hundreds of racist attacks were committed in east germany. historian harry viable has researched them there was then a phobic slogans and insults and violent attacks riots and even murders the majority of the perpetrators were young men victims largely foreign contract workers. my research has revealed around seven hundred violent confrontations between germans and foreign nationals that started in the sixty's and continued until the collapse of east germany of these two hundred were pogroms or program like confrontations this racist climate in east germany was growing shock waves of. every year in freiburg near howler one weekend in september was traditionally all about wine a wine queen was crowned and there was a procession with all kinds of other entertainments. but on the twenty fourth of september one thousand nine hundred seventy eight this wine festival had a bloody finale police officers set their dogs on cuban contract workers three cubans were seriously injured by dog bites and admitted to hospital. cuban leader fidel castro was li

it was even easier to cause the scene in east germany in one nine hundred sixty s. in the town of show despite all this some city for example. western fashion and music managed to penetrate the iron curtain for students got together and founded a group called the rolling stones club shows. we felt like we didn't fit in because we like western music so much and we tried to express that in the way we dressed. for fun for some people a part of others just shook their heads up but. we attracted attention to ourselves in school but we didn't back down especially in civics class with others as we were all. he's together and made quite an impression on the local residents would quibble. between a vague also like the steins the singer songwriter was just twenty years old in one nine hundred sixty eight best known song is kinda. thing out. of my need a lot of god in. the song can be seen as a protest against authoritarian oppression big not a mother of three grew up in a spending money they don't like her parents she is a committed socialist big now and her parents became in

bye i thought they should come to the east germany and study. my office on. this spring a company was not broken up and the newspaper continued to sell but demonstrators in munich stepped up their campaign. visit josiah we went to the spring our headquarters in munich and to our great surprise we actually managed to get inside . you know as well what were we going to do now i had no idea and neither did anyone else see that it's not like you discussed it in advance i think we didn't put up a flag or anything but we did get inside as i was you valentine. in the end the protests against springer didn't achieve very much. and the west german middle class seemed blissfully content. they watched peter alexander and all she class on t.v. and too few realized that the country was descending into political and social chaos. back i watched a girl i was too young to understand what was going on so i went to school and played football i figured if they want to demonstrate blood of. the villain vich them took a very different view of that he is a fence otherwise he would

the fraternity of people in communist east germany it was official policy. but the reality was often very different to. dark skin a foreign workers could be threatened beaten and even killed. and the authorities turned a blind eye. no solidarity racism in former east germany. in the forty five minutes long t.w. . board. still today don't miss our highlights. programme on line w. dot com highlights. welcome to our pop export special this time it's all about germany's most successful d.j. love enjoy its will tell you how he rose to fame and take a look behind the scenes of his videos and accompany him on tour with platinum records number one hits global gigs robin choice is one of germany's most successful musical exports here's a look at the superstar deejays.

but while the film was being shorts communist east germany erected the girl in war the cold war had taken a serious turn sparing tragedy for many the clash of ideologies was no longer a laughing matter. the right film at the wrong time and in the wrong place decades later it was rediscovered and became a cult hit. more than half a century after while do another hollywood director and another cold war drama in berlin when i shot the scenes we've built a lot of the war we've built you know probably a good three hundred yards of the war. i looked at the war and i just said this really happened an american lawyer is in the divided city to negotiate an agent swap with the soviet union and east germany communists the lesson is a place of heightened political tensions the drama is based on a true story divided berlin had more than its fair share of spines the bridge was the gateway to the west the film perfectly captures the menacing atmosphere of the time. let's go. over the gate. these stones marked the exact position of the hated her. in war that divided the city for almost thirty years when

the fraternity of people in communist east germany it was official policy. but the reality was often very different to. the foreign workers could be threatened. and even killed. and the authorities turned a blind. racism in former east germany a fifteen. earth home to millions of species a home worth saving. google ideas tell stories of creative people and innovative projects around the world ideas that protect the climate boost green energy solutions and reforestation. using interactive content to inspire people to take action blueblood dia's series of global three thousand on t.w.m. and online. checkin. to fasten your seat belts. packed up. good look at this. move. again. travel guide to w. d c org five keys to see for food. police to prevent companies shut. up. separate draw and cook foods to avoid cross contamination. third to kill microorganisms. keep food safe temperatures. to prevent bacterial growth. use safe water and safe the tiriel to avoid content. producers are the ones primarily responsible for the safety of the food. but you can protect yourse

. >> one of our producers from primetime live went into east germany posing as a tourist. our producer took a home video camera, went to leipzig and found an incredible scene there. >> in east germany, you see a series of demonstrations for change, and the question becomes, are these demonstrations going to be repressed and wiped out? what is gorbachev going to do? >> this was the show of mikhail gorbachev's show and tell day. guests of erich honecker in a military parade through the heart of east berlin. he preached reform and offered a gorbachev proverb. those being late, he said, will be punished by life itself. >> gorbachev felt like he could put a happy face on socialism, that he could modify it. but the freedom genie got out of the bottle, and he couldn't put it back in. >> overseas, time has finally run out for erich honecker, the 77-year-old leader of east germany. he resigned today. the official reason given was poor health, but growing political unrest made today's change inevitable. >> the people have their government on the run. today, in the bid to convince pe

it was a cold night in east germany. it would change the course of vladimir putin's life. the berlin wall had just fallen. [crowd chanting] . >> all over east germany, angry crowds roamed the streets, lashing out at symbols of communist rule. that night in dresden they found the target. the local kgb headquarters. a mob surrounded the building as the hour grew later, the crowd grew larger. inside, peering through the curtains, was a young kgb lieutenant colonel named vladimir putin. >> he was terrified that they were going to storm the building. >> putin was a general officer, but the boss was away. he was in charge. >> he called for instruction. >> desperate temporary help, putin dialed kgb headquarters in moscow over and over again. finally, one official told him simply, moscow is silent. >> and i think it felt like a deep beindustrial trayal to him. >> vladimir putin was on his own. he went down into the bowls of the building and fired up the fur necessary. >> he finds himself in a basement at a fur furniture us shoveling documents. >> the f ur nis is blaring. >> putin

berlin he alleges is the capital of a sovereign east germany. and the allies must be made to quit berlin. here beyond communist germany the force is there. men and armor. june 4, 1961. to president kennedy he repeats is threat to sign a separate reaty. move after move until on august 13, 1961 a wall of east german police stand at the brandonburg gate. all communication between the eastern sector and those of the west have been cut as though by a knife. before it, west berliners stand stunned. but soon they give voice to the indignation. the only answer, jets of water from eastern armored trucks. soviet attacks on rights of the western powers in berlin show that the wall was meant to be a step toward control of the whole city. toward forcing out the western powers. as the last escape routes were cut one after the other final scrambles to not be left behind in the prison. this was an exodus not confined merely to civilians. even among the east german police guarding and maintaining the new barrier some decided they, too, had reached the end of the

rule with many buildings slated for demolition they were spared by the collapse of east germany since one thousand nine hundred eighty nine around four in five of the small city's historic buildings have been restored to their former glory. you can tell by the architecture that gurlitz was a wealthy place during the middle ages many successful textile manufacturers were based here. they lived and worked in timber frame towers says that loomed over arcades these typically had quite spacious interiors and courtyards they served as dwelling warehouses and counting houses rolled into one. this well known renaissance building has a facade depicting scenes from the bible like many other buildings in gurlitz it was refurbished with the help of millions of euros that were donated by an anonymous philanthropist over the course of twenty years. the identity of the generous patron has remained a secret in all since german reunification over a billion euros have gone into refurbishing the town's historical buildings. the want to marked where you'll find a city hall is the town's main square. next

the fraternity of people in communist east germany it was official policy. but the reality was often very different to. dark skinned foreign workers could be threatened beaten and even killed. and the authorities turned a blind eye. racism in former east germany mob fifteen minutes d w. o y returned to vast whaler. to visit friends is that i don't think i'd ever go back there to live you know where i live there again i don't know so i'm not sure. bearing witness global news that matters. made for mines. a museums mistake should not see the once a. cold so cold chain can suck up to his con. side by. playing. people put big dreams on the big screen play a legit movie magazine on the dummy. a live to surf. danger lurks in the water we were the only old surf. waste and polluted water. basically this is where the lowest of the top of the a full of people coming. from is really nice it's sad to go somewhere every day and more and more broadly changed time in there the scene gives me everything going away most of the windows have to give something back i feel oblig

the fraternity of people in communist east germany it was official policy. but the reality was often very different. skin foreign workers could be threatened. and even killed. and the authorities turned a blind eye. no solidarity racism in former east germany. forty five minutes. silent clash of cultures in india. a clash between those who believe in a range marriage and those who want to marry for love. of the bush that's shaking families and society to the cool kids. my father will be angry sometimes i think the way he definitely. commandoes starch john hates g.w. . you change to the science magazine on d w welcome to tomorrow today here's what's coming up. biomolecules in the our nights illuminated by the board's biggest x. ray laser in hamburg. a chemist goes to finland to find out what fine particles in the end it do to the cells in our bodies. and every mobile phone and it wants faster internet but who wants to live near the to.

angela merkel herself said she grew up in east germany, communist east germany. so she knows what it's like to be controlled by russia. she says that a united germany stands against russian aggression and that's a good thing. you also had nato leaders trying to diffuse the situation and saying nato is stronger when everybody is working together. as you pointed out, the president when he's sitting next to angela merkel, all smiles, relatively cordial, saying they had a great relationship and great meeting. but a couple hours after that the president is back tweeting saying what good is nato. >> how is the political chaos impacting his visit in th uk? >> reporter: it's full steam ahead. he'll have a big dinner with the prime minister and business leaders, and tomorrow sit down with a bilateral meeting before the first lady and president have tea with the queen. earlier this week the president said the united kingdom was in turmoil. he had a chance to give full-throated support for theresa may when he was asked if she should stay on as prime minister. he said it was

germany communist east germany which was dominated by the soviet union and how glad she is germany now to reunite. if the federal republic of germany is able to supply its own course to supply its own path to be to rejoice in freedom of being united and she also said the germany plays a large role in the case that germany has many troops in afghanistan but germany has a role beyond its own borders there are german troops in some of the baltic states for example pointing out in her measured way how she feels that the analysis that president trump is following is wrong about her country and there are many of course of us remember that picture from the g seven where no matter what the facts were just step here it is angle americal was leading the rest of the g seven leaders against donald trump as he sat there with his arms folded looking rather petulant so this is not going to do anything for their other fraught relationship. well the funny thing is that that idea is conveyed by the image you're talking about that not seen is an idea that that's going around in media circles and and else

before german reunification nordhaus used to be part of communist east germany but despite the shortage of goods schnapps and beer were always available here making sobers a popular meeting point. for stock now. washing up and drying one hundred glasses a day ordering beer and doing the books as well as serving the guests quite a feat for an eighty seven year old at least granny burrs the now has part time help. my left shoulder used to hurt because of my tumble but now my right one has probably because of the work in the pub so. hildegard finds bear has fallen twice. the last time she ended up in hospital and asked the doctor to help her man to quickly because was waiting. isn't it time for her to throw in the towel. it isn't in my nature. i need people and if i close up and one person comes knocking at my door and then the next i can't stand it. she has three children five grandchildren and four great grandchildren but none of them are interested in taking over the pub but could she sell it sounded so for two hundred thousand at least. young people here have told me that i'd get eight

germany who's been put under twenty four hour surveillance by eastern police the stasi. the british trying to use nine power. to use. looking back to that time two thousand and six when the oscar became a huge international success. what do you remember about tommy mean what effect it had happened on you personally maybe even on iraq german cinema in general that i remember the oscar. i think it was foreign language sixty's birthday and they made a trailer. like eight minutes by the european cinema all the oscar minus like sending me to seek truth for this fear and off of it and so on and off to that. and the oscar goes to the lives of others to germany. never forget that it was like in the i was like in a bubble and i'd be cursing all of a sudden i was homeless in this wonderful row of. so important films that made me being an actor made to create i was educated with them in a way so it was it was. wonderful moment and i mean it really opened up doors for you to write it because after that you put in a lot of big international films in black book and recently. in bridge

angela merkel grew up in east germany. so it's a special insult to her to make that accusation. so stoltenberg just said we are a success to our unity and things like that but underneath that there is a political reality, nato owes its existence and the success to the fact that a succession of american leaders thought nato made sense and that nato ought to act as a bulwark against the soviet union and more recently against russia. now you have an american president who doesn't think that. he doesn't think of putin as a threat to russia. if you don't think of russia as a threat, if you are that gullible that you don't believe russia is a threat, then it follows you don't need nato. that has to be the logical conclusion to his basic assessment that russia is not a thre threat. >> the president is not steeped in world history. as you know, nia-malika, the big applause lines in his campaign would be the u.s. isn't going to be taken advantage of, we'll insist everybody pay their fair share, we won't be screwed over. he's putting that into action or at least vociferous complaints to n

germany. was given them unless it's given the location i want to say that i've experienced being a part of germany controlled by the soviet union and i'm very happy to do that for united freedom as the federal republic of germany and can best say that we can determine our own policies and make our own decisions and that's very good especially for people in a former east germany. our correspondents are following reaction dominic casey kane is and the german city of new york while rory chalons as standing by for us in moscow we'll go live to both after we speak to our diplomatic editor james bays who is there for us in brussels and we heard james from the european council president donald tusk just days ago saying that donald trump should remember who has allies are going into this nato summit it doesn't it seems like that might have fallen on deaf ears we were expecting tension and trump has certainly delivered. we've never seen tension like this at a nato summit and particularly coming from th

arrived at some into setting german independence and citing her own experience in soviet controlled east germany made for a tense meeting between the us president and the hours later but the president struck a more amenable to own describing relations between the countries as tremendous and his own relationship with the back was very very good. a diplomatic go to james bays in brussels and joins us live so to talk us through this this new figure that's a measure trump are now asking nato leaders to raise contributions to defense putting it to four percent of g.d.p. . or we are talking about a suggestion from the u.s. president so he must be serious but i would imagine most of the allies don't think it's a serious proposal there's no way politically they'd be able to fund something like that just imagine the effect of this you're going to double the size of all of europe's militaries that i think is something that would antagonize russia and tiger nies china upset peace campaigners around the world so i don't think there's any way at all this is going to happen begging the question why di

all of the defendants are from east germany and when i travelled there i caught myself thinking he was i had to be wary of these people. i had started thinking like them i notice that it wasn't good for me. and that i needed professional help. so i sought out a therapist who. says i think it's hard to state the person you used to be in an environment like that. did less and i don't know how to explain it. but i felt it was very. i found it very internally destructive to hear what they were saying and how they were saying it. this instead of leaving them with an i wouldn't mind if the trial went on another two or three years and we were able to gain new insights but for the past year and a half we have just been playing procedural games with the defendants and i don't think this case is going to uncover anything new so i'll really be very grateful when it's over with. a demographic there is a time of year left where i wish you strength for your ongoing fight against racism and hostility thank you for your time it's quite stealthy thank you. your all back this week's highlights. are in n

it all goes back to me i'm grown up in east germany. because they're able to living there for twenty one years you internalise the social structure. off another wall came down or if one system vanished and we were expected to accept a different one for have been going well i didn't believe one word of it so i decided to do what i wanted to do not always wanted to see the world so i started travelling and working as i want to long. i still wanted to have a home base but i didn't want that to be in germany what i wanted to be left alone unable to live my own life. when i lived in for. yun wants the government bureaucrats to leave him alone he hates all that red tape he's not too keen on the politics there either but he still keeps a room in a shared apartment in berlin. well. i couldn't stay in berlin year round well i could but it would really get to me additionally you know why. the president nothing ever happens you know with so much is going on there but it's nothing it's always the same go to work go out drink do drugs. it never stop

it was a cold night in dresden, east germany, and it would change the course of vladimir putin's life. the berlin wall had just fallen. they were lash iing out against communist rule. that night in dresden they found a target, the local kgb headquarters. the mob was outside and peering through the curtaining was a young kgb lieutenant colonel named vladimir putin. >> he was terrified that they were going to storm the building. >> putin was a junior officer, but the boss was away. he was in charge. >> the berlin wall had come down. police weren't going to help and he called for instructions. >> desperate for help putin dialed kgb headquarters in moscow over and over again. >> finally one official told him simply moscow is silent. >> and i think it felt like a deep betrayal to him. >> vladimir putin was on his own. he went down into the bowels of the building and fired up the furnace. >> he finds himself in the basement at a furnace shoveling documents as he hears demonstrations out on the street. >> they are burning the secret files so fast that the furnace is blowing up. >> putin torc