agents that worked there at the time said

9:50

it was the best posting they have a hard to such

9:52

an exciting place to based international city

9:54

but you go across nc

9:57

east berlin weather will split

9:59

through the city eventually in some places

10:01

went right through the old heart

10:03

of the government sector in that area that

10:05

all been sammy rebuilt

10:08

rebel cleared away streets cleans some

10:10

buildings maintained rebuilt

10:13

that you go a couple of streets out there and

10:16

a still rubble it's just like

10:18

you just come out of your salary may ninety four

10:20

five still lots of bullet holes

10:22

pockmarked walls still crates

10:24

is still huge amounts of rubble

10:26

that had been cleared lots of buildings

10:29

had been repaired

10:32

this points east and west

10:34

germany are operating with two different currencies

10:37

the spending power of the west german mark

10:40

far outstrips the eastern

10:43

those living in east berlin this

10:45

means a world of financial opportunity

10:47

is literally on their juice

10:50

probably something like six hundred thousand

10:52

east berliners crossed into a spell

10:54

in everyday to work because they

10:57

earned west berlin wages which

10:59

gave them brilliant spending power when they went

11:01

home because the standard of living was so poor

11:03

it was really consumer society the

11:06

priority most of the time

11:08

was on heavy industry so

11:10

if you go into shops unless you're a

11:12

senior member of the communist party

11:15

or the socialist workers party announced that

11:17

i'm not much to buy so yeah those a big

11:19

big discrepancy the

11:22

differences between the two sided the city grow

11:26

the linux continue to crisscross back

11:28

and forth on a daily basis some

11:30

might be visiting family others attending

11:33

medical appointments get more

11:35

doing a crossbow to school run

11:38

there are checkpoints dotted along the

11:40

invisible line that divides the city down

11:42

the middle the military policeman

11:44

guarding them after don't even bother

11:47

to look at people's papers surprisingly

11:50

many east berliners find themselves drawn

11:52

to the attractions of the west and

11:54

in a city with a distinctly porous border

11:57

the factions widespread the

12:00

money they don't draw too much attention to themselves

12:03

men women and even whole families

12:06

simply walk across the board never

12:08

come back the

12:10

didn't just east berliners anyone

12:13

living under the soviet yolk in east germany

12:16

can effectively take the same route to freedom

12:19

in time the sheer scale such one way

12:21

crossings becomes a major problem for the east

12:24

german authorities

12:27

then like two point one million east germans

12:29

packed their bags said goodbye

12:32

and surreptitiously crossed this soft

12:34

border and i came across

12:36

on a daily basis in the hundreds and thousands

12:39

about six of the east german population

12:42

and fifty percent of that two point one million were

12:44

under twenty five years of age

12:46

great mass of them were from the professional class

12:49

so doctors architects

12:51

engineers teachers even

12:53

some of the police bureaucrats unless

12:55

you do something to stop these people

12:57

leaving that's literally just

12:59

gonna drain away the manpower on the

13:01

economic powers the country really

13:05

something has got to be done to stop the

13:07

brain drain

13:09

the east german lead about it will breast appeals

13:12

and akita crushes the leader of the soviet

13:14

union's and stalin's death and nineteen fifty

13:16

three the come up with a solution

13:20

that it's not until the early nineteen sixties

13:22

the khrushchev season opportunity to act

13:25

the election of a new us president john

13:28

f kennedy

13:29

was just thinking about this young president

13:32

is just take it over i'm

13:34

a survivor i'm a veteran politician who is

13:36

this kid they had a meeting in

13:38

june sixty one two months before

13:40

the war when shot and after

13:42

two days of serious argument

13:45

go back and forth kristof time away thinking

13:47

i had this guy nails for two days

13:50

i can really push him around my gut feeling

13:52

is they are not gonna go to war

13:54

if we come up with some kind of solution

13:56

to stop these germans getting through the border

14:00

the following month

14:02

it gives or risk green light for a plan

14:05

designed to end the defections once

14:07

and for all it

14:09

must be implemented in the strictest secrecy

14:12

the operation is to succeed the

14:15

element of surprise will be crucial not

14:18

really the twelve august nineteen sixty

14:21

one a balmy summer's

14:23

evening

14:24

will break is hosting a garden party it is woodland

14:26

retreat twenty five miles outside

14:29

burn in formerly hermann goering

14:31

hunting lodge his

14:33

, guests ministers

14:35

and dignitaries or understandably or

14:38

there's no special occasion and the

14:40

party's distinctly as of character

14:42

for the normally unsociable east german leader

14:46

inside the house the popular soviet

14:48

comedy film each man for himself

14:51

is play but most of the guests

14:53

prefer to be outside

14:56

the gather with drinks under the birch

14:58

trees beside a perfectly tranquil lake

15:01

speculate on why of brisk

15:03

might have brought them here after

15:05

a few hours

15:07

obrecht some of them into a room where

15:09

he finally makes his big announcement

15:13

earlier that day he tells them he

15:15

issued a series of top secret orders

15:17

to his most trusted military and police commanders

15:19

in berlin operation

15:22

rose the clandestine scheme

15:24

is known are finally stop

15:26

the front of defections east to west

15:30

at eight pm that evening barely

15:32

four hours since obrecht signature dried

15:34

on the paper

15:36

the ceiling on the loops containing his instructions

15:38

opened the people's army headquarters

15:40

in berlin inside

15:43

detailed orders

15:45

must be carried out that very night in

15:48

, of the operation is all brick security

15:51

chief erich honecker a

15:53

lifelong communist and one of

15:55

his most loyal acolytes it

15:57

would be his job to ensure the the

16:00

region goes smoothly as possible one

16:03

i am the streetlights were switched

16:06

off the coast east berlin tens

16:08

of thousands of soldiers move into position they

16:12

, the cement posts from their vehicles

16:14

along with over one hundred and fifty tons of

16:17

barbed wire after

16:19

work the man

16:21

a meticulous with their placement of a new barrier

16:24

shouting maps to ensure that they never

16:26

stray so much as an inch into west german

16:28

territory then

16:30

they begin quietly shutting down train stations

16:34

above and below ground six

16:37

am they closed off nearly two

16:39

hundred streets and doesn't

16:41

stations have been boarded up as well sunday

16:45

morning berliners , both

16:47

sides of the buddha a week to a shocking

16:49

new suit while

16:51

they slept they entire city

16:54

has been divided into by the

16:56

snaking burgoyne's sense

16:59

those in the east it's , if

17:01

a prison walls has gone up around them it

17:04

was catastrophic to the city any cause

17:06

huge amounts of problems emotional

17:08

distress for everyone because his

17:10

as because his people crisscrossed the city

17:12

to see loved ones go to

17:15

an event do something and he

17:17

just happen to be the wrong place at the wrong time and

17:19

you thoughts on the other side almost

17:22

immediately people begin attempting to cross the

17:24

barrier the simple

17:26

barb wire construction is far from impregnable

17:28

in large numbers of east berliners

17:30

further able to get past among

17:33

them or number east german border

17:35

guards and policeman

17:37

the were welcomed with open arms by their counterparts

17:39

on the other side

17:41

thousands got three but it was

17:44

within weeks of the berlin is and the allies

17:46

knew that it was they were plagued the highest

17:49

stakes a by that what i mean

17:51

is there was an hour an informal

17:53

or unspoken shoot to kill

17:55

policy on the border within

17:58

weeks

18:00

this by shooting of an east berlin are going

18:02

across into west berlin a curse the

18:04

draft taylor cook until it

18:08

the was one of those guys that was only his living in west

18:10

berlin so he's earning a lot of money

18:12

the spending power of a king back in east berlin

18:15

but he was in the process that summer of moving

18:17

into west berlin bought a flat he was moving

18:20

furniture he just happened to go

18:22

back hours before the woolworths

18:24

up to go with stop moving some other

18:26

stuff got caught in the wrong side then

18:28

to the next two weeks he was going up and down

18:30

the new border figuring out what how can

18:32

i get across it was just spreads

18:35

the end weekend decides to attempt

18:37

a water crossing identifying

18:39

a canal that branches off the with spray

18:42

the distance between east and west bank is

18:44

only forty meters the

18:47

escape attempts doesn't go as planned about

18:50

to jump into the water discovered

18:52

by transport elise officers

18:55

, warning shots shots order

18:57

to sundown publicly

18:59

decides to swim for it swim

19:02

across any he was shocked and he was hit fatally

19:05

three times and he died knows the first

19:07

death by shooting and that's what everyone knew

19:09

right okay they really do

19:11

business they really want to keep their own

19:13

population

19:17

the attempting to cross the border now carries

19:19

a potential death sentence the

19:21

expertise berlin has continued to try their

19:23

luck meanwhile the authorities

19:25

get to work reinforcing the barrier the

19:28

matter of weeks the barbed wire fences

19:31

replaced with a very basic wall helped

19:33

out a breeze blocks and cement the

19:37

time zone the repeatedly rebuilt

19:39

and strikes each

19:41

new version not only harder to cross

19:45

more deadly for those who attempt

19:49

the get through the first it's reasonable people were ramming

19:51

it with cause of trucks they were

19:54

trying to stay lit which was easy to do

19:56

if you didn't get shot it was easy to davis just

19:58

six of the wolf so what they

20:00

then did was they created

20:02

the famous what would become the killing zone

20:05

so they they demolished houses to

20:07

make sure that there was a big area that

20:09

you would have to get across before you got to the

20:11

war by time you get to the

20:13

seven seas he gets in the final

20:15

fourth generation war it was l

20:17

shaped because if you try to rabbits

20:20

it just doesn't fall down and still a because

20:22

god protect his based that is platform

20:24

makes it very hard to get deaths of the again

20:27

three point six meters high so

20:29

it's incredibly hard to get across a nice bonus cylindrical

20:32

topping on it as well which is specially

20:34

designed by this time

20:37

attempting , cross the border means running a hubristic

20:39

the south coast coast basically

20:41

gotta get across the old war which

20:44

had been improved and thus talked about

20:46

why he got to get through electrified france

20:48

go to get across the dog runs he

20:50

got gods hours placed roughly

20:53

three four hundred yards separating each

20:55

other but they've got three hundred and sixty degrees

20:57

sixty very powerful searchlights

21:00

you've got what they called stalins grass

21:02

which will metal spikes buried under the sand

21:05

just under the sun the got an asphalt

21:07

roads that goes all way round

21:09

in between these two was so motorized

21:12

police border guards could get their instantly

21:14

if the get you are cool i

21:16

don't like you said you got to get across is l shaped war

21:19

is is dystopian nightmare

21:22

the wall itself becomes increasingly

21:24

unassailable

21:26

produce german start looking for alternative

21:28

ways to cross into the west

21:30

some success we escape underground reaching

21:33

the surface on the other side before the tunnels

21:35

flood with water the

21:37

get their hands on lighter managed

21:40

to fly themselves to freedom the

21:43

less risky strategy is to approach one

21:45

of them any professional smuggling gangs the

21:48

began operating in east berlin if

21:51

you discovered in the back of a lorry you

21:53

might end up with a lengthy at

21:55

least he will be shot by buddha

21:57

good some

22:00

east berliners like thirty two year old

22:02

engineer been freed for edinburgh the

22:05

even more ingenious in their escape attempts

22:08

their apartment in pretend his

22:10

wife sabina the been itching to

22:12

get a cheap promising sheets into

22:14

a makeshift balloon were

22:17

, finished the design design

22:19

their construction inside a net of packing string

22:23

there's no basket suspended underneath the

22:25

power would to settle

22:28

the making sure the coast is clear they

22:31

, it out to their car along

22:33

with the keys from benefits work

22:36

recently he's taken a job at a local gas supply

22:38

utility with exactly this moment

22:40

in mind it's

22:43

a clear night with the wind

22:45

blowing towards the west according

22:48

, his calculations calculations should soon

22:50

be across the across keeping

22:53

an eye out for police they had to

22:55

a pressure regulating station where

22:58

they know they can get hold of get gas

23:01

they impact the balloon and get started

23:04

but it's a slow process and

23:06

before the balloon is completely full how

23:12

the buys called the folks bullets i

23:16

i'm , the vessel as enough realist supported

23:18

people people make a hasty decision

23:20

the subpoena will stay will and

23:24

his wife races back to their apartment been

23:26

freed takes off on his own

23:32

thanks to a thought evolve and

23:34

a lighter weight than he planned the

23:36

balloon rises too high who

23:39

first after

23:41

more than five hours in the air

23:43

an altitude of six thousand feet in

23:46

sweet can no longer hold on the

23:49

falls to the ground like a stone when

23:52

his body of discovered hours later in

23:54

the west berlin garden nearly

23:57

every bone has been broken the

24:00

made conception got him across the board the

24:03

been freed is dead on arrival

24:07

those who attempt to cross the berlin wall know they're

24:09

taking their lives in their hands

24:12

it's not just their own fate that hang in the balance

24:14

where the wallace consent

24:17

the powerful symbol of a clash between east

24:19

and west

24:20

the wallet so soon becomes a flashpoint

24:22

in the developing cold war

24:25

only a few months after the first barbed wire

24:27

barrier goes checkpoint

24:29

charlie the main crossing

24:31

points the site of a terrifying

24:34

stand

24:36

as tensions rise the two superpowers

24:39

america russia a

24:41

little closer to world war three

24:44

how it happened was an american diplomats

24:46

was taking his wife across

24:48

checkpoint charlie to the face of

24:50

because the theater district was in the spell

24:52

inside and again because disparity

24:55

in your your money could buy

24:58

he could have a great nights out in east berlin

25:00

and in the heart attack on it would cost

25:02

a fraction of what it would in west berlin the

25:04

agreement was if you're showing

25:06

military diplomatic plates on your car

25:09

you do not get stopped at the east

25:11

java soviet side and austria papers

25:13

you just waved through and we would do

25:15

the same to the soviets they were way through us but

25:18

he was that night and

25:20

that created to stand though because the guy wasn't

25:22

going to move he said well i'm i'm staying in my car and

25:24

i'm not giving you eat my papers with

25:27

their diplomat illegally detained at the buddha

25:29

the american see an opportunity but bit of

25:32

saber rattling

25:34

president kennedy's man on the ground in berlin

25:36

is retired general lucy is clay

25:39

there's already a cold war veteran

25:42

having supervised the successful berlin

25:44

airlift three use in the and

25:46

is in no mood to be messed around by the soviets

25:49

clay or does it meant to retrieve the diplomat

25:51

and his wife at once and to brooke

25:54

no nonsense from their counterparts on the other

25:56

side the diplomat

25:58

is rescued by thought the to the military

26:00

police bayonets fixed of

26:02

their rifles

26:04

but rather than heading straight back to west berlin

26:07

the american convoy first takes tour

26:09

around east of the city the

26:12

provocative gesture humming

26:14

their noses the soviets

26:17

don't appears to have little impact on the east

26:19

room and gods over the

26:21

ensuing days they continue

26:23

to deconstruct cause at the buddha

26:26

the third time it happens play it

26:28

had enough he said okay we're sending the tanks

26:30

to the checkpoint once clay

26:33

had said down the tanks and armored

26:35

cars to the checkpoints the russians

26:37

did the same in the end you probably had

26:39

ten or twelve american tanks and a pcs

26:42

on the border but the trouble was

26:45

the russians then match them tank the tank

26:47

armored car from at all but

26:49

they had dozens more and the side streets

26:51

as it would take sperling surrounded by

26:54

armies soviet troops was over three

26:56

thousand tanks thousand armored cars in cars

26:58

in germany so that's where we had

27:00

the and the these guys were locked and loaded

27:02

barely a couple hundred meters apart from when the

27:04

know battles of happens for

27:06

less than this it only takes one person

27:09

to far as shot and then it and then

27:11

it goes off so to speak with

27:14

, force has a name is on alert around the world

27:17

world less to president kennedy's younger brother hobby

27:20

the us attorney general attorney attempt to calm

27:22

the situation

27:24

he uses back channels to get in touch with the soviet

27:26

leadership persuading khrushchev

27:28

that both sides need to find a way to back

27:30

down save face dana

27:34

have the , american tank

27:37

pulls back from a climate

27:39

of the russians on

27:41

by want thanks retreat

27:43

from the border the tense standoff

27:45

comes to an end

27:49

the world leaders in washington and moscow

27:51

the berlin wall become another front

27:53

in the increasingly complex and

27:56

dangerous cold war that

27:58

represents more than just a physical boundary

28:00

between east and west that's

28:03

more significantly

28:04

that's an emblem of the two sides

28:06

opposing values freedom

28:09

on the one site the repression

28:11

on the other when

28:13

eighteen year old peter sister and shot

28:16

attempting to cross the war in august nineteen sixty

28:18

two

28:19

death becomes a pr disaster for

28:21

east germany and the soviet union

28:25

it was a kid or ended age eighteen year

28:27

old brick laying a princess for me

28:29

sperling i like any teenagers i just

28:31

want an exciting life they want

28:33

to have western music where'd

28:35

you use that kind of think they're all it's elvis

28:37

they had quit haircuts and they try to

28:39

dress accordingly are they

28:41

just galvanized themselves him and his friends

28:44

to think we want we want life was trying to get across

28:46

the border when

28:48

it comes to it

28:50

only two of the lads peter

28:52

and his friends helmet to bike the

28:54

foolhardy enough to actually attempt to escape remarkably

28:58

they make it past the various obstacles in the deaths

29:01

and begun scaling the three point six

29:03

me to warn itself for the spotted

29:06

the records show us something like the gods five

29:09

thirty five times that them incredible

29:12

the friends scaled the war

29:14

he was first there he got over the wall

29:16

and you go in as bullets pay around the war

29:18

where they were on at the of their feet he

29:20

got across as he was lifted his hand

29:22

down to try and get peter up pizza was

29:24

hit

29:26

three or four times face late as it

29:28

turned out he collapsed backs

29:30

this all happens a hundred yards away from

29:32

checkpoint charlie but the american gods that

29:34

couldn't do anything because his inside east german

29:36

territory that they're powerless that just watched

29:39

so he fell back in his line there and he's

29:41

mostly wounded he's bleeding out and

29:44

the first hour so he's screaming disinherit

29:47

good distance away and it worked a lot of west berlin

29:49

is he lived tried by the barrier woke them up

29:52

they're looking out their apartment blocks down

29:54

onto a this kid is like screaming

29:56

in pain other thing was

29:59

the americans go into the

30:01

no man's land the death strip because it's not

30:03

their territory they can give him any first they they

30:05

wanted to but they couldn't because they they didn't

30:07

have permission and then you what kind of trouble

30:09

that would cause these german gods

30:11

each shot him wouldn't go to his aid because

30:14

they hadn't been given the command to do so do

30:16

so three or four hours before these

30:18

gems did go over there and

30:20

by that time big crowd on the west berlin

30:22

sided built up those hundreds looking

30:25

on the the western media

30:27

was by now was there as well which is why the

30:29

same his shots of in line that dying

30:32

as you got the shots of him than being carried

30:34

away by east german border guards other

30:36

thing is is of see before we've got

30:38

the into their saw twenty four hour news

30:41

but this was the story

30:43

of the summer nineteen sixty

30:45

saved because again it of his pr

30:47

disaster for the east germans and the car and

30:49

the soviet government it is so to the world

30:52

exactly what this was

30:54

meant for berlin and

30:56

germany this is what they're

30:58

doing to their own people

31:03

the president kennedy

31:04

the much as a wall is anathema to american ideals

31:07

of individual freedom

31:09

the very existence provides a valuable opportunity

31:11

for propaganda

31:13

in june nineteen sixty three the

31:16

young president visits west berlin he

31:18

received by rapturous crowds addressing

31:22

more than one hundred thousand people from the steps

31:24

of the city hall the a speech

31:26

which will go down in history

31:29

the new thousand years ago

31:32

two thousand years ago the

31:35

proud of post was

31:38

key with romanos som

31:42

the day in

31:45

the world of freedom proud

31:47

it poses is

31:50

been eyeing been laid off

31:56

great only as

31:58

many difficult it

32:01

and democracy is ,

32:03

perfect perfect

32:05

we have never had to put a wall up to

32:07

keep our people our to prevent

32:09

them from prevent us as

32:13

the years go by the differences

32:15

in of living conditions and culture between

32:18

conditions two have become increasingly

32:20

pronounced oh

32:22

the west germany's to has pronounced oh of national

32:24

service those living in berlin

32:27

exists

32:28

the restroom and use fleet to the city

32:31

to avoid military conscription the

32:33

demographic scuse younger and more

32:35

alternative

32:36

west berlin becomes a thriving center

32:39

of arts and music

32:42

the star culture clash between east and west

32:44

is even played out on the wall itself while

32:48

it's east and so it looks like some prison

32:52

western face is a testament

32:54

to the spirit of them of them at west berlin

32:57

on the east german side is pristine because

32:59

you're never going to get their it because you'll get show saw

33:01

arrested while the west german though you can

33:03

go right up to a can of spray paint and just do

33:06

some amazing graffiti and that's what

33:08

was done for miles and most of the most as there's lots

33:10

of separate sections of the wall the ring

33:12

galleries all around the world i mean there's one in southeast

33:15

london where i live is my shopping center the

33:17

the west berliners the graffiti

33:20

is graffiti define a gesture a

33:22

statement of unrestricted artistic expression

33:25

but , the well technically stands just inside

33:28

the east german border border

33:30

artists responsible for such acts of

33:32

vandalism the putting themselves at themselves dogs

33:36

that have been built into the wall sometimes

33:38

used by god's it won't above

33:41

using them to kidnap west berlin to get

33:43

too close

33:45

because no one in east berlin can see the graffiti

33:47

on the of a sudden whoa

33:49

the when it comes to live music performances

33:52

it's a different story

33:55

throughout the nineteen eighties major

33:57

stars are lining up to perform in west

33:59

berlin status as an

34:01

international city of come to gross acts

34:04

, the rolling stones prince and

34:07

bryan adams all insist on dates if

34:10

if the recording seen becomes world becomes

34:13

david bowie the phone several times and

34:15

records a trilogy of albums in of him

34:18

some heroes inspired by a couple

34:21

kissing by the rule the dimensions

34:23

and lover says that spans the device

34:27

with set perform deliberately close to

34:29

the wall sometimes ,

34:31

to reach audiences in the east side of the city

34:33

as well hundreds

34:35

if not thousands of the youths of east berlin

34:38

risk clashes with riot police of the buddha

34:40

to listen buddha the intoxicating sound of

34:42

the west

34:47

in response to such altercations nineteen

34:50

eighty eight the east german authorities

34:52

take the unprecedented step

34:54

i'm inviting a western musician to come and play

34:56

for them officially the

34:58

man they select for the gig bruce

35:01

springsteen

35:02

there's a year younger generation coming

35:04

in they were in their forties and they

35:07

were the ones that were saying we have to change

35:09

don't still stick rigidly

35:12

to the old ways of governing our population

35:14

we give them a bit of what i want we've

35:17

seen this guy bruce springsteen he

35:19

seems like a real blue collar working

35:21

man who sings songs about workers' rights

35:24

what could be more perfect than if we're going to have

35:27

a western star come over to our country

35:29

to east berlin we should ask him

35:33

he was he bites it it was on his tour it

35:35

was the tunnel of love to which i went

35:37

to is fantastic on what and a gig

35:39

of say seventy to eighty to ninety thousands

35:42

attendees that the the local

35:44

authorities gem local authorities to control

35:47

and could manipulate in a pl

35:50

way to say come

35:52

what a great country we are turned into a pr

35:54

disaster because everyone

35:56

wanted to go to the gate and it

35:59

was it is isn't the open air stadium

36:01

very easy to illegally get into

36:03

though some eyewitnesses

36:06

and some reporters cupboards

36:08

the gig itself said that nearly three

36:11

hundred thousand for that moved

36:13

, the sight of so many fans going out to see

36:15

him him gives an epic

36:18

for our for at

36:20

the end of it he makes a brief speech

36:23

in german reading from reading phonetic

36:25

translation

36:27

i am not for or against a government

36:30

he tells the crowd i've come

36:32

to play rock and roll for you the

36:34

how one day old barriers

36:37

will be toned down

36:39

he didn't say break down the wall

36:41

this is your use germany never said that he

36:43

was just talking about it a roundabout

36:45

way the use that he was playing two

36:47

hundred decisions mates of what lies

36:50

they wanted to live at he played chimes

36:52

of freedom bob dylan so then

36:54

again went down store and

36:56

to me personally knowing the history

36:59

what happened afterwards that was that little

37:01

that was another britain another war that

37:04

was taken out basically before

37:06

the before the thing fell apart the

37:09

late nineteen eighties

37:10

russian leader mikhail gorbachev's policies

37:13

of glasnost and perestroika

37:15

openness and restructuring the

37:17

started to change the face of the soviet union

37:21

in june nineteen eighty seven lynn

37:23

plays host to another american prison ronald

37:26

reagan in a powerful

37:28

speech that the brandenburg gate reagan

37:31

throws down a gauntlet to is russian counterpart

37:34

we welcome change and openness

37:37

we believe that freedom and security

37:40

go together that

37:43

the advance of human liberty the

37:46

advance of human liberty can only strengthen

37:49

only strengthen of world peace there

37:52

is one sign of the soviets

37:54

can make that would be unmistakable

37:58

that would advance drown and big jim it

38:00

me the cause of freedom and peace

38:04

general secretary gorbachev if

38:07

you seek peace if

38:09

you seek prosperity for the soviet

38:11

union and eastern europe if

38:14

you see liberalization i'm

38:16

here to disengage mr

38:19

gorbachev open

38:21

the gate

38:24

mr gorbachev tear

38:26

down this wall

38:32

the russian leader isn't willing to go that far

38:35

the following year he does announced that the soviet

38:37

union will relax it's control of

38:39

it's satellite states and

38:42

privately

38:43

the begins communicating to the leaders of those

38:45

countries including east germany that

38:48

they too will need to either change or

38:50

perish

38:52

the is bringing in his own liberal policies to try

38:54

and less the soviet union out of

38:56

the economic mar it was in he'd use

38:58

that they shouldn't fight the cold war economically

39:01

like the had before it was going to bankrupt the country

39:04

so by eighty nine he

39:06

was already telling these germans as

39:08

he had told the polls and gary

39:10

as the checks the romanians everybody

39:13

we can't underpaid and

39:15

supply you the finances

39:17

you need to keep your country going the way

39:19

this you gotta do the same as

39:21

me and sense and zip some

39:23

symbol freedoms and free up your economy

39:26

otherwise you will collapse

39:29

german leader eric hanukkah the

39:31

man who spearheaded the operation to build the

39:33

berlin move almost three decades earlier the

39:36

unimpressed by gorbachev's approach but

39:39

after he speaks out against the russian premier

39:41

in a closed meeting hanukkah

39:43

finds himself ousted by scotty comments

39:47

successor a come krentz comes

39:49

to power promising phone the

39:52

pace of change turns out to be much faster

39:54

than he has in mind

40:00

this

40:02

three weeks later the ninth

40:04

of november nineteen eighty nine prince's

40:06

press officer contests schabowski the

40:09

delivering his daily briefing

40:12

six year old veteran of the party's official

40:14

newspaper noise deutschland

40:16

you still adjusting to the idea of answering

40:18

questions of journalists rather

40:20

than simply telling them what to write exhausted

40:24

after a long day meeting the

40:27

mask is far from the top of his game six

40:30

fifty three pm the

40:32

briefings about iraq

40:34

the announces that he has one more piece of

40:36

news for the assemble journalists

40:39

the papers on the desk in front of him he

40:41

finds something krentz handed him earlier

40:44

about an easing of restrictions east germans

40:46

who want to travel abroad

40:49

the announces friends told him the

40:52

be a bombshell during

40:54

his limousine right over to the press conference about

40:57

that he glanced at what was in his hands it's

41:01

supposed to atlanta very gradual change of policy

41:04

that now staring at the type

41:06

document covered in schooled annotations

41:09

and can barely make it out

41:11

the time mrs dimension of the press

41:13

embargo until the following day

41:16

still

41:18

when pressed by a journalist as to when the

41:20

changes will come into effect he

41:22

inadvertently brings the entire process

41:24

forward

41:25

it was supposed to be a very slow

41:27

snail's pace step by step process

41:30

east german systems would have to go three consecutive

41:33

weeks might take the months before they were allowed

41:35

to go through the border but he was just courts

41:37

on the hot and he gave this briefing

41:40

about these restrictions he didn't

41:42

really understand what he was saying to a degree

41:44

because the and read it properly so when

41:47

a question came back to him as a bill went to

41:49

these these restrictions and they

41:51

said our they come into effect immediately

41:56

it's about his words spread around the world

41:58

by the international press

42:00

or enough to open the floodgates in berlin

42:03

that evening tens of thousands

42:05

of east germans from the checkpoints the

42:08

checkpoints to be let through into the west the

42:11

guards on duty is not been briefed

42:14

on the new official policy are ,

42:16

what to say to them them a

42:18

tense a i'm on the could

42:20

easily turn bloody it's

42:22

only five months since the massacre

42:24

in beijing's tianamen square where

42:27

thousands of demonstrators were murdered by the

42:29

authorities these

42:31

german government a keen to avoid what's become

42:33

known as a chinese solution but

42:36

, that mean simply capitulating to the crowds

42:38

desires and throwing open the gates

42:41

after nearly three decades decades

42:44

massive people aren't technically a political

42:46

process but know they seem

42:48

likely to go back home willingly

42:52

while the east german authorities ponder their next move

42:54

gorbachev , his position clear the

42:57

oldest his own troops to remain troops to barracks

43:00

whatever happens if

43:02

the east german forces make a move against their

43:04

citizens gathering at the border they

43:07

will have to do so without moscow supposed

43:13

eleven thirty pm

43:15

the east german border guards of still not

43:17

received any new orders and

43:19

the crowds are getting increasingly impatient

43:23

finally lehtinen ,

43:25

harold yeager who's in charge

43:27

of the passport control unit at the bone

43:29

homer stress border crossing makes

43:32

the decision to raise the barrier there the

43:35

out at followers

43:36

more than twenty thousand people cross over

43:39

into the neighboring french sector they

43:41

they receive a warm welcome from the gendarme

43:45

the other checkpoints soon follow suit

43:47

the all over the city east berlin as begin

43:49

setting into the west

43:52

after twenty eight years residents

43:54

, both sides of the border begin to mingle again

43:58

crowds views from both east the west

44:00

clamber up onto the top of the wolves celebrate

44:03

together the street parking

44:05

to endorse street person has begun tv

44:08

, gather to film the triumph of seems

44:11

seems reporters clamoring to cherry pick

44:13

as to get the best vantage best it

44:16

doesn't take long for the wall itself to start itself

44:19

to almost

44:21

immediately civilians begin

44:23

chipping away at it begin summers and chisels

44:26

turning themselves the nickname maoists

44:28

best of all packers soon

44:31

bulldozers a smashing joined homes

44:33

to it as well it

44:36

will be another seven months before the official

44:38

demolition process begins as

44:41

, once impregnable barrier is reduced to one

44:43

point seven million tons of rubble rubble

44:46

even before that happens the great

44:48

symbol of the gulf between east and

44:50

west has lost on his power

44:54

just as rapidly as the first barbed wire fences

44:56

went up nearly three decades earlier the

44:59

berlin wall is come tumbling

45:01

down it's

45:04

too late though the hundreds of

45:06

east berliners who died attempting

45:08

to reach a new life in the woods people

45:12

like eat sigma it affected

45:14

the been freed heightened

45:17

probably five thousand people escapes

45:20

altogether once have all gone up three to

45:22

when it came down and eighty nine thousand zombies

45:24

the didn't the official records

45:26

say is about to a gym one

45:28

two hundred eight people

45:30

, dies getting

45:33

across for one way or the

45:35

other they the shorts or ends badly

45:37

injured they died of their wounds lee

45:39

had a german gods dies then

45:42

frost fire because obviously some escapees

45:44

were arms and though shootouts but

45:47

they could literally be hundreds more because for

45:49

every one person got away there was another

45:51

post we did and they could have been badly

45:53

injured but they would never heard of again

46:05

next time on short history of we'll

46:07

bring you a showed history of the suffragettes

46:11

making pancakes have

46:14

been assaulted by the police on that day

46:16

says this says the danger and

46:18

he will die we can't go in these

46:20

mass demonstrations followed a good

46:22

it's too dangerous the place of

46:24

physically taxing folded up with it's

46:27

is unsafe so what she

46:29

says most will go on to grants

46:31

and we will waged a guerrilla war against

46:33

his gotten a not for such things it

46:35

spread all over the country lot while i'm

46:38

a change takes change continent

46:41

it's winter smashing eight oh that

46:46

is next time and short

46:49

history of

46:51

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