322: East Germany: Life Behind the Iron Curtain

The Rest Is History

Goalhanger

History

4.6 • 26.6K Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2023

⏱️ 66 minutes

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Summary

The German Democratic Republic was born in the ashes of the Second World War, and described itself as a socialist “workers’ and peasants’ state”. The country struggled for much of the latter half of the 20th century, relying on economic support and political backing from the USSR, until its dissolution in 1990. But what was life like for the average East German? In today's episode, Tom and Dominic are joined by historian Katja Hoyer as they discuss living standards, police surveillance, access to luxury goods, elections and political unrest in the now defunct East Germany. *The Rest Is History Live Tour 2023*: Tom and Dominic are back on tour this autumn! See them live in London, New Zealand, and Australia! Buy your tickets here: restishistorypod.com Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Do it, Do it, Do it, Do it!
0:13.4	GRETENA
0:18.0	Aukerstame, au futhile
0:23.2	Con firtun, cuntutu mirart
0:27.8	Das fu's hirtun, cuntem bilen
0:33.5	Poitren meimil tantemorn
0:38.4	Tom Holland was a national anthem and ten points to you if you can guess which anthem it was.
0:45.4	I thought you just chained into Radio 3.
0:47.4	No.
0:48.4	It sounded kind of like generic, slightly boring Radio 3 music.
0:52.4	I think that's very harsh.
0:53.4	That is one of my favourite national anthems.
0:55.4	It's the national anthem of the German Democratic Republic.
0:57.4	East Germany as was.
0:59.4	A country that Tom, you and I would have taken completely for granted.
1:02.4	When we were growing up, yes.
1:04.4	When we were growing up as a fixture on the sporting map,
1:06.4	I mean, think about it in the Olympics.
1:08.4	But also it was a sort of avatar, wasn't it, in the West?
1:11.4	But also a fixture in spine novels.
1:13.4	Yeah, exactly.
1:14.4	It was a sort of shorthand for the Iron Curtain,
	...

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