What East Germany Is Really like (Exploring Thüringen)
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- čas přidán 29. 06. 2024
- You may or may not have heard a few stereotypes about East Germany. It's poor, empty, no young people, socialist, unemployed, radical, racist the list goes on. The stereotypes are not particularly flattering. I decided to go to Thüringen to see what it is like for myself.
My Newsletter: benjaminantoine.substack.com
Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
01:32 - Empty Wasteland?
03:31 - Weimar & Erfurt
05:17 - Fake anti Capitalism?
08:09 - It's not cheap
08:48 - The people
#eastgermany #thüringen #culturaldifferences
2:58 Jena is a student city. So its only logical that there are plenty of young people, especially compared to other Thuringian cities. And it’s a major city.
Greetings from Weimar. I'm glad you enjoyed it here.
I sure did. Thanks 😊
@@britingermany damn, thats where I am. the algorithm knows. Was strange to see the Bauhaus Museum first thing. Greetings from Weimar anew!
Really interesting to see your view and yes, there are lots of prejudices about Eastern Germany (often and gladly told by elderly guys from Western Germany who have never ever been here). It's certainly not a magical wonderland, we do have problems here. But there are also so many beautiful, unique, enchanting things to discover :) So thanks for putting a spotlight on this region. And feel free to hit me up if you ever want to see and know a bit more, I'll gladly show you around :) Greetings from Erfurt!
I visited Erfurt just last week for the first time and I found it stunning with the old architecture and historical places. The stay was very enjoyable 😊 100% recommendations
As a Russian living in Germany, I can say that post-Soviet countries may be anti-capitalist in rhetoric, but in reality they are more consumerist and individualistic than the Old West.
Really? How so?
@@britingermany So, mainly due to the lack of horizontal connections between people. If you don't have enough in common with your neighbor/community, you can behave however you want. The same is true at higher levels of society. Plus, don’t forget about the permanent shortage of consumer goods under the communist regime.
@@britingermanyno well established labour unions with a long history of defending workers' rights
@@britingermanyBecause communism destroyed/subjugated traditionalist institutions that helped maintain social cohesion and faith in humanity, like church communities, charities and labor unions, but failed to install convincing replacements under the communist framework. That said i think the old money west is increasingly facing the same challenges, now that people took liberalism for real and abandoned the traditionalist institutions just like people did under communism.
@@britingermany they know what Communism/Socialism really looks and feels like....
Schön, meine alte Heimat mal so positiv dargestellt zu sehen. (Stamme aus Nordthüringen und hab 9 Jahre in Erfurt gelebt)
For 2,000 years, Germany has been a big problem for civilization and peace in Europe. This depends on the German mentality. Rigid, arrogant, fanatical.
I spent a week in Leipzig a year after re-unification. To be honest, it was no more grey or run down than many cities in the UK are today.
That doesn’t speak well for the U.K.
Nah. I was in Leipzig for New Year 1989. Off the main thoroughfares, there were rows and rows of houses in an incredible state of disrepair. It was more like the slums of 1930s - 1950s UK. The air also smelled of "olde England" due to the coal fires.
@@expatexpat6531 he said after reunification. I believe 1989 was before?
@@tanyab244 Re-unification was on October 3, 1990. The Berlin Wall fell in November 1989, but there wasn't much re-building between November 1989 and October 1990 🙂. There were cockroaches crawling across the serving area in the restaurant of the main railway station. As soon as you went down the sidestreets you were back in Dickensian Brtain. The streets were poorly lit and once you left the city, the roads were totally dark.
Come back and visit Görlitz, Bautzen and Zittau area.
When I'm old, I'll leave Berlin and settle somewhere in the East. Erfurt, Pirna, Rostock... we'll see. Anything is better than growing old in Berlin. I don't want to have to put up with people anymore, I just want peace and quiet.
I totally agree. I lived in the East before and moved to Berlin because of my husband. He still wants to stay ( he is born here), but I would like to leave.
The cities you mentioned are all nice. Especially when you got pension the East mostly has just advantages. Living quieter, more friendly people, less costs. Especially compared to Berlin.
Funny I’m moving to Berlin to pursue techno 😂😂
Komm nach Thüringen. Ruhe und Gelassenheit im Überfluss. :)
@@matthewromano9621 That's exactly why I'm leaving.
🤣😂
Politically there's a strong divide between East and West Germany, and hence also in people's outlook on life and how to want the country to move forward. I'm Dutch so I have an outsider view on Germany which is probably oversimplified. AfD is much stronger in the East than in the West. If you look at the results of the recent EU elections, it's like two separate countries (still).
Yes there is still a divide but it’s less pronounced than what I experienced 10 years ago
We had mayoral elections in Pößneck a few weeks ago. Look at the results. Nothing with AfD.
It is much more complicated imo. It is true that older people from the gdr have seen, what very few people in the world have and may have their own take on things. But lots of families are spread all over the country. Many people in east germany have never even experienced comunism at all. (Those have to be like ~50+ by now and may live in the west). But jobs still pay better in the west on average. Money goes where money is. Everybody expects roi. It is not like everyone is happy with politics and especially not happy with communication and political debate. But it is hard to grasp
Thanks for a fascinating report! I spent some time in Sachsen (Saxony) in two incredible cities: Görlitz and Dresden. Both are absolute treasures, and I also found the people there quite friendly. Of course, it helped that I was able to speak some German with them.
It helps when u are white and when u are heterosexual. If u are Muslim or black or homosexual then unfortunately better don’t visit the east.
East Germany including Berlin is my favourite part of the country so far. Still more to see though! Potsdam is also incredibly beautiful and charming.
I definitely want to explore further...I love visiting Berlin but would not like living there
@@britingermany I totally agree. There are lots of interesting things to see in Berlin, but it also has lots of things that are not so nice in daily life. ( livingin Berlin for 9 years 😉).
You should have seen these places 35 years ago! Guess why it's so beautiful and charming TODAY!
I am from Bavaria and Thüringen is my favourite holiday destination.
I have been living in German for 5 years now but being based tin the Ruhrpott never been to the east. I did spend a couple of days in Berlin but that was work focused. You have inspired me to take a trip in the Autumn. It looks and sounds fascinating. I have to say that here in Mülheim an der Ruhr I often get drawn into conversations with locals and especially after a Guten Morgen a conversation can take place. Thanks for your video.
Yes I can certainly recommend it. Especially Erfurt and Weimar. I think you will enjoy it
Autumn is a great season to visit. It's usually nice enough to spend time outdoors and everything is so colourful because of the many parks and gardens around, where leaves change their colour...Greetings from Erfurt!
Thank you for this video! I am a Thüringer myself and I think I love the hills of Wales and England so much because they remind me of home, they're so rich and beautiful. Glad you had a good time here :)
I live in East Germany, just near Wittenberg Lutherstadt, really like living here. Have visited Weimar, wonderful place. I've visited the Harz many times and I definitely prefer the east part. I also lived in Berlin Baumschulenstraße for 16 years, can't see my self ever living in the UK again.
Sounds like you're practically a local
@@britingermany lol yeah, but love East Germany. The world's best kept secret.
Quedlinburg is magnificent, but it is of course not in Thüringen. There are many lovely places in East Germany.
Visited Germany once, a town in Thuringen, Got told off by a German at the airport "what you came all the way to Germany and only visited that sh1th0le" He was so upset by my tourism choice, I found that strangely gratifying
Haha. What an odd experience
Thuringen is the most Nazi state in all of Germany, half of its population went to better places for work in the last 3 decades, the half that stayed are either the old or the hardcore unemployment collecting Nazis.
😂
There are stupid people everywhere. And the stupidest of them are West Germans who have never been to an East German area but presume to judge the region.
@@britingermany That is typical of folk from capital or core regions .. The prejudice and attitude people from the Randstad (west) in the Netherlands have about the border regions is astounding !
But it does affect the decisions that are made about those regions ...
And similar happens in UK with the north I guess. How the Northern Poerhouse rail line was scrapped was a kick in the groin . For relative low budget it would gave made a massive difference for Lancshire and Yorkshire ( more time benefites than HS2 ). Currently they use 'victorian' rail lines for what it seems ..).
I was at school in Eisenach in 1983, when I was 16. The houses were brightly painted, but only in the front row. There was nothing to see of the half-timbering. Because of the coal-fired heating, everything else was grey, brown and black. We invited a group of locals in their early 20s. They all looked around for Stasi before saying a word. It was all incredibly depressing, and the border guards were frightening.
Wow that sounds terrifying. How things have changed!
This (fresh painting of the houses only towards to the main streets) was fairly common in the cities where officials, VIP's or alike drove through. It was to show that they looked nice and clean and made a good impression either to those, or being recorded that way by TV channels for news, movies or alike. Only those living there knew the truth how run-down the buildings really were...
@@Opa_Andre Exactly, the group of young locals then showed us around to show us the reality: depressed!
@@Opa_Andre Saint Petersburg is still like that!!!
I concur. Growing up in Poland but with a mix parents a spent a lot of vacation time in East Germany. Even so, even though it was gray and depressing we all wanted to have some east German goods… I remember blue and white school tornisters, salamander shoes and so on. My dad’s wartburg was very sough after car in Poland. And I will never forget visiting sans souci , charlottenburg and taking trips on the weisse flote near werder.😀
Hello Ben, that's a beautiful video again in your unique contemplative style. Thank you!
Thanks for watching Michael 😀
Thank you for this very interesting video. Have you been in Dresden. As I came to Germany 10+ years ago, I lived there and the city is absolutely beautiful. I am from Latvia, so maybe I was more ready for the post-soviet era vibes there as someone coming from other places. Now I live near Frankfurt and I must say, that this attitude that east Germany is somewhat behind, people are different and not ''the same'' comes very often from Germans themselves.
Yes I have visited Dresden. The core of the altstadt is amazing. Breathtakingly beautiful but there are some very run down areas on the outskirts of the city. I agree that East and west germanshave pretty strong ideas about each other
@@britingermany I'm glad you have entered East Germany and liked Thüringen so much! :-) When have you been to Dresden the last time? Besides Dresden, I can also recommend Leipzig, Potsdam and the Sächsische Schweiz.
It sometimes seems to me that people who seem to be more tolerant towards immigration, often go out of their way to move to parts of their city with fewer migrants. They are ok with people from elsewhere to come to the country, but they often do not want them in their immediate neighbourhood.
Wouldn’t that mean they are not so tolerant?
You’re right, I’ve seen the same with some people.
@@britingermany In practice yes. However they do not want to admit that to themselves, they are hypocritical and delusional.
yep. I know folks who were leftist, until they got kids, after which they were still read the TAZ, but moved to places with better schools. As Mike Tyson says, everybody's your friend, until the rent is due.
@@britingermany It's a fairy tale spun by certain people. They want this to be true to justify their own xenophobia (or at least disdain for people not opposed to immigration).
Just ask for specific examples and watch them squirm.
Great that you visited Thüringen. We’ve spent our summer holidays there twice as it is only a short journey away from Berlin. We loved it. There is so much to see and explore. Lots of culture, beautiful landscapes and not many tourists. But, I don’t think it is fully representative of East Germany though.
No it's just one state and I suppose they are all different. It was a great experience and I'll have to see when I can explore more of the east
Totally agree that it's not representative of East Germany, especially not Weimar with its cultural heritage and droves of tourists, Jena as an affluent tech hotspot (Zeiss, Schott, etc.), and Erfurt being a state capital. Plus, all 3 are university towns with lots of international students.
Thank you so much for making this video. I am an American with deep Eisenach/Erfurt/ Weimar roots. I have been to all 3 cities ( multiple times) with Erfurt as not only my favorite but one day I would want to live in one day. I felt that the people were very friendly and welcoming but I dealt mostly with those who speak english in the hospitality or retail business. You bring up very interesting points about their attitude toward foreigners and would I be seen as a foreigner or would I be viewed as a one of their own? Perhaps the former based on your assessement which has given me reason to research it more before I make such a large move.
Yes do look in to it. Unfortunately we are often judged by the people ruling our country. However if you make and effort to learn the language and the cultural norms you will be fine
Thank you for this brilliant video of my region. ❤ maybe some people take a deeper dive into this now. Germany 🇩🇪 has so much more to offer than Munich, Oktoberfest and Berlin
Again you have created a very beautiful and informative video ... Proposal:
Get deeper into the topic of East and West Germany in the future, there is much more to explore and explain. Also in reference to the recent elections ... Unfortunately more than 30 years after the reunification certain complicated conflicts haven't been overcome yet. Theodor Fontane's famous phrase "ein weites Feld" is very appropriate in this context.
Thanks for adding this gem to our Sunday to you, Benjamin; I wish you and your fans here an enjoyable rest of this weekend!
Thanks so much and have a great Sunday Torsten
Thanks a lot, Benjamin ☺️👍
Fun fact about Thüringen: at the end of WWII it was liberated by western allies in the first place and later "exchanged" for parts of Berlin to russia
In fact, the Americans even got as far as the Czech Republic.
The Americans wanted to advance so far that Stalin would be allowed to continue the bitter fight in Berlin and not advance further towards Berlin, and so that the 2+4 Treaty would be adhered to.
The Americans were relatively lucky because a lot of gold and works of art were kept in the cave systems of Thuringia. In addition, the V2 rockets were built in Mittelbau Dora. The Americans quickly took many V2 rockets, the gold and the art treasures with them so that they did not fall into the hands of the Soviets (the Soviets did the same in East Berlin). Unfortunately, the Americans also had to make terrible discoveries because in Mittelbau-Dora many prisoners were working on the V2 under the most terrible conditions and the Buchenwald concentration camp was located near Weimar.
I am English and have had a few holidays in Germany but only once in the East. Your video certainly has fueled my desire to see more of East Germany. And one of the comments about this area really being middle Germany with the old east now in Poland makes me want to include Poland in my travels too!
Yes I think there’s a lot to see on Eastern Europe.
Germany once reached to Lithuania and what now is Russian Kaliningrad once was Königsberg, the hometown of the philosopher Immanuel Kant. I have never been that far east, but know the Baltic Sea coast up to Danzig. It's really beautiful there, the people are friendly, most otlf the young people speak English so you can get along without problems. But it's not only the Baltic Sea, Silesia is very beautiful, too, beautiful nature, mountains, little palaces here and there, most buildings renewed. Or the Czech Republic, the Giant Mountains... There are so many places worth to be seen. 😊
We recently traveled “east” as we we’re visiting Hansestic cities Lübeck and Lüneburg, as well as Erfurt, Gera,Dresden and Potsdam/Berlin. I can’t overstate how enjoyable our time was. Dresden, being the capital of Saxony is an
absolute jewel; the Residenzschloss contained a wide range of medieval armaments as well as the remnants of 600 years of rule; Potsdam, as a launchpoint for vorays to Berlin, was brilliant, with the Sans Souci palace as well as evidence of having been a divided city during the Berlin Wall era. Lübeck, with its twin-tiered main gate and charming Rathaus, hosts the Hanseatic Museum, which was an informative presentation. Lüneburg, sitting on a foundation of salt, which was mined and converted to wealth during Hanseatic times, charmed with its city center; Also, the city of Erfurt, with is stunning cathedral and charming Altstadt region was a delightful surprise. In short, after so many trips to southern Germany and the Rhineland, we were gratified to find a broad sampling of the historical as well as current living conditions that begged our return. Did I mention Berlin? I never made it west of Brandenberg gate. So much to explore and enjoy in this modern Germany.
That’s sounds like an amazing trip indeed. I assume you did it via car?
I went to Wismar recently and I agree, it was a lovely city and way nicer than I was expecting.
thanks for sharing your impressions of the east Germany. Your views are always interesting and valued by me!
Thanks for watching
East Germany has a population denssity similar to parts of France. If anything the West is an oddity because like the Netherlands there are just so many people within individual regions.
Thanks for another great video. It was refreshing to see a video highlighting the things to appreciate in the eastern areas of Germany. Erfurt and Eisenach (Wartburg Castle) are charming and fascinating places and key cities on the "Luther Trail" along with Wittenberg. As I've mentioned in earlier comments, my roots are entirely northern and eastern German. My mother's mom came from Kirch Baggendorf in Mecklenburg Vorpommern east of Rostock. I've been there and to many of the other places you mention. We have friends in the east and attended their 60th wedding anniversary a few years back. Yes, the shadow of the communist regime hangs heavily over people of that age and even their children (I know this first hand), but the areas are adjusting steadily and moving on.
Perfect. Sounds like you know the area very well.
Erfurt, Weimar and Jena are great cities to live in. Also traveltime to Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich, Leipzig, Dresden are all
Yes It#s easy to get around Germany
Leipzig, Eurfurt, Weimar, Jena or Freiburg im Breisgau/ Karlsruhe? I'm struggling to choose. Eastern German is cheaper, but not as nice.
@@misternaem2103between those cities clearly Leipzig. It’s a mix between Berlin and Munich and has really high Quality of living. Erfurt, Jena and Weimar are so close by each other, you can relocate if you see you prefer one other ( personally I like Erfurt more, but Weimar is petite and Jena has a University )
Thanks for the information
Thank you for the perspective on today’s east Germany. I was in Saxony in 1993 and you could still see the buildings waiting to be scrubbed, but also how many had already received their cleaning. I was back at Christmas in 2023 and enjoyed the same friendly interaction with locals. I thought all the old DDR references had been scrubbed away, but was amused at seeing Juri-Gagarin-Ring street sign remaining in Erfurt. Some nostalgia for many folks or no good reason to change the name?
Wow that must have been an experience in 1993. Very different to today I imagine
Egal was man über Russen im Allgemeinen denkt, aber immerhin war Juri Gagarin der erste Mensch im Weltall. Warum sollte man seine Leistung schmälern, nur weil er Russe war ?
The old street names of the socialist building complexes generally have not been changed, except for Josef Stalin Streets that had mostly all been changed by the 70s. But all the Russian/Soviet composers, authors, poets, and socialist/communist politicians and notable people from around the world got to keep their street names: Tchaikowsky, Tziolkovsky, Gagarin, Prus, Allende, Becher, Makarenko, Linné, Majakowski... the list goes on and on.
@@SheratanLP Warum gibt es dann keinen Neil-Armstrong-Ring ? Er war länger als Gagarin im Weltraum. Und der erste am Mond.
@@JO-nh6mo Juri Gagarin hat anders als Neil Armstrong eine Geschichte mit Erfurt und auch insgesamt passt Juri Gagarin einfach mehr zu Ostdeutschland.
Gagarin wurde wie Sigmund Jähn in Ostdeutschland verehrt.
Fascinating video. East(ern) Germany definitely looks like it's worth visiting. Dresden, and Leipzig look so beautiful now. It may take another 20 years for income levels in the former East to get to similar levels they're at in the West.
As a Brit, I will say however, that the East/West divide in Germany does not look as stark or noticeable as the North/South divide in England.
I don't know what may be 'perpetuating' this East/West divide....but I do know that the North/South divide in England has been exacerbated by first 'forced austerity'; and then obviously Brexit - which has hit northern England harder than southern England. And successive Tory governments who have badly let down those in the north.
Yes it’s only anecdotal but some of the northern towns in England wales seem to be struggling a lot more than East German cities.
Income level is close to OK, but it's impossible to ever catch up with accumulated assets. The income difference is compensated by another magnitude of "Do it yourself", people paint their appartments themselves, have no "maids" or other services, there are less interiour architects or Yoga-classes. there are 74% of women employed in the West, compared to 86% in the east. The "One-income-couple" is a rather unknown model. And in return, the low pensions of women, you rather find in the west, because they were never or short time employed.
Largest difference is: The existance and acceptance of Kindergardens.
@@holger_p "impossible to catch up with accumulated assets" sounds like a worldwide problem tbh. Blame it on Quantitative Easing since the 2008 GFC.
@@hschan5976 but assets aren't necessary for anything, but your ' emergeny backup' .and that's something only germans complain about. That's why it's a german Problem.
If others have a good life, they are happy. Period.
Germans worry about "what will be in 20 years , I don't have money for that time right now".
In my opinion, many of the divides are echoes of the GDR; Not only did the West get a decades-long head start in establishing themselves in international markets, but most families retained their businesses even after the war and the entrepreneurial culture persisted.
Meanwhile in the DDR, all private capital was revoked and many families did not see their ancestral properties restored even after the collapse of the GDR. The businesses which survived the transition were public properties turned private and largely bought up by Western German or international investors. Laws suddenly abruptly changed and most East Germans took many years to get used to the new system. And since the fall, very very few companies have located their headquarters to the East. When they do, it's only in proximity to Berlin. This has put Eastern Germany, understandably, in a long-standing disadvantage.
Add to that that Western Germans still paint old East German states as backwards (partly culturally, but mostly due to their political differences), which discourages young people from the West from moving in (on top of there simply being less jobs) and you have the reason for this division.
The only good thing, however, is that rent and properties cost much less so the wealth divide doesn't seem so great in reality.
Come and visit Dresden - that is a real undiscovered gem!
I was there in 2015. I’d like to visit again sometime
I went there in 1995. Loved it!
@@jugbywellington1134 Oh, so you didn't see the reconstructed Frauenkirche yet? The fact, that a British smith who's father was one of the British pilots who bombed Dresden built the cross for that church always gives me goosebumps everytim I think about it: Goldsmith Alan Smith's father was one of the pilots who dropped bombs on Dresden. The experience of the huge fireball was traumatically burned into his memory, which he passed on to his son: "From one moment to the next he was aware of the horror and the suffering. He didn't want Dresden to be forgotten.", reported Alan Smith. When he learnt that the British Dresden Trust wanted to donate a domed cross for the Dresden Frauenkirche and was looking for an experienced blacksmith, he felt it is his duty. Under the hands of Smith, based on plans from Dresden, the “Reconciliation Cross” was created in the London silversmith Grant McDonald. It was presented publicly by the Queen for the first time during Federal President Roman Herzog's state visit to Windsor Castle on December 1, 1998. After a journey through various English cities, it was finally ceremoniously received in Dresden in 2000. While the church was growing surprisingly quickly under a flexible working roof, the cross could be viewed at the edge of the construction site. Just four years later, it floated up on the wooden lantern dome in the presence of the Duke of Kent; Thousands were watching.
How is Dresden an undiscovered Gem? Dresden is quite well known to be a marvel especially after big parts of the destroyed centre were so well rebuilt.
Cities like Erfurt and Weimar are much less known especially to foreigners and these places are true architectural gems on their own.
@@wanderschlosser1857 You must be kidding, right!!!?. I am from the UK and live in Dresden. Barely a single person I know in the UK has ever visited here. It is hugely overlooked in favour of Münich, Berlin etc. I only seldom meet anyone from England here. Therefore, it is undiscovered and highly gem-like. So there.
The economical gap is only closing slowly. The shock in the aftermath of shutting down almost all producing factories in East Germany right after reunification has never really been overcome. Within in a time frame of 2 years, the country and its people had been absorbed by a totally different economic system and people had to learn (practically over night) a whole new set of rules and ways of thinking. Most people over 40 really struggled with that at the time. And this topic is still echoing in the memories of many. Because of the loss of the economic base over night, a lot of people who were qualified workers and specialists in their field, found themselves out of a job. They were told that the products they produced couldnt compete in the world market and their knowledge about the jobs they used to perform was not up to date, or worth less in companies in West Germany. Companies were put under the control of an special administration, which was to serve as a vehicle to sell the East German companies to potential investors. The West German government funded this sort of escrow company and had tailored special tax legislation to attract investors willing to buy the companies in the East. Long story short, that model was often abused. Companies were sold for a symbolic coin and then the assets were ripped out and sold off or implemented (like patents) by the buyer company operating in West Germany or even in a foreign country. The rest was abandoned and buried with time going by and the people who once had worked there, were released into unemployment. It is so difficult to explain 35 years in its entirety but the reunification process has left many wounds with many people in the East. I am now in my 40s and have lived in West Germany and the U.S. and I typically don't admit that I was born and raised in GDR. Because there is still this notion in the West that East Germans were second class people. This mindset is still present, not openly but in stealth mode.
The East could have had a more prosperous past during the last at least 25 years, but the potential hasnt been tapped into.
Thanks!
Married to a literary studies graduate, I've long been thinking of a slow tour in Germany, now when we've retired. A few years ago, we visited Dresden. But that was en route to Transylvania, and just 2-3 nights. Next trip should be just culturally relevant Städte in Germany.
You've given new impetus to my plan!
😊
Perfect! You won’t regret it 😀
Great video, it's fascinating to explore east Germany
Thank you. Yes it is indeed. I'd like to see more
We made a very similar tour to yours about 8 years ago and had just about the same experience as you did. The streets/restaurants were not "packed with young people", rather more on the empty side; we thought that perhaps prices were too expensive for locals or young families, but the parks were full!
Our expectations were matched by a previous trip made by a couple we knew; they had told us where to go, what to look out for etc. and also by a short travel docu about the sights on Austrian TV.
We loved the special markets and fairs in Weimar, Erfurt, Jena and also local not-so- touristy eateries. Sometimes the menus needed to be "translated" from their German to ours for us.🙂
Sounds like another visit might be in order😉
I just saw your video on a Brit's site who reacted to your video. I come from Pößneck, about 57 km southeast of Weimar. Your video is really great and I was particularly pleased that you liked our towns and the countryside so much. There is so much to discover in the whole of Thuringia and believe me, the friendliness of my Thuringians is no exception, even if politicians like to claim the opposite. Thuringia is the green heart of Germany and the Thuringians have their hearts in the right place.
Really which Site is that? Glad you liked it. I meant what I said
@@britingermany Die Seite ist von Dwayne's Lens czcams.com/video/p61ynPvHLRs/video.html Ich glaube dir, was du gesagt hast. Ich wohne ja hier und weis wie schön es hier ist. Hab gestern erst in Hummelshain das Jagdschloss besucht und ein Video auf meinen Zweitkanal hochgeladen, weil es so schön ist und kaum einer kennt, wie es mit vielen Burgen und Schlössern in Thüringen so ist.
Das viele Thüringer ihr Herz an einem sehr rechten Fleck haben, glaube ich sofort...
well-researched, fair opinions, and beautiful photography. Thanks!
Not to critique what you are saying, but I'd be really interested in knowing how your travels in Thüringen had worked out if your were black or Muslim-looking. All bets are off.
Yes It may have been quite different. I have freinds who have had very diffewrent experiences to mine
If any foreigner want's to know about east Germany, please speak to someone from east Germany. Cause, as you experienced yourself, many west Germans were never in the east until today (maybe except Berlin, but Berlin is hardly to compare to the rest of Germany). They still just repeat the same prejudices they had about east Germany for the last 30 years without own experiences. It's frustrating.
Visit beautiful places over here like Rügen, Spreewald or Sächsische Schweiz, beautiful towns like Greifswald, Rheinsberg or Lübbenau and speak to the people there, to make your own opinion. Your welcome 🤗
Most of my favorite places are in East Germany. I hope to be going back there again and again.
Grüße aus Wales!
Another superb video. East Germany looks so beautiful; and it certainly looks far more prosperous than the image of the GDR I had in my mind’s eye. This, of course, is because one’s perceptions of the east of Germany were somehow frozen at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Though they certainly shouldn’t have been. Further, deep down, I knew it wasn’t like that, of course. Time doesn’t stand still.
As you will have surely guessed by now, I am a Germanophile. I love the German language and I love traditional German architecture, too. The architecture from what I saw in your great video certainly didn’t disappoint.
It’s as green as Wales is. Also, the short road journey you showed in the video could have been taken in some parts of Wales I know, especially around mid-Wales. Particularly the road you showed at time 2.18 -2.27 . However, Thuringia looks so much more prosperous than many parts of Wales - and England these days as well! - more especially since Brexit.
Thanks so much for another most enjoyable video. Your efforts, Ben, are much appreciated.
So then as a German who has been living in 4 Wales for 4 years now I am a Welshophile for sure:-) and I do also enjoy this channel as it gives a totally new perspective on my home country. Whereabouts in Wales do you live? Hwyl am mawr
@@helenebach3440 I didn’t expect to meet a German Cymrophile on CZcams today!
Hwyl fawr I chwi hefyd!
I am glad that you enjoy living in Wales. It’s probably one of the nicest parts of the UK for those of us who like the quiet life. When I was young, I was inclined to find it boring; but age brings with it wisdom and a longing for the quiet life.
I live in a small town in the south of the country. Please forgive me, for safety reasons I would prefer not to say exactly where on this open forum. And you?
I see that you have been busy learning Welsh. There must be a few Germans out there who speak the language, because many years ago, just out of curiosity, I bought a Welsh leaners’ book written by a German who had lived in Wales for a while. I must say that the author had done an excellent job learning the language. I dare say she ended up speaking the language better than many Welsh people, who are notoriously lazy when it comes to the language.
Stellen Sie sich das mal vor: Eine Deutsche, die ein Buch übers Lernen der walisischen Sprache geschrieben hat!
@@xelakram Cymrophile what a great word:-) Yes Wales is extremely beautiful and quiet. My children have been learning Welsh at school and you get all of the official letters in both Welsh and English so I catch some phrases/words here and there. And it comes in handy when you understand which till is going to be openening soon because Welsh allways comes first in the announcements. When I tried to learn Welsh in the beginning I was really keen but then realised after a while that there is a North and South Welsh which sometimes differs a lot and I didn#T know how to proceed best. I would love to take a look at the Welsh book written by a German. Das ist wirklich etwas Besonderes! Aber Deutsche lieben es sehr, Sprachen zu lernen.
small village in North Wales
@@helenebach3440 Glad you like the word. I didn’t make it up. It actually exists. 😊 Or as we might say in Welsh… Cyfarchion o dde Cymru I ogled Cymru!
I am glad you find Wales beautiful and quiet. It is. It’s a well-kept secret. Thank heavens! I don’t live that far from the coast. We in Wales have some of the very finest of beaches. Unfortunately, we rarely get the weather to match! 😊 And when we do get balmy weather, it’s a nightmare to get to the beaches, especially at weekends, because the roads are clogged up with traffic. Weekdays are therefore better, when others are in work. Though I rarely get to the beach these days, I must admit.
That book I referred to was bought very many years ago. I have looked for in my book collection, but I have failed to find it. I’ve got books here by the galore. So, it’s difficult after all these years. (Do I still have it?) So then I went over to Amazon.de to try and find it. That’s where I would have bought it. Unfortunately, it appears that it is no longer on sale. I did, however, find a couple of other books that might be of interest to you. Though they are rather expensive. Here are two that look good:
This one on Amazon.co.uk :
Lehrbuch der walisischen Sprache Paperback - 1 Sept. 2021 | £41.16
This one on Amazon.de :
Geiriadur Almaeneg-Cymraeg, Cymraeg-Almaeneg / Wörterbuch Deutsch-Walisisch, Walisisch-Deutsch | €54.53
I am not providing you with the links, because whenever I put up links, CZcams takes my comments down.
I understand exactly why you gave up learning Welsh. Many years ago, I experienced the very same thing. It drove me crazy.
For you to know, I grew up in an English-speaking family, though my mother had been raised in a totally bi-lingual family. Her father always spoke Welsh to the girls - my mother had a sister - and English to the boys, my mother’s brothers. Conversely, her mother, my grandmother, always spoke English to the girls and Welsh to the boys! Just imagine how conversation went lunchtime on Sundays! 😊 But in fairness to my grandparents, all the children grew up being totally fluent in both English and Welsh. My mother’s Welsh and English were very good indeed. So my grandparents' perhaps unusual methods clearly worked.
My Welsh is okay, but my German, believe it or not, is much, much better. There are good reasons for this. There is quite a big difference between textbook Welsh, which is much closer to the Welsh spoken in north Wales, and the Welsh spoken here in the south. That drove me crazy! Every time I started to speak Welsh with someone, using the words I had learnt in the textbooks in school, etc, I’d get a response something like this: Oh, we don’t say it that way here. That’s north Walian Welsh. We say it this way… ! In the end, I just gave up, and turned my attention to learning German instead. German suited me better, because in German, what one learns in a book is usually pretty close to what one says.
I rarely spoke Welsh to my mother because it was not what I was used to doing. One tends to build a relationship, parental or otherwise, in a particular language. It is difficult to speak to someone with whom one has always spoken German to suddenly speak English to the person, even if both people are fluent in both languages. There’s a certain indescribable awkwardness to the conversation, somehow.
There is another unusual thing about the Welsh spoken in the north , and it is this: The Welsh in the north are apt to speak at the back of the throat. Not so here in the south.
If I come across that book sometime, I will let you know, hwyl!
For a moment, I misread the title as Easy German and immediately guessed this video about spoken Deutsch in streets. 😅 Sowie eine Kritik nach dem Kanal-EasyGerman bei CZcams.
It’s always hilarious hearing people from western Germany (or you coming from Western Europe) say that Eastern Germany is grey 😂 apart from the obvious fact that Western Europe is much rainier (=greyer), almost all buildings in East Germany were renovated after the reunification. Right now, the second wave of renovations is in full swings. The Plattenbauten are usually painted in multiple strong colours. And then look at the Plattenbauten in Western Germany…. 🤮 sometimes Europe’s wealthiest regions( Baden-Württemberg, Hessen, NRW) look like the poorest regions
Looking at the Ruhrgebiet:
Some areas look like third wotld.
Especially the NOGO areas have a strong Afghanistan Aesthetic
Westdeutsche Städte schaffen es auch oft ganz ohne Platten, absolut grottig auszusehen. Selbst im Hässlichsein sind sie dem Osten überlegen 😔
@@niwa_sis klar…😂 denke mal jede Stadt, jede Region hat ihre nicht so schönen Ecken. Fakt ist, dass leider immer noch viele Wessis nicht viel oder gar nichts gesehen haben vom Osten. Auf beiden Seiten ist noch eine Menge zu tun
If you compare a city's cultural and political importance to its size, Weimar might be the most relevant city in Germany.
I can suggest you to visit Dresden and the Elbsandsteingebirge. Saxony is gernerally very nice
I visited my best friends from University in Mecklenburg Vorpommern and Berlin. Whereas Kreuzberg met all the preconceived ideas I had, Stettin, Wismar and Boltenhagen shocked me to the core.
So many beautifully restored, freshly painted buildings, no atrocious cement blocks from the 60-80‘s anywhere to be seen as I was used to from my own ugly townhall in Schwelm….it was magical!
I discovered a lot of resentment and complaining about ‚dire neglect‘ from the relatives of my friend though, in face of all the millions that had been raised by the Solidarity tax, this made me quite impatient and angry.
I have lived in the Ruhrpott for my first 20 years, and let me tell you, it‘s time the Soli is being allocated to regions in need, no matter if in the West or the East.
The Ossis need to learn personal responsibility, instead of pointing fingers and complaining how ‚bad things are‘ in the East!
It's a complex situation. One which I still fully don't understand. Many East Germans still talk lovingly of the DDR and morn it's passing...
@@britingermany there were certainly made errors by the Treuhand, but what many East Germans lack the economics to understand that there was little use trying to keep 50 year outdated and insolvent businesses alive that had never even been profitable during GDR times.
The romantization of the GDR is called OSTALGIE in German and is the most ridiculous rewriting of recent history we have in Germany, on par with the wild savage Winnetou by Karl May who never even visited the US
Jammern auf hohem Niveau....they need a bit of Vitamin G...gratitude.
@@britingermany funny how my comment about historic revision à la OSTALGIE got removed…triggered someone, I suppose…
Touchy, touchy Ossis
Ok I will bite. I am a person of color who has been living in Erfurt for 16 years now, so I have an outsider's perspective on this. I have never lived in the "Alten Bundesländern."
I find the comments on this thread increadibly unfair to East Germans.
1) East and West Germans pay Soli. I have been paying soli ever since I have started working in Germany. East Germans have paid Soli since it was implemented. So I am not sure where "gratitude" comes into this.
2) West German companies economically crippled the East by buying out East German companies that could compete with them in an open market system. Then the companies were dissolved. Please do research on the Treuhand system.
3) any profits from the planned economy in the former GDR went to prop up the Soviet economy. The GDR never stood a chance economically.
All I am saying is well documented. Money went into making things look pretty instead of implementing a sustainable economy that would benefit the area long-term. Maybe instead of attacking a whole half of the country, try to see why they would feel insecure enough to vote for a fascist political party. Then act from there.
There is also nice places in Mecklenburg Vorpommern like the Müritz Area or Schwerin etc, Sachsen Anhalt like Dessau, Halle/ Saale, Quedlinburg, Wernigerode, Halberstadt, many more. Brandenburg, cities like Neubrandenburg, Potsdam, Cottbus and last but not least Sachsen land of August the strong, Dresden, Leipzig, Chemnitz, Zwickau,…
Wow that's a long list. I have some more traveling to do 😉
If you expected to see grey WW2 ruins (yes!) in the city centers and the like you came about 20 years too late to the DDR.
Almost half of Berlin is also ex-DDR by the way, including Mitte, the centre. However, many, if not most of the people who lived there in 1989 would have been pushed out by gentrification.
Some call it fascinating... I returned to Germany after 14 years abroad just to see that people, including people born after the late 1990ies (you may add the 90ies as a sort of hybrid-DDR/BRD") still, think in East and West. It is a bit frustrating because we also have many other, interesting differences between regions in all directions, not just East and West.
Real estate. Even "West Germany" has a lot of rented housing. Much more than countries around them. One of the reasons is of course WWII. After the war, a lot of housing had to be build fast, same in East Germany. I guess renting still is the norm, at least in the cities.
When the Soviet collapsed, DR (Danish BBC) had a reportage from one of the cities in the Soviet. That 30 minutes reportage complete changed my view on things. A guy was interviewed, he wasn't that keen on communism, but he was that keen on capitalism either. He was very scared of loosing he's job. Maybe we do not live like Kings, but at least we have job, and earn to the food. Between the lines, it was like he said: "Maybe you like capitalism, but I prefer what I got". That interview I still remember.
TIP for all: If you go to Berlin for a holiday, do go to the old East Berlin, it really has a good vibe. Look for a place along Prinzlauerberg Alle'. I have been there several times.
West Berlin is just a standard Western city compared to East Berlin.
Prenzlauer Berg (Allee)
Yes Berlin is always worth a visit. I always recommend skipping between east and west. You can still feel the difference. Even today
I study in Berlin. Unfortunately at the technical university which is in former West-Berlin. It’s right in the centre of West-Berlin (Charlottenburg, Kurfürstendamm) which was an independent WEALTHY city before it was incorporated in Berlin in 1920. The Kurfürstendamm is still full of high-end stores like Gucci, Louis Vuitton,… but apart from that it looks like a third-world country. Capitalism has failed in West-Berlin. Graffiti everywhere, run-down 50s/60s-buildings, the homelessness is very visible, criminal migrants,… I wish I could study at the Humboldt university which is in East Berlin
@@afjo972 The main reason that I like East Berlin is the vibes. The atmosphere is special. Find a little kiosk and have a coffee at the sidewall. It is so relaxing. It is hard to explain. West Berlin is just another city in Europe, nothing special, at least to me.
Part of my family lives in Berlin, Prenzlauer Berg.
It's pretty pricy and the people are very unklare of Real World pzobaround them, but somewhat arrogant to think only they know how the World should be.
Everybody is different, I can't stand it there.
You should come to Dresden next. I’ve lived here for 3 years and would love to show you around. I think that you’d like it if you’re a fan of Thuringia!
I do. I was there a few years ago. Drove form FFM to Dresden in one sitting (would not do that again) lol
I will probably never get the chance to visit Europe, and Germany in particular. I would definitely visit eastern Germany. I remember hearing about the construction of the Berlin Wall when I was in kindergarten or 1st grade. I thought reunification would never come. We are so fortunate to be able to see these countries. There will always be those people, in all countries, who want to discourage and hurt foreigners, but there are always people who recognize the opportunities that come from encounters. I am unsure of the location of my German (Prussian) ancestry, but part of it is probably Mecklenburg.
Lovely comment.
I do home you get the chance to visit at some point
Thank you for the great video and I am stunned that you managed to bypass the stereotypes of Thueringen such as the local Bratwurst. It is often stated that many Germans from the west have never visited eastern Germany. Statistics say that 20% have never done so. But considering age factors and financial reasons I would not see this number as a sign of lack of interest
Glad you enjoyed it! I did of course try a Thürigen sausage but didn’t think it was worth mentioning 😉
Hello Benjamin
How are you?
Thanks for this interesting take on the former DDR.
Hope you’re well
Cheers
Zoltán
Hello Zolli long time no hear. I’m very well. Hope you’re enjoying life 😀
It is true that in the East we have always earned a lot less than in the West. At first, it could be somehow justified by the lower prices we had to pay for food and rent. However, those prices are now comparable with those in the West and yet, our salaries have not caught up.
Yes I know. They got the short straw with wages. That's why it's s struggle to attract skilled workers there
@@britingermany True, but there are still those who want to live here despite the low wages, us, for example. We love it here and could not imagine living anywhere else in Germany.
Greetings from East Germany,
there is a reasen why the East Germens are distrustful of the capitalist system. The "Reunifications" didn't go well for most of us. In the 1990s the west overtoke evrything in the east and distroid willfully all remaining wealth and competition to western industries. The rebuild is still ongoing.
So, yes we are a little bit reserved if it comes to change, but most east germans are welcoming and friendly, cause there still is a feeling of solidarity and workin together for the good of all.
Thanks for your view on the east.
In 2011 I stayed in Weimar for a semester of grad school, it was lovely. I found the people warm and accepting of someone who spoke little German. Re: cost of living, I found it very inexpensive. The rent on my room in a WG on the Marktplatz was €200/mo including utilities. Groceries seemed extremely cheap and the fresh food in the market was also cheap (€1.80 for a Thüringer Rostbratwurst.) I do recall at least one student who lived in Erfurt and commuted to Weimar because it was even less expensive. Oh- to say nothing of the fact that tuition was free compared to my US university tuition of $16,000 per year. Of course things change, perhaps inflation has hit there like elsewhere.
Those were the days😉. Yes it’s quite a bit more expensive these days
I agree with the vaguely phrased statement that foreigners are not very welcome in East Germany, but it's a problem for the East that people don't differentiate what that translates to when looking at a specific city. East Germany is losing native population fast due to the youth leaving and declining birth rates. People in the East are usually afraid of having their small-ish-and-shrinking town flooded with uneducated, possibly criminal Muslims to a considerable amount. "Foreigners are not welcome" is often limited to this specific case.
While there is often a racist undercurrent to this fear, it has to be underlined that this is VERY different from what is implied in this video, which is that as an Englishman you'll be randomly be exposed to hostility. Even as someone with darker skin it is by no means an automatism that you'll have a worse experience in an eastern city than in a western one. There's regions with a Neonazi presence in all parts of Germany, the East only has more of them.
I visited Erfurt in 2004. Beautiful place. If you want to see some history of the GDR then the Hauptfriedhof contains the graves of GDR dignitaries complete with hammer and compass emblem. There are also many graves of German soldiers from the 1950's . I presume these were Soviet held POW's .
Hi. I haven't followed your channel in a while. You're back in the UK, right? Are you back in Germany now? What was the reason for that?
Hi there. Yes I’m back in Germany. I was just back in the U.K. for a couple of weeks. Germany is my home 😉
With regards to 'anti-consumerism', it much easier to practice in an environment of scarcity 😢
There are two main differences between East Germany and other Eastern European countries that account for East German risk aversion: , Former communist countries between 1944 and 2004 did not have a Western neighbour of the same language and origins where to go for carreer and wealth. East Germans only had such a neighbour, but millions of well trained individuals, mainly those with an entrepreneurial spirit, left their homes to migrate and stay in the West. Secondly: Financial inflows of about 100 BN € pa between 1990 and 2018, partly renewed beyoned 2018, allowed the East Germans, that did not migrate, to keep a low risk and a low income profile staying at home.
As a colored immigrant studying in east Germany, I can confirm that they are not as welcoming as west Germans, but the difference is not that big. We can also see that in election results. But opposite of what you experienced, I have heard of my German friends from west that they feel eastern Germans are not as warm as western Germans and some of them are leaving east after they are graduated because of this (finding better jobs in west has an effect on this too).
I had the opportunity to be visiting East Germany before re-unification and work there several times.
My age at that time was in my 20th and I agree that most people where friendly. But I also had the experience of having a political watchdog in the group I was working with. And I had been warned several times to watch my mouth when he was around; did. work only soso but nothing serious happened. On the other hand I was (illegally) invited by one guy I worked with to his home and it was an evening with loads of food and alcohol 😂 which I never forget. But I also will not forget that my car needed to be parked in his garage so that neighbors would not see my West German license plate… Have a lot of fun and good memories and only few not so nice ones.
I also remember how poor the streets where, how limited the selection was in the normal restaurant (I sometimes asked them to tell me what is available to avoid going through the menu and being told „not available today“. I remember the air not being so clean and more comparable with the Rhine/Rur area in my childhood where coal fires and steel industry was dominant. I remember meeting people that had nice and big houses with swimming pool and them running their own company (water and heating incl. plumbing) and them telling me the struggles that came along with that. And others that had houses they could afford be abuse they where given the opportunity to work outside East Germany.
The one thing that pi..es off many people are how poor Westen streets and town infrastructure is and that nothing or little is done to improve the level of that in comparison to what had been done (rightfully) after reunification for the East. Another thing that is on the list of anger are the exchange of East to west German currency on 1:1 base and the same for retirement pays which are covered by the payments of those working today while no funds had been allocated to counter the missed payments of before unification times. None of the above is the responsibility of those folks in East Germany and not of those in the West either. But it is part of the problem that people in the East are still feeling that they have been worse of till today and those in the West feeling that they have been cheated and where milked like a cow that could not help being milked to much.
I share your impressions as a tourist. But I wonder if some of the "young people on the street" are also tourists? The times that you can recognize an East German person from their clothes are long over, you need to talk to them to check for accents. Another strong giveaway is getting a "no" (German pronunciation) while they nod in agreement. Still having a hard time with that! 😀
I did a short road trip through Thuringia two years ago; Quedlinburg, Erfurt, Eisenach and I will certainly come back. People there can indeed be more open. But they can also be incredibly rude. You could say they do both things better then people from Hesse for example ;-)
🤣 There were no doubt a lot of tourists in Erfurt. In Weimar there were a lot of students everywhere. Eisenach and Jena seemed to have less tourists. I would say I can usually tell an accent from Dresden or Leipzig not so sure about Weimar though
Reporting about Weimar without mentioning Goethe and Schiller (you didn't, did you) is really something.
I didn’t think it was worth mentioning as it’s common knowledge…however I did include a monument to them from Weimar in the first few minutes
@@britingermany Ich hab es gleich gesehen. :)
A long time ago by now, in the early 2000s, I think it might have been 2002 actually, I spend some time with my family (well, my mother, my father had just died from... well.. unreasonable behaviour in light if heart condition🙄) in Thuringia, actually Jena for a week and following that a week in a "Datcha" in an more GDR style holiday site quite deep in the forests - might have been a slightly different time compared to 20-odd years later now and I have newer experiences, after all living in southern Hessia (like you do, I'm within sight of Frankfurt's towers ;) ) in relation to Germany is like living in Germany is on a European scale; dead centre and everything is reasonably reachable.
Anyway even in my hyper-sensible condition after a traumatic experience I felt that the people in Thuringia where both a lot like Hessians but also a lot... well.. for the lack of a better term, more heart-warmingly *nice* - I seem to remember (and later visits confirmed this has remained a thing) just almost everyone being just... well... a polite and decent person, essentially nicer than the Hessians around Frankfurt.
I feel I'm making enemies, but hey...^^
Best regards
Raoul G. Kunz
Haha no probs. I also found people to be very open and friendly, but that’s just my own subjective experience
Thank you for a great video and your balanced views, a far cry from the ubiquitous sensationalism here on YT.
My personal theory is that the generation in east Germany that personally lived through the transition GDR>FRG were raised eith a "caring" state where everything was managed for you: essentially you were assigned housing, employment if you went with the flow.
Many people - also in the 2nd generation and beyond - still miss this "caring" aspect and find it hard to accept (explicity or implicitly) that everyone is mostly supposed to be responsible ourselves.
Yes I think that’s it. A lot of the every day stress of looking for a job or finding an apartment was taken care of. But the problem is when you outsource responsibility for your own life outcomes you give up your own potential
Have you been to East Germany? What is your favourite area and why?
Potsdam, the first city I visited when I came to Germany, Brandenburg an der Havel right next to Potsdam, East-Berlin (10000 times better than West-Berlin), the Uckermark, the Spreewald, the Müritz, Schwerin, Wismar, Heiligendamm, Rostock, Warnemünde, Stralsund, Rügen, Usedom, Dresden, Meißen, Bautzen, Görlitz, Zittau, Pirna, Freiberg, the Erzgebirge, Leipzig, Halle, Naumburg, Quedlinburg, Wernigerode, Mühlhausen, Hainich, Eisenach, Thüringer Wald, Saalfeld, Altenburg, Weimar, Erfurt
@@afjo972 Halle?
There are lots of awesome places. One of my most favorite is Dresden. The city is full of history, beautifully restored and clean. There’s so much to see and the whole area around is awesome too, like „Elbsandsteingebirge“, Pirna, Königsstein, etc.
I visited Stralsund last year, it was great.
Just a ride a train through former East Germany, and you’ll be so surprised by how green and forested it is.
Thanks for this video! (please tell your local politicians to do something about climate change!).
This was another interesting piece of the overall German puzzle. My husband and I went to the east for two weeks during Martin Luther's year. We went to lots of historical sites related to Luther and were struck by one thing especially: The German need to make sure that they tell the truth, that the correct information gets out there. One hears about the house where Luther was born or the church were Bach was in the choir or the house where Luther lived in Eisenach. In every place we were told that, no, this church isn't where Bach was in the choir, it's the successor to his church. No, this isn't the room were Luther slept, we don't actually know where he slept, in fact, the family he lived with had three houses and this is the only one standing, he may not even have slept in this house at all. No, Luther wasn't born in this house, in fact, it probably wasn't even built until he was in his twenties. The Germans wanted to be honest: there are myths and here is reality; we know some things, but not every thing. Though in the Wartburg castle the room where Luther translated the Bible into German, and rested his feet upon a whale's vertebra, was surprisingly moving, myth or not. There were German phrases projected onto the walls; it was a little space, just a room, and history seemed to swirl around in it, as I imagined anyway. It was a moody day, too, rainy and foggy, mist rose up from the dense green trees on the hills surrounding the castle, we could see the mist from the window in Luther's study while I stood there trying to read the dense blackletter phrases. My German is by no means fluent, I took German in college forty years ago, but I decided to feel something profound in the little room in the Wartburg, just because, y'know, this is the exact spot where the German language was born, or at least where its mother got pregnant.
I really like how you write...with a lot of description. It just created some lovely pictures in my mind about your trip.
I would share your opinion. I was in Jena several times. Also in Gotha. Nice, little towns. I was really positively impressed. Regarding people... Well, nobody likes "Ausländer" in general. However, it depends who you are about to meet on your way.
This is a very, very beautiful video.
I have often wondered about East Germany.
I have read patronizing or negative comments about people from East
Germany by German women...
For Kiwis, that is not cool.
I have also read comments that praise the character of East Germans beautifully. I trust Benjamin's judgement.
I would not go to a country unless the people were friendly. I would go to East Germany.
Thankyou Benjamin for helping out bring out the truth about
an admirable People.
In New Zealand we celebrate Matariki and all Peoples.
Thanks for watching and for your words of encouragement
Then you can’t visit any country in the world. There are unfriendly people EVERYWHERE as well as there are friendly people everywhere. And even the friendly people have bad days, so stop generalising people
@@britingermany
It's a real, real pleasure, Brother.
I often watch your creations 2 or 3 times.
Here, you really manage to pass on your surprise and delight as your tour the cities. It is all so beautiful compared to your preconceived ideas.
When you described the lush green, and the ultrafriendly people, I really felt at home.
Also, when you described the economic difference, I also felt at home, because a lot of our skilled workers are leaving...going to Oz.
The rainbow lady is a bit of me...I can imagine sharing a beautiful experience with a random person.
I was curious about why the women blamed some ghastly attitudes towards an American lady, on East Germans. Maybe they were right. I don't know.
But I just love the sound of the people and the places you visited.
The other things I like about your videos are
-your British accent and calm voice
-the thought, explanations, ideas, analysis and your personal experiences and opinions that you put into these
-the filming...is very good and all kinds of unexpected details are included. It makes it very interesting.
I like the range of topics you come up with.
I love your (British?) humility. Kiwis are quite a bit like that, I think.
Some of your topics have a lot of depth...are fairly intellectual.
I especially like seeing you smiling. It makes me think you are enjoying yourself in different
places...especially in this newly discovered paradise.
It is a very sweet smile, and Down Under we do more smiling than some people of the world seem to do.
You would be a great advertisement for this beautiful looking place of transcendence.
Your videos are really thoughtful, deep and are of high quality. I really enjoy seeing them.
I am from thuringia. Live near Erfurt. But now imagine there is another society and cultures invasive to us here. East-West is still no the same or even compatible!
Thank you for taking the risk of traveling to eastern partn of Germany. And thank you for appreciating the good and the bad sides. All in all, Weimar is THE must see city in Thuringia if you are interested in history mfrom the classical ages until WW2 (Conecentrationcamp nearby calles "Buchenwald")
In what way do you see ( I assume you mean west Germany) the society and culture s invasive?
Leipzig, Eurfurt or somewhere in Thüringen or Freiburg im Breisgau/ Karlsruhe? I'm struggling to choose.
@@britingermany no it is invasive here in east Germany too. Mainly bigger cities in thuringia have refugee-homes/camps
Last part of Western European that wasn’t colonized by „diversity“
How do you define “diversity”?
The years right after reunificaton, it was indeed very gray and run down in the East, especially the old Town Centers you now marvel at as colourful.
However, yes, it is quite beautiful now, and even surprising in many ways.
I totally agree, I would not suggest to foreigners to move to Sachsen nor Thüringen - not even West Germans. Then again, it even may not be advisable to go as foreigner and live in a rural village in Bavaria either.
Old towns of all sizes in formerly east Germany are very beautifully renovated and there are top-notch infrastructure everywhere. This is largely due to the solidarity transfer (I.e. solidarity tax paid by everyone) that amounts to trillions of euros up to now.
I very much enjoyed your report on Thüringen. I clearly remember the days when the heart of Germany was fenced in and its residents were under the pressure of the communist regime. At 25, I had a very unpleasant encounter with “regimetreue Sachbearbeiter” in France. In 1989/90 however, I experienced
the greatest joy of my life. The Wall was down and I did what you did recently. I visited Weimar, Erfurt and Eisenach. Places I had always wanted to see because, to me, the BRD seemed incomplete without the ❤ ofGermany. Last year I returned to Eisenach and the Wartburg and it filled my heart with joy.
Unfortunately, the AfD is very successful in the eastern states. Maybe West Germany s arrogance at the beginning the the reunification has a lot to answer
for that. Or the lack of enthusiasm of the government to make an extra effort to combat the extreme right, to install a migration system that helps to
regulate the influx of migrants. Anyway, thanks a lot for your insightful explanations. Do visit Dresden, Meißen etc..
Thank you and glad you enjoyed it. Id love to go back to Dresden sometime soon
Risk aversion is a central feature of German mentality, no matter if its East or West Germany. Entrepreneurialism has a negative connotation so it is no surprise that the country is behind when it comes to starting a company.
But it seems even more pronounced in the east
Avoid risk of your own is one thing. Blaming others for taking a risk is another level. One is to protect people from failure, the other is kind of "holding a criminal back from exploiting people".
As a Brit who lived in East Germany for more than half my life, xenophobia is a problem (and not only in East Germany), but it's very focused on certain ethnic groups. A white British person will not have any problems that a German wouldn't have. Not even from the far right. If anything, Brits are more likely to have problems with what's known as the Bildungsbürgertum, the new German middle class. No violence, just general sneeriness. But to be honest that's rare too. Anglophilia is quite common. Anglophobia can happen but it's incredibly rare.
We have good ambassadors though 😊
I was surprised to hear, that many of your east German colleagues hadn't been to Berlin, prior to that particular event, as Berlin was situated in the heart of DDR/GDR.
I know I was also very surprised. Some people just don't like traveling much 🤷♂️
This is supposedly because formerly the inhabitants of Berlin were privileged in comparison to the other people in GDR. People in other regions didn't like the Berliner and this carries on until now.
@@eryr_llwyd Which city/town in the former DDR/GDR do you recommend? I am Swedish and have quite a few German ancestors. From Brandenburg and Saxony mainly.
@@CCLilja In Saxony I would highly recommend Bautzen and Görlitz, very beautiful old cities, wonderfully restored. Or Bad Muskau with its famous park. If you like it more modern then visit Leipzig. If you come around Christmas you should visit the Erzgebirge-region with its tradionally decorated houses and Christmas markets, such as Seiffen.
In Brandenburg you could visit Potsdam with the beautiful castle Sanssouci. Or the Spreewald, if you prefer nature. Or some of the smaller towns in the north of Brandenburg such as Neuruppin. Hope I could help you. 😊
@@eryr_llwyd Thanks for telling me. I'd like to visit Niederlausitz in southern Markt Brandenburg. My ancestors the von Thermo family migrated from there to Sweden in the early 17th century. The family is orginally from the Rhineland.
Go to Leipzig, Dresden, Weimar and maybe even Dessau. Never been to Magdeburg, but the citry has one of Germany's best male handball teams.
- In Dessau, as a tourist, you will be able to enjoy all that Bauhaus is and was, including the Die Meister Häuser. And there is an original Bauhaus café along the Elbe.
- If Dresden, go and see Die Frauenkirche, but go very early or very late. It is packed with people who do not why they are there, including West Germans, and their pupils etc. And Dresden actually has other things worth seeing, things made in the DDR period. And Dresden also has trams!!! And a beautiful Catholic Cathedral
- Weimar speaks for itself
- Don't get me started on Leipzig (as the USAns would put it)
The true division between West and East Germany is the Elbe River. Mecklenburg and Brandenburg regions were settled by slavs, colonized in the 11 and 1200s, while Thueringen and most of Saxony up to Magdeburg therefore is considered culturally as Central Germany (Mitteldeutschland).
Right. That doesn’t really bear much relevance for the modern day geographical boundaries.
Britgermany: Yes, not geographical. But mentally. Before WW2 the term "Ostelbien" was common and it was often used in the sense of a backward Germany of junkers and poorly civilized inhabitants. This has survived in a modern way, when "Wessies", often politicans and journalists, claim to be superior to "Ossies", Easternes. Also, election results are very different.
Yet, the Germans have still more in common than they argue against each other.
The Sorbs are the last true slavs in Germany.
Das spielt keine Rolle den vor den Slawen waren schon die Germanen da, durch die deutsche Ostsiedlung wurden diese Gebiete deutsch. Das historische Ostdeutschland war Pommern, Schlesien, Danzig und Ostpreußen
Explaining the differences between the East and the West based on the background of a divided country for a long time is extremely difficult. There’s so much knowledge missing on both sides, since today. I think it’s important to have a open mind and listen to each other to understand and learn about the history and the impact it has for today.
Very interesting and enlightening.
But there are press reports here in the UK that at a recent show in Leipzig (Fri, 14th June) Rod Stewart’s apparently standard support for Ukraine was greeted with loud boos and whistles as soon as a giant picture of Zelensky came up on stage.
According to German media, his support for Ukraine had been well-received at previous concerts in Copenhagen and Amsterdam. And at his show in Berlin (Sat, 15th June) there was no adverse audience reaction to it.
I’ve heard that East Germans were given a very soft landing when the Iron Curtain collapsed. And, as a result, all too many continue to support Putin.
This incident seems to show there might actually be real differences in attitude towards Russia in the old East Germany?
I haven't heard about that. If that's the case it doesn't't necessarily signal support for Putin but may be a cry for a greater focus on their own country...
@@britingermany
Seems unusual, to say the least, that it hasn’t been reported very much (or even at all?) in Germany. That in itself could indicate it’s a rather sensitive subject.
The contrast between his reception elsewhere (Copenhagen, Amsterdam & Berlin) and then in Leipzig seems so great that I think it must signal a pretty major divergence in attitudes. And rather than anything to do with a greater focus on their own country the footage shows the audience instantly booing and whistling as soon as the picture of Zelensky appeared, which points the finger at him being the catalyst…
We don't oder Ukraine abything. Why should we pay for the war?
Seen news about soll the refugee fraud that Ukrainians commit?
German Mainstream Media is very left- woke.
You will never get neutral news or anything that doesn't Support the left agenda
When people go to a concert they don't want to be lectured bout what political opinion the artist thinks is right.
And being not pro Ukraine is a valud opinion.
I don't trust Mainstream Media, it's far to left.
Always looked at Erfurt on Google Maps, and it looks great! But then a west german person told me it is just "full of unemployed drug users and a horrible place"... I think he was wrong. They just are very very brainwashed and biased in Germany. That country has a history of distorted view on reality, anyway. Every country has this region with "reputation". Sometimes it is deserved, like Detroit today is kind of bad. But often places have a "reputation" but it hasn't been true for 30 years.. but the reputation sticks.
Well... Erfurt has the third highest Meth concentration in the sewage in Germany (behind Chemnitz and Dresden) and the sixth highest in all of Europe.
Danke! My ancestors left in the mid 1800s.
Great to hear what Prince Harry's views on East Germany
Never heard that east-Germany (still) is considered „anti-capitalist“. People there might still struggle with capitalism due to the inequalities you mentioned. There are ugly and disconnected places in West-Germany as well - a fact that some Ossis might not recognize. Ever been to Ludwigshafen, Pirmasens or Gelsenkirchen? And sure there are a lot of beautiful places in the East. Loved Leipzig, enjoyed Dresden, liked Erfurt, Quedlingburg is a tourist destination, Rügen is fantastic and even more so is Hiddensee. I grew up in the south-west and the only thing I miss in east-Germany is good restaurants and some hedonism, but I miss that in northern Germany, too.
You don't like Pirmasens? Ok, mostly destructed in WW2, not many half-timbered houses, but located at the edge of the beautiful Palatinate Forest.
@@eye347 it‘s not that I don‘t LIKE these places - but they struggle. Pirmasens had a shoe-industry and still has a school for shoe-design. Pirmasens has beautiful nature surrounding the town.
Thüringen is indeed nice, though I mostly enjoyed hiking the Thüringer Wald. Erfurt is nice but so was Gotha, Schmalkalden and Meiningen. Of course East Gemany is by no means empty, but it is not as densely populated as the west.
Weimar is for sure a great place to visit.
This video strangely made me want to visit East Germany
Hope you visited the Wartburg... if not, you have to come back😊
I actually didn't make it there. So yes will have to revisit
such a handsome man love the red beard
Haha thank you 🤩
We visited Halle once in the 90s shortly after reunification and were immediately told by a local that after dark we should keep away from the city center. It was the place for the local Nazis to get together. We are Germans but not ethnically, and this was decades before the refugee crisis. I think the root problem here is the very idea of the nation-state itself. National borders, national armies, national parliaments, national flag, national football teams, natonal anthems, national pride... Being constantly surrounded by this nationalist rhetoric (propaganda), how can you blame anyone for turning into an ardent nationalist? It doesn't really shock me to see how democracies are always a stone's throw away from turning into fascism because they both depend on the exact same nationalistic underpinnings. Also eloquently expressed in the phrase "America First" which isnt far away from the infamous "Deutschland Deutschland über alles".
On the reasons of East Germany's being poorer: The "communist" period was less than 50 years. Two generations, more or less. You can't really make claims about changes in mentality, such as a newly developed aversion to risk. There have to be other reasons.
Why not? two generations is more than enough to change culture.