Weirdest Attempts to Cross the Berlin Wall (1961-1989)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ม.ค. 2024
- Following the conclusion of World War Two, Germany found itself divided into two newly established nations, commonly referred to as West Germany and East Germany. The capital city of Berlin was also divided in a similar geographical manner - the western portion of the city being administrated by the pro-democratic West Germany, while the eastern portion of the city was administrated by the USSR allied East Germany. The new border in Berlin initially proved no obstacle for the city's inhabitants, with thousands of civilians migrating from East Germany to West Germany, unsure of their future under the Soviet regime. In order to stop this mass exodus, the border was abruptly closed by the East German government and sealed off by haphazard barricades of cement blocks and barbed wire. The border was ultimately reinforced with a massive, impenetrable wall - complete with guard towers, gun emplacements, and mines. Many would-be escapees continued to attempt a crossing - with hundreds killed in the process or executed when caught. This is the story of the ingenious, risky, and outright bizarre methods of escape some East German inhabitants deployed to free themselves from oppression.
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Between 1961 and 1989, more than 100,000 citizens from East Germany tried to escape across the border. More than 600 of them were shot and killed by the Border guards. At the Berlin Wall alone, 5000 people attempted the crossing and 100 of them were either shot or died accidentally when they were caught by the authorities.
Their attempts to escape ranged from being quite ingenious to downright crazy.
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Credit:
Created by Daniel Turner (B.A. (Hons) in History, University College London)
Narrator:
Chris Kane
vocalforge.com/
“Democracy is not perfect but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in.”-John F, Kennedy.
This defenitly needs a second part.
“Torn down that wall like the Koola Aid man! Oh yeah!” Mikhail Gorbachev
During the construction of the Berlin Wall, an East German border guard named Conrad Schumann was hesitant to cross over the barbed wires while guarding. Some of the West Berliners saw him acting nervously, knowing he wanted to jump. They shouted for him to, “come over!”
Other attempts did NOT include a giant slingshot, a motorized pogo stick, a super powerful trampoline, or 99 red [helium] balloons.
The fact that these people weren’t soldiers, but students, circus actors, and family members is fucking insane. It’s so fascinating to see how human ingenuity is ramped up ten-fold whenever there’s a desperate need for freedom. You see it in clever prison escapes all the time. It’s amazing!
"Capitalism builds walls to keep people from coming in. Communism builds walls to keep people from running away."
That walk animation was so cartoonish, it’s amazing 😂
There was an escape attempt that was done by a couple who had a very low ride car. They made sure that they was low as the borders guards road barriers were and drove as fast as they could through and made it through it without even a scratch.
Born in 1981.. I have a vague memory of small chunks of concrete in little presentation boxes being sold at Walmart as "peice of Berlin wall" as suoviners. This was when Walmart was just a department store. No groceries no "Super store". This was in middle Alabama of all places.
As someone who lives in Germany (Saxony) I'm shocked when People say that we live in a dictatorship and that they want the wall back
There was another famous attempt that went well in 1964. There was a doctor who managed to smuggle 9 people to West Germany with his BMW Isetta bubble car, he almost got found out by border guard's dog. There's a video of it on BMW's official channel titled The Small Escape
I’d love to see Count Dankula do a video on the craziest escapes from East Berlin.
My greatgrand father was a carpenter, and he was allowed to cross the border to retun funiture to his customers in west berlin. He used this oppurtunity to smuggle all his funiture and family across the border.
Greetings from Germany. It's very exciting how they mix real history and myths together. From the beginning, the so-called border troops had orders to stop any border breakthrough by all means, which also included the use of firearms. The only thing they weren't officially allowed to do was shoot at minors, but this still happened often. It is also absolute nonsense that one out of six GDR citizens worked for the StaSi, because not everyone actually provided information as an IM (unofficial employee). The three brothers who escape in the last story are really exciting, but they had very good mountaineering equipment, but what is even more exciting is that the third was helped to escape with the help of an ultralight aircraft. Incidentally, most of them did not flee to Berlin but to the direct inner-German border or via other Eastern Bloc countries. The collapse of the GDR had little to do with the Polish Solidarity protests, but rather with the fact that the leading communists had run the country and the infrastructure so badly and that people could only buy the bare necessities with their money. Back then, people hardly demonstrated for the freedom to travel; it was about being able to buy cars, furniture or technology in the store, for example, without having to wait months or years for it. In this context, unfortunately, a lot of things are generally misrepresented abroad.
Lets all take a moment to say thanks for amazing content delivered in amazing tone
I love your videos and i have been watching your videos for years
Wasn't just in Berlin either. Saw a few attempts along the Grenz in Fulda back in the day.
i respect your videos and you i learning history from you very easy
My dad was an officer in the US Army, he actually flew in and out of West Berlin a few times.