Who opposed German Reunification? Documentary
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Date: 2022-07-19
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Comments and reviews: 19
Ego
How quickly people forget: a newly unified Germany imposed remarkable economic costs on the western three quarters of of Germany. The German Democratic Republic, while one of the better performing economies within the Soviet sphere of influence, was nevertheless an economic basket case by 1989-90, and it cost the Federal Republic of Germany hundreds of billions of dollars/deutschmarks/euros to reincorporate the people of the communist east into a reunified country. It was a mess, and to some degree still is, as older Germans raised in a communist system for more than two generations found it very difficult to adjust psychologically, politically and economically to living in a culturally dynamic western country -- and to them, it felt like their Germany had been defeated for the third time in 70 years.
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How quickly people forget: a newly unified Germany imposed remarkable economic costs on the western three quarters of of Germany. The German Democratic Republic, while one of the better performing economies within the Soviet sphere of influence, was nevertheless an economic basket case by 1989-90, and it cost the Federal Republic of Germany hundreds of billions of dollars/deutschmarks/euros to reincorporate the people of the communist east into a reunified country. It was a mess, and to some degree still is, as older Germans raised in a communist system for more than two generations found it very difficult to adjust psychologically, politically and economically to living in a culturally dynamic western country -- and to them, it felt like their Germany had been defeated for the third time in 70 years.
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Feliks
Not all Germans were friends of reunification either. In 1990, there was a demonstration in Frankfurt in May with twenty thousand participants under the slogan Never Again Germany and eight thousand in West Berlin under the slogan Death is a Master from Germany and at the end of the year another twenty thousand demonstrators in West Berlin under the slogan Shut up, Germany. Enough is enough. The West German left feared a rebirth of Greater German nationalism and racism as well as the economic superiority of a united Germany in Europe. And at the beginning of the peaceful revolution in the GDR, many East Germans still had the idea of reforming the state democratically instead of uniting with West Germany.
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Not all Germans were friends of reunification either. In 1990, there was a demonstration in Frankfurt in May with twenty thousand participants under the slogan Never Again Germany and eight thousand in West Berlin under the slogan Death is a Master from Germany and at the end of the year another twenty thousand demonstrators in West Berlin under the slogan Shut up, Germany. Enough is enough. The West German left feared a rebirth of Greater German nationalism and racism as well as the economic superiority of a united Germany in Europe. And at the beginning of the peaceful revolution in the GDR, many East Germans still had the idea of reforming the state democratically instead of uniting with West Germany.
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Motorcycling
I had always enjoyed your videos but I now understand how biased and propagandist they are.
First: The USSR did NOT want a divided Germany. The puppet state was West Germany who was the puppet of US and Britain (more so US) and who used the low ranking Nazis to form their government and civil service and also included Nazi officers and soldiers INCLUDING Waffen SS in the new so called West German Army. West Germany was and now a unified Germany is a total subservient client state of NAT (read that as US.
Stalin wanted a fully unified Germany but neutral and disarmed, yet the US created West Germany as a puppet client state. In response to this the Soviet Unions created the GDR.
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I had always enjoyed your videos but I now understand how biased and propagandist they are.
First: The USSR did NOT want a divided Germany. The puppet state was West Germany who was the puppet of US and Britain (more so US) and who used the low ranking Nazis to form their government and civil service and also included Nazi officers and soldiers INCLUDING Waffen SS in the new so called West German Army. West Germany was and now a unified Germany is a total subservient client state of NAT (read that as US.
Stalin wanted a fully unified Germany but neutral and disarmed, yet the US created West Germany as a puppet client state. In response to this the Soviet Unions created the GDR.
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Glenn
Simplification with manipulationing aim.
Germany and the western Europe became sattelite states of the USA with the Marshall help as a excuse.
There have been US military in Germany all the way up to 2015.
There was trouble in western countries allso, protests and so on and still there is today
This video gives the idea that in the soviet union there was trouble because of socialism, while in the capitalist countries there is no troubles because the system must be good.
I hope the person who made this is not a historien.
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Simplification with manipulationing aim.
Germany and the western Europe became sattelite states of the USA with the Marshall help as a excuse.
There have been US military in Germany all the way up to 2015.
There was trouble in western countries allso, protests and so on and still there is today
This video gives the idea that in the soviet union there was trouble because of socialism, while in the capitalist countries there is no troubles because the system must be good.
I hope the person who made this is not a historien.
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AnimeFan
0: 20 every leader of the udssr had strongly opposed the notion of German reunification -that is wrong! After the second world war, Stalin made a proposal to unite east Germany with west Germany under the constraint that the reunified Germany is neutral(no Nato, no Warschau Alliance.
Obviously, I do not know his intentions but probably he thought that a neutral Germany is better than to you a strong west Germany in the NATO compared to a weaker east Germany in the Alliance.
However, the leaders of the west said shockingly, No.
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0: 20 every leader of the udssr had strongly opposed the notion of German reunification -that is wrong! After the second world war, Stalin made a proposal to unite east Germany with west Germany under the constraint that the reunified Germany is neutral(no Nato, no Warschau Alliance.
Obviously, I do not know his intentions but probably he thought that a neutral Germany is better than to you a strong west Germany in the NATO compared to a weaker east Germany in the Alliance.
However, the leaders of the west said shockingly, No.
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Tark
Reunification still wasn't so great.
I honestly think it was pretty bad and it's greatly understated how much they butchered it.
They only did it so badly because West Germany wanted to instantly reunite the 2 out of political reasons (populist move by the CDU) and out of the fear that it had to be instantly otherwise the chance of reunification would go down.
The West erased everything and took /bought up every building or industry.
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Reunification still wasn't so great.
I honestly think it was pretty bad and it's greatly understated how much they butchered it.
They only did it so badly because West Germany wanted to instantly reunite the 2 out of political reasons (populist move by the CDU) and out of the fear that it had to be instantly otherwise the chance of reunification would go down.
The West erased everything and took /bought up every building or industry.
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aRadical
Actually, the famous Stalin Note saw the proposal of a reunified neutral Germany, despite this, the west fervently rejected the notion, primarily the United States. People argue that this was a ploy by Stalin to justify bringing the DDR into the Eastern Bloc, but still even if it was, the Wests rejection of it would play right into the ploy, as it ended up doing.
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Actually, the famous Stalin Note saw the proposal of a reunified neutral Germany, despite this, the west fervently rejected the notion, primarily the United States. People argue that this was a ploy by Stalin to justify bringing the DDR into the Eastern Bloc, but still even if it was, the Wests rejection of it would play right into the ploy, as it ended up doing.
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Sbastien
I would have liked to know what opposition (if any) arose within both Germany. Knowing that the standard of living in East Germany fell somewhat during the period after the reunification (because it had so much industrial catching up to do, I'd think some people there might have opposed reunification. but it's just a hypothesis.
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I would have liked to know what opposition (if any) arose within both Germany. Knowing that the standard of living in East Germany fell somewhat during the period after the reunification (because it had so much industrial catching up to do, I'd think some people there might have opposed reunification. but it's just a hypothesis.
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Matthias
There were opponents inside of Germany as well.
The social democrats in the West weren't keen. And neither were some of the newly elected East German politicians.
Regular East Germans were very much in favour, though. At least until it happened. (Ostalgie, ie nostalgia for the East, was and still is a common theme)
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There were opponents inside of Germany as well.
The social democrats in the West weren't keen. And neither were some of the newly elected East German politicians.
Regular East Germans were very much in favour, though. At least until it happened. (Ostalgie, ie nostalgia for the East, was and still is a common theme)
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Jason
By the late 1980s, the GDR was collapsing, making reunification with West Germany inevitable. For anyone who's interested, the book A World Transformed by HW Bush and his national security advisor Brent Scowcroft contains an excellent account of the negotiations involved in reuniting Germany at the end of the Cold War.
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By the late 1980s, the GDR was collapsing, making reunification with West Germany inevitable. For anyone who's interested, the book A World Transformed by HW Bush and his national security advisor Brent Scowcroft contains an excellent account of the negotiations involved in reuniting Germany at the end of the Cold War.
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Sky17
Important detail, Stalin did not oppose German Reunification, Stalin wanted a united neutral Germany that would be able to pay more reparations to the Soviet Union however the west feared that the Soviet Union would interfere to ensure a communist party victory in any neutral German elections.
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Important detail, Stalin did not oppose German Reunification, Stalin wanted a united neutral Germany that would be able to pay more reparations to the Soviet Union however the west feared that the Soviet Union would interfere to ensure a communist party victory in any neutral German elections.
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dharkbizkit
never thought about that some might have been against a reunification. but hearing them point to economics and beeing outplayed there feels wrong when these countrys themself have a democratic capitalist system. eighter allow other to compete, be better and win or drop your act.
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never thought about that some might have been against a reunification. but hearing them point to economics and beeing outplayed there feels wrong when these countrys themself have a democratic capitalist system. eighter allow other to compete, be better and win or drop your act.
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Graf
Little fun fact: After the reunification, they obviously brought capitalism in the country. This was done by the Treuhand-Anstalt. And these people brought the rate of homelessness from 0, 5% to over 40%.
(It got fixed some years later, now its stable and almost everything is fine)
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Little fun fact: After the reunification, they obviously brought capitalism in the country. This was done by the Treuhand-Anstalt. And these people brought the rate of homelessness from 0, 5% to over 40%.
(It got fixed some years later, now its stable and almost everything is fine)
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KingHans
A two democratic state solution with a slow transition and somewhat later reunification would have been the better solution. So in less then a year, two complete different economic, political and cultural states were merged. Or you could call it a hostile takeover of East Germany.
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A two democratic state solution with a slow transition and somewhat later reunification would have been the better solution. So in less then a year, two complete different economic, political and cultural states were merged. Or you could call it a hostile takeover of East Germany.
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Harold
So basically, France is okay with Germany dominating Europe economically, but only if Germany agrees that European countries shouldn't have any way to mitigate Germany's economical domination through exchange rates. Does that make sense to anyone? It doesn't make any sense to me.
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So basically, France is okay with Germany dominating Europe economically, but only if Germany agrees that European countries shouldn't have any way to mitigate Germany's economical domination through exchange rates. Does that make sense to anyone? It doesn't make any sense to me.
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The
1: 32
imagine your country being carpet bombed to rubble, cut clean in half after territorial reccessions, forced to continue to pay (and pay extra) repperations for the first and second world war and within 50 years doing better than england and france combined
E P I C
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1: 32
imagine your country being carpet bombed to rubble, cut clean in half after territorial reccessions, forced to continue to pay (and pay extra) repperations for the first and second world war and within 50 years doing better than england and france combined
E P I C
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Luca
Interestingly enough the east German population was basically robbed of the states treasury. Some politicians in the east suggested to divide all of the states capital between the population. In the end everything was taken by West German banks.
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Interestingly enough the east German population was basically robbed of the states treasury. Some politicians in the east suggested to divide all of the states capital between the population. In the end everything was taken by West German banks.
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Bill's
Back in 1989, my neighbour was from West Germany. I asked her about German reunification she said something like, those people in the east have nothing in common with us. Let them stay where they are. Very much against for other reasons.
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Back in 1989, my neighbour was from West Germany. I asked her about German reunification she said something like, those people in the east have nothing in common with us. Let them stay where they are. Very much against for other reasons.
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Tark
Not surprised, the Brits even adored to maintain the Holy Roman Empire and they are also one of the reasons why it lasted so long.
If history went a different way they would probably be advocating to maintain hundreds of Germany's
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Not surprised, the Brits even adored to maintain the Holy Roman Empire and they are also one of the reasons why it lasted so long.
If history went a different way they would probably be advocating to maintain hundreds of Germany's
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