that's a big question mark germany's very much adrift ever since the elections in 2017 germany has been extremely inward looking this called the so-called grand coalition was a very unhappy marriage from the get go only born out of the failure of the negotiations of the so-called jamaica coalition that then failed to come into existence its german is the current government doesn't show any path forward germans are divided still on issues of migration climate change and. we're wasting precious time actually to invest in a stronger europe a stronger europe that can defend itself also against an ever more aggressive china and we're investing we're failing to invest in our own in the strength of. our own industrial base germany had a fantastic economic development for the most part over the past 10 to 15 years we've had a good run but it's very unclear whether germany is well prepared for kind of ensuring prosperity of our economy in the future we should be investing and discussing this right now but rather we are in the kind of dealing with this kind of petty internal domestic political tu

a daughter start and at 1st both states claim to speak for all of germany because of east germany backed by stalin claim to be the state that would unify the country. but the federal republic believed it had disappear a system of governance kit and doubleness oblique people. today and the unification would have simply meant the nixing east germany i'm sure most dead. in 1961 just 12 years after the 2 german states were founded east germany sealed off the last open part of its mordor the wall deep into germany's divide german unity seemed further away than ever. in fears of another war the world looked to berlin breathless as u.s. and soviet tanks faced each other along the city's border. west berlin's mayor billy brunt tried to ease tensions. all of the. harder i did not know. escaping from east germany had become a deadly endeavor. ah unless i'm in safety in 1961 after hundreds of thousands have fled east germany the government sealed its borders in an act of self preservation. because they imprisoned their own people because they had come to the very realistic conclusion that they coul

for germany that would be a disaster. i think the german and the european economy are strong enough to be successful in different situations. there is always up and down in the economy. you have to be able to face this. and if you want to be successful in the times we live in, you must be effective in the way that even the medium—sized companies are successful on the world market. this is what happens to germany and this is one of the parts of our success. and one of the outcomes is that we always have to face the situation that there is — a bigger growth, or a slower growth in the world economy. and this has some effects on europe and on germany, but we will be able to face it. how did you feel when donald trump called europe a foe in terms of economic and trading relationships? he is not right and anyone who knows... he is the president of the united states. saying he is not right isn't going to help you build a relationship with the administration. we have very good talks with the american administration. i had a v

ambassador said germany's economic strength brings with it responsibility to act here's how germany's foreign minister heiko musts justified his visit from. the german government will not participate in the si mission proposed and planned by the united states we are in close agreement with our french partners in this regard we think a strategy of maximum pressure is wrong we do not want to military escalation we will continue to work with diplomacy marti's that's germany's foreign minister home us there rejecting a u.s. proposal for a joint maritime security mission near iran meanwhile germany's new defense minister and a great club has struck a different note saying no final decision has been made. we are considering this request in close consultation with the united kingdom and france. and we are doing this with particular consideration of our political and diplomatic goals and from this overall assessment a decision will be made. well for more now i'm joined by g.w. security and international correspondent christiane. christiane we've got some sounds like differing views there the

here and germany the curs are you your company's going down investments you. well we don't want to talk about unhedged eggs but absolutely not to be quite honest our intention is to continue growing globally and to continue growing strongly in europe and in germany and as i said previously for many companies germany's the 2nd important market and that is true for u.p.s. we have over 20000 employees here we're very happy with our success here and we view this as an absolutely essential market for a company that truly wants to be global germany is a big player. compared to the u.s. growth is so large is in germany of the money at the moment roughly half as much as in the u.s. are u.s. companies better off investing at home well interestingly the u.s. companies seem to be able to outgrow the german market and we saw that again in this survey where the u.s. economy of the world's largest is extremely vibrant and it's an extremely attractive market and you know don't forget a lot of our members are the german companies that invest in the u.s. and they're increasing

germany has done that. germany invests in their people, in their institutions, they produced some of the best instruments and machinery in the world, and this is a country that people demonize so much. yet they came together. the east germans have always been accused of steroids and performance enhancement drugs at the time, the east germans were always some of the best athletes but they were for that. today, we deal with the same issue of performance enhancement drugs and testing. we have to look at germany as a world prayer. and they have a female world leader. they are very progressive, people who use the word socialist and all of these other stigmatizing phrases to neutralize people's innovation, but america, we are not just about classical education, we do not just need to know about plato and socrates, but we need to know about the innovators of the world, the albert einstein's and educators who taught people to think. >> got your point, don in houston. you started talking about going back to world wa

germany. thousands,of the tens of thousands of east germans going west have had to pastor other communist nations, most of them passing through chaska -- czechoslovakia. now they have the right to go directly to west germany. dennis murphy is in berlin right now and has been following the events. what more do you know about this startling decision? seriesy astonishing in a of events that have happened the last few days and hours. in the last five minutes on television here in west berlin and the eased, the germans east and west, speaking for the government, the media spokesman said are no more borders, that east germans may cross to the west over whatever existing border frontiers there are. that eliminates the route to czechoslovakia. we have been following to the last few days, the hundreds of thousands of east germans leaving via that route. that is no longer necessary. what we have here in effect is a berlin wall which is a symbol but -- the frontiers themselves are open. he says in the ne

in germany. i have a piece of the wall in my china cabinet here in maine. i was also a child in germany, after world war ii, and i met people who survived the , so there is a lot of history here. it means a great deal. i went into east germany after the wall came down -- in fact, my friends and my mother and my son, we actually took a piece of the wall down that day, but we went into this east german restaurant and the owner came up to us and he knelt down in front of me and kissed my hand and said, you are the first americans to come in to my restaurant, and he was just so pleased. there is a huge difference between postwar germany and the germany after the wall came down. , exchange students . i had one boy from east germany and another from west germany. in my home. ,e lived in a little village was veryest german boy spoiled. the east german boy, however, the minute he got up from the table, he said now i do the dishes for you. i said oh, why don't you just go upstairs on the computer with my

but rather with germany telling the chancellor he hopes germany will accept more chinese companies and loosen export rules for certain goods he went on to say once again that china promises to open up its economy even more. china is becoming an ever more important trading partner for the european union since 2002 a trade.

led naval mission and not so clear about what germany france and the u.k. could possibly do together or today germany's new defense minister left the door open not we don't know exactly to what take a listen. i gather with france and great britain and germany has done everything in the past and the present to achieve a diplomatic and complete solution in iran. in me if i am called and. like other international partners we now have a 1st rough proposal such as from the united states about the possible mission. and we're currently examining these requirements in close consultation with great britain and france and we're doing this in particular against the background of our political and diplomatic objectives. in this are how to make sense of all of this this is a transatlantic story and that is how we are covering it tonight. political correspondent kate brady she joins me tonight from here in berlin and across the pond to w.'s helena humphrey joins me from washington d.c. to both of you welcome let me start with you berlin says no to washington has there be

attitudes in germany? we've talked about attitudes towards migration, we've talked about women. what about when it comes to balancing the books in germany? that much in your own country in order to show that, as you say in german, you are in the black, not in the red. this is an obsession that goes back to the 1930s. isn't it time to move on and to say, let us invest in our own country, because it's notjust good for germany, it's good for the rest of the eu, because those countries in the south say that german obsession with its own economy and keeping the money in the bank is harming the union as a whole. yes, that is a popular argument, that our very conservative budget policy and no new debt leads to fewer investment. but the truth is we have invested a lot in recent years, we have made available a lot of money, the economy has grown, and it shows that responsible budget policy and investing into the future are not mutually exclusive. i am from a federal state which has a very difficult budget position,

to west germany. and if that comes about, i think this is going to be a very important and remarkable step. and i share your opinion. i think it will reduce the importance of the wall. in other words, it will punch a hole into the berlin wall. and let me add, i think if these steps are being taken, that may be an encouragement for the germans in gdr that they see that reforms are taking place, and that it might encourage them to stay in east germany and to see how and when and how quickly these reforms are taking place in east germany. mary alice: just in the past six weeks, mr. ambassador, 200,000 east germans have fled, most of them to your country, putting a terrible strain on your infrastructure and your economy. in the short-term, how can west germany handle what is expected to be an even larger flow of refugees? >> well, i think my compatriots in the federal republic of germany have received the refugees with great emotional welcome and with solidarity. indeed, the larger number, the growing num

this is day to day you news live from berlin germany the women's world cup campaign lives on after they beat one theory attorney for the quarterfinals captain alexander pope with teach in germany stuff that says the team vote their place them on the last 8 of the tournaments but once again be our proved to be a major talking point of the coming up. environmental activists faced off with police at protests that a mine here in germany thousands of people have turned down to call on the government to immediately and its reliance on coal and. 2 months after undergoing heart surgery and rolling stones front man me jagger hit the stage again as the veteran band launches its latest north america tour. good to have you with us. hundreds of climate activists have broken through a police line and stormed one of germany's biggest lignite coal mines several police officers have reportedly been injured the mass protest was organized by several environmentalist groups activists are demanding that germany take immediate action to phase out fossil fuels so as to limit global warming. oh god steep it's

germany. the official statement says east german citizens have the right across from east germany into west germany. up to now, of the thousands, tens of thousands of east germans going west have had to pass through other communist nations, most of them passing through czechoslovakia. now they have the right to go directly to west germany. dennis murphy is in berlin right now and has been following the events. what more do you know about this startling decision? >> truly astonishing in a series of events that have happened the last few days and hours. in the last five minutes on television here in west berlin and the east, the germans east and west, speaking for the that is no longer necessary. what we have here in effect is a berlin wall which is a symbol but -- the frontiers themselves are open. he says in the next few weeks, there will be some provisional time to prepare the legislation to make this all correct and constitutional. what we have seen in the last few hours is the collapse of a

his homelands to come back to germany and to just to have. a as a trial in germany search for survivors in other words he's telling you he wants to come back to germany and he wants the court system he wants his human rights to be respected here despite having left and gone to fight for a system that would not respect those rights this is one of the things that really make me read this especially on his on his goal why he want to come back because you know he's a war criminal and there is a videos of him in this that would say two thousand and sixteen and he has been less that in the united nation a list of war criminals and he told us that i yes i did that bad things but in the end of the interview they tell us he would like to go back to germany if he has to choose he would like to come to germany to have his rights as a human being so i'm authorities here in germany they hear these stories that mir is telling and it has to influence their thinking are they ready to take these people back. well as you said we are talking about forty faithfu

and for two days germany is a changed germany as. thanks. to. our transformation is this experience since then what it is this one of the strongest. against against exactly the developments i just talked about we all hope. you. retain the moral rectitude to stand for tolerance and. humanity and liberty in the future in other words for true democracy. when a very interesting that he would make that statement at a time when in the german bundestag we now have a far right party we're seeing the rise of far right populism throughout europe. the contrast between those i found very interesting here although i mean when you to our viewers it's important to for them to hear this statement for example from one of the f.t. leaders beyond her who's a particularly controversial figure but it credibly influential among the ranks of the t.v. we're talking here about today's remembrance ceremony in the bundestag and beyond her to not too long ago came out and said to germany was crippled by what he called it stupid politics of remembrance in germany did a one

to west germany. up to now, as you know, the thousands, tens of thousands of east germans going west have had to pass through other communist east bloc nations, most of them passing through czechoslovakia. but as of right now according to the official statement just concluded, they have the right to go directly to west germany. nbc correspondent dennis murphy is in berlin right now and has been following the events. the news conference on television. dennis, what more do you know about this startling decision? dennis: it is truly astonishing. in a series of events that have happened the last few days and hours. literally in the last five minutes on television here in west berlin and also in the east, the germans east and west, speaking for the government, the media spokesman said there are no more borders, that east germans may cross to the west over whatever existing border frontiers there are. that eliminates the route through czechoslovakia. we have been following the last few days, the hundreds of

to germany's defense so from a political standpoint from a political position germany certainly can play an influential role another issue completely different issue is whether germany can do the same militarily given it by particular the problems of the german military has been facing now for a very long time so i think we have to understand this 2 part situation where germany could play politically a very important role but whether it can do that militarily that's another question that absolutely is the question when we have the german defense minister talking about germany shouldering more global responsibility when it comes to security but we know i mean hearing that much from chancellor merkel so how much support is that in germany for strengthening the military this is and this has been for a very long time a very divisive issue there there is i think a difference among german politicians as to what exactly germany could do whereas some do believe that germany should increase its military presence there should increase its military spending there are others especially the soci

germany will not take part in a u.s. led naval mission to secure the strait of hormuz foreign minister hark omar said his country wants to avoid a further escalation of tensions in the region washington had asked germany to join france and britain in a mission to secure shipping through the strains that. russia has deployed its military to fight forest fires in siberia and the country's far east the infernos having golf nearly 30000 square kilometers an area the size of belgium experts say the plays this were caused by thunderstorms during abnormally high temperatures and were later spread by strong winds. a roadside bomb has torn through a bus in western afghanistan killing at least 32 people security has been the cheering across the country with both the taleban and so-called islamic state fighters carrying out attacks almost every day. the african union's mediator for sudan has condemned the killing of 4 student opposition protesters earlier this week and called for a speedy trial for those responsible demonstrators t

what's germany do is there something that germany is doing that we could follow do you see germany now emerging as a bigger leader on the global stage now that some time is past 30 years as the fall of the wall. i would not say as a global leader as a regional be that the thing that is so but this is one big difference between the united states in germany. generally because of its limited size and because of its history and geographic position it can only lead in the mind to let or contact so many people asking for germination tubes but inside nato inside the you inside broader framework of like minded countries so far as mighty letter is a must and therefore if an american president is skeptical about multilateralism he is touching one of the core elements of our understanding of a successful foreign policy and i think that germans have also a need to pay more for its old is also clear so you're for that germany paying more for the hand of say law. in our old show it's for example may just to propose the baggage that we have to do with them since the others are making propose in the f

germany is our home. and as i would if i were to say on german they would laugh at me and say you are not really john birch not really german but not really turkish but more turkish than german perhaps what to germans think of people with turkish roots and which country to turkish germans identify with most according to a study conducted by the institute for turkish studies in essen twelve percent believe they have closer ties to germany thirty one percent believe they have closer ties to turkey and thirty nine percent believe they have close ties to both countries in twenty ten mistletoe zeal a footballer with turkish roots who played for the german national team received one of germany's most prestigious media prizes for his services to integration it symbolized the new multi-cultural germany which four years later won the world cup platform down suddenly there were all these germans with a turkish background who identified with the german national team. including in the amateur berlin club be a k o sev

and a large part of the alternative germany. on. that all adds up to a decisive change the. people who used to hold back now say it's time to strike that's the danger. and that's why we have to act decisively and make a clear statement that we want no hate crimes. germany guarantees freedom of religion but for some expressing that religion can be dangerous. you don't feel free you don't feel look then take fish because it belongs to your. way of life that it's not just a religious symbol it's also the symbol of a way of life. that's something david wants to be able to hand down to his own children. my kids it's hardly normal to wear it and to run around in it it's very hard to explain to a 3 year old that you have to cover it up because someone might run up and beat on him or harass him. that david would like to wear his skull cap all the time in public not just on the way into the synagogue. joining me now is felix klein the german government commission on anti semitism that klein thanks so much for joining us here at the doubly you recently warned jews in germany against w

news live from berlin and anti semitic crimes on the rise in germany now statistics show that hate crimes against jews are at their highest level in a decade sparking alarm among the country's jewish community. also coming up the girl whose pains moved to the worlds and strengthens the movement to end the vietnam war now unesco goodwill ambassador and a peace activist she is receiving the peace prize awarded by the german city of dresden. i'm sorry kelly welcome to the program the number of anti-semitic crimes committed in germany has risen by almost ten percent over the past year the highest level in a decade figures released today are causing alarm in jewish communities violence attacks are up by more than sixty percent this has prompted germany's central council of jews to call for stronger action from police and politicians the signboards of a jewish restaurant smashed a pig headed marked with a star of david dumped by a door swastikas and stars of david on a wall. this was the aftermath of an anti semitic attack in the eastern german city of chemists in august twenty eighth. it was j

with the approval of the basic law constitution the federal republic of germany all west germany was established in 1949 via before nonce here. looking back on 70 years of german history and here we see kind of had no assigning the basic law. and when the last of germany was still in ruins but no i wanted to emphasize the importance of this historic moment. so he used the very grand gilded silverware from cologne town hall and gruden of the start of the establishment of west and east germany in 1949 sealed the division of the country and became the provisional capital of west germany and the seat of its parliament. its 1st freely elected members sat on these chairs. and you all this tells us something about the 1st west german parliament. we got some of the original seats and created this display also the podium and lectern from which are no and others address the assembly element. we have some speeches about nuclear weapons which was a major issue back then and. i look at some and also lighthearted and even rowdy ones which show how parliamentarians sometimes let rip. important mome

for more on germany's victory i'm pleased to be joined by former germany goalkeeper 2 time world cup winner they'd seen on grass she is in portland oregon where she serves as goalkeeper coach for the portland thorns 19 thank you for joining us what state you make of germany's performance in this match yeah well i'm very happy. that. reached the quarter final 1st. and so 1st so we can be very happy. and sweet and nil. i think it's better to go let's go i think overall we can be very happy for now looks like we have a few connection issues but alexander pop she scored in her 100th game for germany how important is she going forward now for the team's hopes in this tournament. she will be absolutely amazing she she's very quickly she's very vocal she's a boreal she's fight on the pitch she's absolutely able to score in very important moments so i think i don't know what's going to happen in the next games but if the team is talent she can be the one who steps up and scorched important goal and yeah yeah it's the team a lot of holes in security now that 3 nothing when today means germany

migrants in germany the fact. is germany the most popular european destination for immigrants yes it is one in 4 german residents has what authorities here an immigrant background that means at least one parent was born a foreigner. how does germany rank internationally in terms of numbers of migrants in 2nd place behind the u.s. traditional immigration countries like canada australia and switzerland all lag behind germany and most of the migrants refugees you know in 2017 most migrants in germany came from romania poland and bulgaria syrians were in 4th place the most common motive for the move better economic opportunities do they all find work know of the roughly 2300000 unemployed in germany almost half have a migrant background their unemployment rate is twice as high as that of nonimmigrant why is that. 6 the most common reason lack of german language skills the other reason is discrimination applicants with turkish and arabic names have a worse chance of landing a job candidates with the same skills but wit

this is the good news a shot coming up is germany choosing trade rights in its relations with china that's the 200000000000. tonnes not i'm going to buckle is visiting germany's knowledge just treating and she says dialogue can't resolve the deadlock in hong kong we lost protest organizers what do you think also coming up. life and death in the shadow. of indian controlled kashmir on the impact the security situation is having on medical services. i'm going to welcome to news asia it's good to have you with us jones also the angle of marco began her trying to visit with the weight of expectation on. democracy activists had hoped that she would raise the issue of hong kong she did but was it enough here's what she said. i pointed out that hong kong's freedoms and rights must be guaranteed. the $984.00 agreement to still valid and addresses a whole series of civil rights that must be respected economists of the incidents it was in the current situation everything should be done to avoid violence the solution can only be found through political dialogue. hong kong's leader has already shown s

it's not easy to live in germany. i hope you keep hearing we can't let anything happen but nothing is done we feel abandoned the food and. yes but this mission will not just jews in germany are affected it's an attack on democratic on use as a home which unfortunately we've got in germany is an element of hockey team you know not with the vulnerability of jewish life it's almost all jewish institutions of god it often has clans when i was a child it seemed normal that my father never wore a kipper on the streets for a good reason and anyone who surprised at this doesn't know about the long history of right wing terrorism in germany to all those muslim daughter. christopher you said that the people had been in the synagogue were pretty calm did they nonetheless expressed feelings like the ones we just heard their feelings of perhaps heightened anxiety i mean there is the question about they actual police protection and of the protection of the synagogues when you have young kapoor people one of the congregation told me

you recently warned jews not to wear a keep in germany but anti-semitism is nothing unique to germany it exists in many countries in the us we've seen it were jewish life is much more prominent than in germany even in israel there's often tension sometimes violence between secular and religious jews why a specific warning for jews in germany. semitism in germany is always something very special because the holocaust was invented here and happened here and of course we have to take a very very close look at the situation and with the description of the reality i wanted to trigger an honest. discussion and like in normal life i think when you want to make a good therapy you 1st have to analyze the situation this is what i did and i'm quite satisfied that the discussion is so broad now that we have to protect jewish life in germany together politics the state and society as well and it comes in the context of our crude stay which you are calling on all germans to wear a keep in solidarity with jews could stay which has origins in iran is to show support for the palestinian state it's inh

when it comes to germany's defense spending that he would like germany to spend much more than what the country is spending we've heard before from donald trump his criticism about germany's planned north spring 2 pipeline with russia on watch he views there as germany becoming hostage of russia those were his words not mine so in a sense this is not new the possibility that there could be sanctions when it comes north is maybe further development of all this but as our xandra correctly pointed from washington i would interpret donald trump's words as a sign of what is becoming a very troubled relationship between washington and now that the possibility of sanctions has been firmly put on the table should the german government be worried they should such in the considerate and look at that very carefully a pretty sure that they are doing that already as i say trump's comments on north into are not new we've heard that many times before but when we look at those comments by donald trump we also have to look at a separate issue when it comes i mean not only about energy security donal

germany's this week celebrating the full of the berlin wall 30 years ago but the party mood has changed with dismay many in eastern germany say they've been left behind and feel like 2nd class citizens well when the wall came down on the 9th of november 1989 the euphoria was boundless fun scene was the word of the hour in credit bull people kept saying to each other a miracle it seemed to come to pass and the wall which it appeared so in the bible was pierced but that was then and now it's now so we are just 30 years since the fall of the berlin wall what happens to the euphoria. of thanks very much for joining us and with me in the studio today i have got linda fear eka who grew up in the former g.d.r. and was 7 years old when the wall came down today she works as a reporter here d.w. and just completed a documentary about the full of the wall and linda says it's only now free decades after the wall came down that we realize how radical the change was for people in the east also with us is anglo-french catherine nicholson she's european affairs editor with the broadcaster france 20. be

awakening of eastern germany it played as opposed to poland where it was very much involved in east germany the catholic church i. don't want to make judgments here personal criticism and judgments but it was noticeable in the fact that they were trying to keep a very low profile in the lutheran church there was as i mentioned earlier a very mixed picture they were very brave. passengers who were very politically engaged and supported. the wishes and political strivings of the people but there were others who in fact were so close to the regime that they in fact even spied on their own congregations and i just want to ask you about the significance of well the place that we're looking at now ben our shasta and the piece of wall that we're seeing balinese now far away from the 2nd part of the ceremony but just remind us a little of the significance all ben i wish hasa well the war was built along the boundary of the soviet sector of but then at the end of the 2nd world war the lid was of course divided up among the allies of the french sect to the british back to the america. sector and the

and germany u.s. has criticized germany of often for not really you know being militarily as present as it should and of course germany has denied this but spending has been a big issue and of course recently the. german defense minister made a suggestion of creating an international security zone in northern syria which surprised a lot of people but germany is taking initiative so that we see or we're seeing some change we are mentioning just one issue there but we know that there is a considerable number of issues on the list between the u.s. and germany and with that in mind we also know that the german chancellor is sitting down with mike pompei i mean as we speak can we expect anything concrete to come out of those talks what's your assessment well they're going to be talking about a lot of. shoes are going to be talking about north stream to gas pipeline they're going to be talking about 5 g. secretary pompei already talked with the. german foreign minister mas on the on syria ukraine so as you

germany and elsewhere and it also affects us in the workplace. i've learned a lot while working on this report but i'm not convinced employers are doing enough to prevent discrimination based on ethnicity and race. if your ethnic background and the color of his skin determine your career opportunities how migrants fairing germany is the most popular destination for migrants here in europe that should be good news for a country which struggles with a massive shortage of skilled workers so who are the people who come to germany in search of a new life and how are they getting on in their new home here are some facts and figures. migrant in gemini the fact. is gemini the most popular european destination for immigrants yes it is one in 4 german residents has what austerity is here and immigrant background that means at least one parent was born a foreigner. how does germany rank internationally in terms of numbers of migrants in 2nd place behind the us traditional immigration countries like canada australia and switzerland all lag behind germany and

and germany was shifting the. time the time in which we could fully rely on others and not she going to buy. thank you this is in a certain sense important and meaningful to her as a sign that must make it all the more painful that relations have now become so strained in the wake of this america 1st policy that this causes america 1st. which doesn't accord with her own understanding of how politics should operate at all. and the shades politics as the antithesis of seeking to gain advantage at the expense of others she always seeks to find that balance also why she's resisted trump's efforts to split europe trump keeps trying to get america all to do deals and stealing things and tries to get medical to convince the rest of the europe paean union to do these deals that are favorable to trump but she refuses she pushes that all of brussels so at least trump americal do talk to each other and i think my sense is that trump understands how important all is. well that may be true it's not always apparent at their 1st

and in east germany. east germany called itself the german democratic republic or g.d.r. . in this case however democracy referred not to the freedom of the individual but the realisation of communist philosophy. personal freedoms were subordinate to the collective good. people fossum duty to give it up to even flight school the east german constitutional also allowed for substantial freedoms they provided for freedom of expression freedom of the press and freedom of assembly. but this was all compromised by a constitution that asserted the supremacy of the s.c.d. communist party and that took precedence over freedom of expression for example and justified the persecution of people with dissenting views advice not mine and that threat to. those limitations were exposed on june 17th 1953 when an estimated 1000000 people took to the streets of east berlin and other cities in the 1st ever mass protests against the regime. the demonstrators called for more freedom and better living conditions. at 1st the government was unsure of how to respond. to an assumed. to new and 17th 19

we need a young man who entered germany with a student visa. for the birth of i just wanted a better future and the only country that accepted syrians of the time was germany . and a colleague told me that he knew a man who could obtain a visa for me who lived in germany in the city of liked it so i contacted him and he said that he could give me papers proving i had a place at the university of like this for fifteen hundred euros. but of. the only rights this is. the young man paid the one thousand five hundred euros and four months later he received just document that confirmation of an application to study medicine and leipsic and that even though his grades do not meet the university's requirements for this course. he says he's not the only one who received a document like that from the university of leipsic. i know more than ten people who got to germany through that guy and there are probably more of them that i don't know. the whole thing works like this the syrians go over the documents from leipzig to the german consulate in lebanon an

gave birth to 2 daughters in the former east germany in the 1980 s. but her joy was short lived if you use earlier she had tried to flee east germany but was caught and convicted reason enough for the youth welfare office to come to her house and take the children away. and in the 1st moment i stood there paralyzed then i ran out the door after them and yelled where you take you my daughter you give me back my child the officer turned around pointed a finger at me and said if you don't quite down now i will call the police and you will have to go to jail. they have given me 3 years' probation so if i did anything i would go to prison i just stood there and asked myself whether i should protest or stay silent. and happy. sasson of us another story. something at sap initially gave up but after the garden wall came down she started gathering evidence in the 1990 s. she managed to connect with her older daughter but the years apart had created an estrangement too big to bridge and they broke off contact just one year ago her younger daughter suddenly made

course,germany, of students were taught something complete the different than west germany. they were taught the east germans had actively no responsibility for hitler for the holocaust. that was the responsibility of the capitalists. had toe walls had fallen completely revise the textbooks in east germany. they did this in conjunction with the west german's so students in both parts of germany had a similar curriculum. the other question is, how do you look on the communist state? you had on the show some sense there are people in the eastern germany that look back on those communist days what is certain about a nostalgia. they forget maybe the worst parts of it and they think maybe it was not such a bad life. it was not as competitive. people related to each other differently. on the question of textbooks, they are constantly rethinking how one approaches this. it's a challenge in the eastern germany for them to understand the full brunt of their own history. host: i want to talk about the birth of the berlin wall. 13 is considered the day the wall began to go up. what hap

them and so in 2015 when a 1000000 refugees flowed into germany. didn't hesitate for a 2nd he got involved in helping refugees 1st in his company then in the regional chamber of commerce he helped set up a welcome center career counseling language lessons and discussion groups all of it is here to make life easier for asylum seekers in stuttgart casimir was held all along his journey. because of the fact that he's lived through this himself obviously affects him to see people in the same situation he was in here. you have people come here they don't have jobs they don't speak german they don't have all the advantages that i had it's so to help them is just the way of me giving back and in return i guess a lot of gratitude and i learned a lot too since 2015 the ties that bind have gotten ever tighter between this old refugee and the new ones thanks to his commitment and out of thousands of other germans a quarter of the refugees who came down have since found a job. are now to berlin where until the border was opened the brandenburg gate stood right