100 of a 2nd off her personal best friend is dina asher smith came 2nd. you're watching t w news and my a sweater coming up next our documentary raising the iron curtain the heroes of eastern europe thank you so much for joining us. on the coming tax. file mail and i'm getting a brand new delusions on this hoax explosive device destructo place that affects us all. climate change the return of. only interest check out. cause.

i slept through the fall of the berlin wall. the fall of the berlin wall didn't surprise me there's no wonder what happened 10 years before the horror no. longer feel i am sitting in this chair. that if need be no repetition of $56.00.

you don't learn to make revolutions. i miss that class. gentleman man yell at me i don't know how many people right now would be happy if the iron curtain were dismantled today like it was 30 years ago. that.

the wall was not a purely german affair it was 7000 kilometers long and divided europe from the arctic to the black sea our journey starts on the baltic coast and leads. eastern poland to warsaw berlin and leipsic. then we had to prague and some villages in bohemia and then on to vote have passed from the border crossings and. our journey ends just short of the black sea in bucharest we begin and the old downs shipyard. the fall of the wall began 500 kilometers from berlin and don's and this hangar built before the 1st world war to store torpedoes . money just isn't shy. this in conspicuous building really doesn't look like a place that made world history here in the summer of 1980 after an 18 day long strike is where solidarity was born i'm. like.

solidarity poland's 1st independent trade union began here at what was then called lenin shipyard a busy operation even today solidarity still has its european headquarters right in the middle of the yard. this is where we meet let through is as big nations has ever even the former shipyard workers t.-shirt is a statement aimed at the current polish government constitution it says. led solidarity went on to win the nobel peace prize and became the 1st democratically elected president of poland. to treasure you know i grew up without a father. he would have taken care of me. and i would probably have become a director of the shipyard and not just a worker. but i had what it took. so i became an electrician

but one who fought the managers and became famous. and now you wonder was that a good thing or a bad thing for the way. in 1980 when said join the workers' strike and quickly became their leader. they were protesting against unachievable quotas empty shops and hazardous working conditions. after 18 days the communist government caved in. this is about when surrounded by communist functionaries the only one without a tie or party membership but with nerves of steel and his giant penned sign the agreement. the ordinary workers had won it was a sensational victory the monolithic party would now have to share power. and one officially declared the strike over the assembled world's press cheered.

solidarity the 1st free trade union in the eastern bloc was born thanks. but. feel technically solidarity brought about the fall of the wall. but the whole world leaders at that time had seen that communism was coming to an end. in the end the time was simply ripe for change though margaret thatcher chancellor kohl presidents reagan and mentor all and the pope were all working in their own way to bring down the iron curtain fists. and that's what we managed to do. and what was your role i joined them. the year before for the 1st time in history a paul had also become pope. john paul the seconds words do not fear if you want to

change your life acted like a wake up call when the pope visited his homeland 10000000 people turned out to see him. first up the era of communism was coming to an end thanks in part to solidarity. much by him too much but today's poland is deeply divided and spring 2019 solidarity celebrated 30 years of the round table another democratic polish agreement with this container in front of its door but there were no congratulations from the national conservative government it was busy helping people like farmer albert good leskie we are now in eastern poland where most people are churchgoers with big families. here and ship you talk a village of 2000 inhabitants everyone votes for the governing conservative party piece. they keep their promises says believe lecky which is new for poland

and that starts with the piglets love a good knowledge but that was probably. part of the i voted piece in 2015. i will continue to do so because i believe they will do everything they can to keep the villages in poland strong. policy. soon the value of a pig will increase to $100.00 slutty. the 1000 pigs like the blood left skis have this is the equivalent of $25000.00 euro's for this farming family but the peace government isn't just a boon for animal rears the famous family $500.00 plus program brought them to power in 201-5528 month for the 2nd and every consecutive child this is what the catholic farmers like and it's helped many people get off their knees as they say in poland that's not saying we notice it in our pockets as much as we use this money for our children's benefit for extra lessons or private lessons and holidays

so yeah the hours that that doesn't work at c.m. . the money from the state which itself receives many subsidies from the european union has made their lives easier but the blood less skis are no longer grateful for the fall of the iron curtain. they believe their old hero but once a betrayed them by entering into a pact with the communists or not when the winds i was president he invited foreign investors to poland. no time to trash it that was perhaps the order of the day back then but there was too much of it too much of poland was being sold off. fortunately the peace party put a brake on it sure poland's capital warsaw. as a city of global corporations and skyscrapers a typical big metropolis anyone who was last here when the iron curtain came down certainly wouldn't recognize the city now. because we asked by one so what he

thinks of all the german carmakers chinese banks and american business consultants . has poland sold out. those must have 1st the need this is another world it's an open world. where anyone who has the initiative and money and power can take what he wants. and that's no good. there are no rules but after a 100 years it'll probably settle down or 3. back in sheffield told there's an agricultural exhibition the state doesn't pay subsidies for horses yet but it does for cattle. places like this are a celebration of rural poland. a bit less keys are proud of poland's new prosperity and that it can compete with europe at least in the agricultural sector. although they vote conservative they can still take the united europe they live in today for

granted a huge change from 30 years ago. the establishment of a trade union and the port city of don's coup was the 1st domino that gradually brought down the wall between east and west. next stop berlin which was then still a divided city and then leipzig the birthplace of east germany's peaceful revolution. little remains of the berlin wall just a few bits of art in some patches of grass. these men were born in the g.d.r. and played a part in the walls to mine on the left. and peace german journalist who was in exile in west berlin he ensured that the protests in the east made the news on the right is on the face cost who demonstrated for freedom when it was still very dangerous of his condition it wasn't a gift it was what the people achieved the people managed to overthrow

a dictatorship we can be proud of that we can build on that the small problems we have today are nothing compared to that. but photographer and as a post from leipzig he sees things very differently he documented the collapse of the system in east germany and his pictures remind us of just how quickly german unification occurred and how it was rather like a surrender of the east. the west wasn't interested in learning from the east or taking anything over the citizens of the g.d.r. lost their jobs and the ground beneath their feet. you know that we ourselves no longer had any confidence in the east west german milk was better than east german milk same thing for sugar and the same for people as well. hordes of west germans swarmed in with their not always welcome cultural differences beauty pageants were banned in the g.d.r. but one took place just 2 months after the fall of the wall in leipzig as adama's.

at the time i was shocked how a body could be exploited by capitalism who will be coming to list this for the up to 2 outs. when he said no it when i look at it today the photo seemed like an allegory of the downfall of the g.d.r. . the women made themselves beautiful and gave their all. and then a jury stupid dumb fat guys lots of cigars. somehow gave them marks. iran. the paths of the 2 men crossed at the crucial demonstration on monday october 9th of just a month before the berlin wall fell and the. debate of friends of mine took great risks to take the pictures i had smuggled video

cameras over into the g.d.r. and these friends went to lumps of sugar off the stasi and climbed up the church tower. that chef was one of john's risk taking friends shows us the church tower and the camera he used. he'd been secretly filming for west german t.v. and was used to playing cat and mouse with the stasi but the night he climbed the tower of the church and life marked a sea change in the protests in east germany as the city became the torchbearer of a peaceful revolution. it was very impressive to see some 70000 people going by down there all of them peaceful but frightened. and we were up here. it was scary just as windy as it is now and it was also raining or talk about goose bumps in the hall of fronts but i soldiered and tanks were massing on the side streets of the g.d.r. was on the brink of civil war both isn't the whole host the stasi were watching the

demonstration from the roof of that building there so not far away it's now a department store it was. their biggest worry was whether they were actually catching anything on film the stasi were so close they didn't dare hold the camera properly and their love and. i thought if we could see them they'd see us up here and at some point my partner stuck chewing gum on the light because we thought they'd see it and think what are they doing up there. was even 65 meters up and they could hear what the crowd was shouting the body was. we are the people was it became the slogan of the revolution was i was god. i was going for some reason we had been pushed all the way to the front of the

crowd which wasn't the plan. so began the beginning of the demo we had all linked arms we had seen this in the movies and thought that's how you did it those moms all but after a while we realized that the police and soldiers weren't intervening. they let us pass. but 1st they needed to get the footage to west germany to hand over was at the revolving door of the hotel and he said it's a concept as soon as i got my hands on the video cassettes and i transferred them to a format we could broadcast and if he just when i saw the pictures the tears came to my eyes. because i knew it was the end of the g.d.r. and. here are the day's news. the next day the pictures from the church tower were all over the news.

it was closed off to journalists the $70000.00 demonstrators couldn't have known that foreign teams were capturing them on tape. one of the 1st to fall from power was the man who inhabited this sweet mika head of state security he could never have imagined that the whole world would now walk into his empire the safe at the back is where he kept incriminating documents about east german leader hanukah today it's empty. when you see his rooms you realize how symbolic all of this was visitors from 40 countries came to express their admiration for the germans for managing to overthrow a dictatorship for overcoming their fear it was a sign for the whole world a symbol of hope. hold on yon is now the custodian of the old stasi files he takes us into the basement where they stretch for miles and

miles. germany saved most of the g.d.r. secret dossiers and has made them accessible to victims in a way that is unique in the world. also appreciates that the old east german spies receive no pardon from the united germany but a lot has gone wrong in the last 30 years many in the east still feel disadvantaged and it took far too long to realize that the east also had its own brand of xenophobia right wing extremists. almost useless the 1st they said we are the people. and then it was we are one people up to that point maybe it was all ok. but when we are one people warped into foreigners out. then it wasn't ok. go on with. germany may no longer have a wall yet still not really united but did anyone really expect that to happen in

one generation. our next destination is the czech republic we started in the capital prague and make a detour to the town of friedland's and bohemia. prague has flourished in the last 3 decades and it's impossible to escape its beauty every day crowds jostle on its famous charles bridge. the charles bridge is a constant hub of activity day and night tourists take at least 100000000 selfies a year here the czechs can be proud of all they have achieved in the last 30 years especially here in the capital but who actually owns all this splendor. even with all the splendor there's still a lot of dissatisfaction among the czech population. we find out why from someone

who was here 30 years ago in the early days of the new republic. he was the closest companion of. the 1st president after the fall of the iron curtain. both came to power unexpectedly one had been in exile the other under house arrest . neither of them were politicians. you were really amateurs of course we were. thing i've done in my life i've been an amateur. you don't learn to make revolutions. has seen many rulers in its time but the constellation that moved into prague castle in 1909 was quite unique. in the president and playwright for years. so the prince decided to go into politics and serve him. the duo ran the new republic in its 1st 2 years.

even today shots and bag is still a respected voice in the czech republic. his word counts he's a wealthy man who could hardly be accused of harboring socialist sympathies. but he believes too much property in the czech republic has been sold off to hers. that means banks and financial institutions and large parts of industry are no longer in the hands of local companies but in the hands of the germans dutch french koreans and japanese. understands the anger checks achieve a lot but earn little. part of the revenues are going to parent companies abroad and that's starting to annoy people here. our journey now takes us into the czech countryside the imperial general. occupied the castle and

friedland to the 17th century and the brewery there has been making beer for 700 years. and his staff work all day in the old vaults built by the great general the crates are still emptied in the bottles washed in refilled by hand everything is still fairly improvised at 1st the boss filled the bottles himself back then 7 years ago they were just a team of 2 and they believed they could get the brewery back on its feet. now there are 17 of them and soon it'll be 50 mark has a problem that many others with him for his breweries doing too well and he's desperately looking for staff. mark supplies his regular customers across rural bohemia himself. it's a beautiful area but the people who live there still feel neglected and vote in

right wing populist politicians. mark has a kindred spirit here. pastor pavol also loves baroque history and beer sometimes they feel ashamed about their fellow citizens recently pablo hosted 50 novice priests from the vatican for a month of the pilgrimage site of high nature but many locals believe the visitors were refugees which caused a scene when he took them to a soccer game it ended. an old man got irritated and insulted my students jelling them to go home the migrants nowhere else on their trip to europe did they get a reception like that the focus is just. that if we are actually familiar with foreigners in the czech republic but it's different here and. there are many which causes misunderstandings some people in the village can't tell the difference between vatican offices and the flood of migrants they've seen on t.v.

. marc valvo was among those on happy with the way things were going so he joined a new political movement that promised to change everything for the better. for that also i joined i know the action of dissatisfied citizens 3 years ago. at that time we were all hoping for a new start without the burdens of the past and the old political camps. but there's not much left of that new start now it's as if the whole country has jumped back 30 years. all over the czech republic hundreds of thousands of people are taking to the streets on oh now forms the government with its leader andre bobbish as prime minister but he of all people is suspected of having pocketed millions of funds and obstructing investigations. the memory of is repeatedly invoked as a prime example of decency during the demonstrations his old friend agrees.

we have now a kleptocratic regime instead of an authoritarian one but that is not very gratifying either. this is far removed from vaclav havel and the ideas that drove the revolution of 1909. the beautiful czech republic seems to be on the brink of another up evil but perhaps the citizens will soon be able to shake the dissatisfaction that permeates the country. the next stop is the past and the hungary and border crossings show. where world history was once made. the world seemingly comes to an end at risk of a 4 metre high razor wire fence snakes through the farmland the balkan route which used to be the main route into the e.u. for refugees has been blocked off. as an attack it's

a sad irony of history that hungary which was the 1st country to dismantle the border fortifications to allow refugees to reach safety and freedom was in 2015 the 1st country in europe to rebuild its border fortifications like these it was on the border with serbia. book which takes us to the e.u.'s southern border to the no man's land between hungry and serbia in fact you're not supposed to go there at all but he has already overcome quite different obstacles she was here in 2015 when the wave of syrian refugees arrived. i remember the masses of refugees here at the border we've heard about the problems in budapest we used donations to buy several 100 tents and blankets but the nights in september were already quite cold. it wasn't easy to get past the armed border guards. help the refugees to pitch their tents so they wouldn't have to sleep in the open air many had ruined feet from the

long trek she says and nothing had been done to help them. 30 years ago on the hungry austria it was a different picture with different refugees. clapping and we're here hard to believe. the iron curtain finally opened at the border post that shop on where the 1st $500.00 east germans managed to escape to the west today the post is in the middle of a forest. border guard commander was on duty there on august 1989. neighbors from both sides of the border met there that day to eat goulash and take pieces of the border fence home as souvenirs of the so-called pan-european picnic. suddenly the east germans came out of the cornfields in an escape attempt they planned long before bella had only 4 men with him but they were armed they could

have prevented the escape. fortunately there wasn't much time for hesitation. people cover their 120 meters in about 20 seconds and that's how long i had to make a decision. people called him a hero. and that's only half true i don't feel like a hero not at all. but what is true is that we looked away and then turned our gaze towards austria so we wouldn't see what was going on behind our backs. the refugees were exhausted but happy as if they'd arrived in the promised land come through it's asian amberson but we still feel a little stressed out by all the to and fro ing and all the people but we're free and we're happy we made it. is concerned i can't believe i'm here i just got off the bus from shop wrong and crossed over here.

this man helped make their escape possible miklos nemat became prime minister of the still communist hungary in 1988 shortly after taking office he decided to disarm the country's border fortifications. hungary was close to an obese hungary was bankrupt that time i am sitting in my room. no pleasure really where you could see all the sky. in the 1989 budget he found a large sum earmarked under a secret code so i you me get the big mom phone and called up the interior minister. and he told me that the cease. the psalm for the refurbishment for derry new will over the fence

between hungary and austria and what did you do then then i the lead girls that big song out of the budget it was the 1st crack in the iron curtain the news spread around the world. towards it and today hungary has begun to dismantle the border fortifications with austria that have stood for 40 years several kilometers of electronic alarms and barbed wire have been torn down all the alarm systems on the long border between hungary and austria are due to be dismantled by the end of 1990 about sun all of them noted what was going go. and no. no king on my door over the so then time soviet embassy there to budapest protesting what what do we. know telephone call from mosco in fact name it had cleared the move with soviet leader mikhail gorbachev in

a 20 minute phone conversation that went on for 2 hours gorbachev said. until i am sitting in this chair that if he'll be no repetition of 56 which is in order words was a clear cut message that miklos. your hands. and the more now the fences back to keep out a whole new wave of refugees the hunger in government is exploding the fear of migrants to further its domestic agenda. i don't know how many people right now would be happy if the iron curtain were dismantled today like it was 30 years ago. she may well be right many think like this ice cream man in the border town. we didn't know what was going on at 1st. we didn't know who these foreigners were.

but then more and more came and we got scared especially for our children because we didn't know what the refugees intentions were. it's an irony of fate but the refugees and all the hustle and bustle of the border brought him a lot of trade this season will now be his last. final stop. the romanian revolution in december 1909 was anything but peaceful. jon benet was at this barracks talk about when the country's hated rulers the ceausescu's were put on trial. when there was a young prosecutor then and cross-examine them here 30 years ago.

we were shooting with. feel the same here now as i did in december 1909 a strong feeling of freedom that we had finally got rid of the dictatorship that cast a shadow on our lives for so long most of the day but. the trial lasted only 50 minutes and the verdict was delivered. in the name of the people we unanimously condemned nikolai and elaine a child to death. this is. the such as who was a dictator when you think about all his machinations for me only one accusation came into question that crimes against humanity. and there was only one penalty for that. you know chill in the flesh of what's called when it's. there would be no

reprieves and no appeals were executed immediately short trial did put a stop to the shootings on the street the number of people killed in romania had already risen to a 1000 and images from bucharest were circulating around the world everywhere else the revolutions had been peaceful but the party in romania was desperately clinging to power by all means and the 2nd guard was already on standby. this report came shortly before the ceausescu's were executed. and i need to prove this hundreds have reportedly died in gun fights in bucharest alone here supporters of ceausescu especially his security police leaders have occupied buildings and are still firing on soldiers and civilians. is locals are showing the soldiers where they are hiding shooting from rooftops balconies and cellars will still. be difficult the population has to seek shelter from the snipers in doorways and a french television journalist was crushed to death by

a tank. tonight he did arrive in bucharest only a few hours earlier so $200.00 ariens were also shot dead by members of the security forces because they had tried to bring aid to romania on their own bread for the soldiers. students in particular are bringing in food and medicine there is little help for the many thousands of severely wounded even in hospitals and there's a shortage of blood reserves different romanian t.v. says the number of wounded is huge medical staff have been asked to help the army has brought in reinforcements and romanian airspace has been closed at home or to get out. prosecutor dunbar neha shows us the bullet holes of the ceausescu's where stood against the wall he defends their execution to this day but he's also still waiting for a real fresh start. janetta the new

generation should finally follow their feelings and build the rule of law for which young people of their age gave their lives back then it but a ship but through that it's also your 2nd if you cut in any that was the law of the today's rulers the so-called social democrats have repeatedly crushed demonstrations for the rule of law. august 2800 sub bloody street fighting. the i've. since then there have been constant protests on book arrests victory square. this time it's actors theater employees and artists speaking out against the government's drastic cuts to funding for culture. actor to me true who runs bucharest national theatre is one of them his son andre who is a politician and businessman is with him. he on isn't just

a well known actor but he was also one of the insurgents who announced the victory of the revolution on television in december 1909. automatic she was they had come straight from jail she needed a woman she doesn't have to not even going to hold us was not did not hear you. today he feels the revolution has been let down. she said to me. it's disgusting wish to see our rulers arbitrary. changing the law that it. would look such a sin to me they'll do anything to escape punishment and keep the money they steal it's only as it will be then that's no refund for. nothin to us as i wish we were finally living in a clean country is that he must still be said that it will try to put out the. he on son andre explains that there are. the lack of infrastructure and romania has

the fewest motorways in europe. the funds for their developments have often disappeared into private pockets. andre thinks this is just one example of many. 95 percent of the money is distributed to the governments party friends to mayors and companies close to the party. the money is practically stolen. before it's. back to bucharest already on runs to the national theatre and still performs himself. if he does as the government wants to dismiss 52 of his staff in the next few weeks he says this sort of behavior reminds him of the ceausescu's dictatorship . the current situation. is nothing new. just the unscrupulous continuation of communist habits. good to look only just.

donvan am often visits the cemetery in bucharest where the victims are buried most of them were under 30 school kids students and workers many of the killers still haven't been identified printed books such as the that there is still no justice for all these young people who were murdered in december 1989 with the thought that . the wounds of communism and the bloody revolution 30 years ago in romania are far from healed. and. this is where we end our journey through or europe that is no longer divided but still not really united the journey of 4000 kilometers without a visa without border controls from north to south. not everything has worked out that's beyond dispute. but

nobody on our trip still really wanted the old iron curtain back. on this new guy when we went to the bakery the next day the atmosphere was very odd people were somehow different how relaxed is futile we noticed it straight away but we didn't know why so we asked the baker's wife what was going on. and she replied in the most beautiful saxon dialect haven't you noticed the walls gone this way. the few mean. anything won't change.

the mom and scene can go for that or be. at least you need 6 decades. of the 666. so. just. at the middle of this stick it's. ok and we have been learning. the need to greet is all. big live. they are ups and downs. all of us but all of.

there's a. good. of a. cold . cold cold. cold. cold cold.

eco in many. many people in india all going management. yet the country has just so cast the food to eat in india is taking on the challenge this nonprofit organization is commenting hyundai and waste while rescuing food stamps. for d.w.i. . in good shape. bottoms up. if you ever have to do so oh just another simple. but that one last might be one too many. what makes alcohol so dangerous and how

best to avoid dependants. good show. 30 minutes on d w. earth home to millions of species it's a home worth saving. google ideas tell stories of creative people and innovative projects around the world ideas the protect the climate boost green energy solutions and reforestation. losing interactive content to inspire people to take action global audience millions in series of global 3000 on t.w.m. and online. where. when your family is scattered across the globe. to do to come to

the journey to the bridge to get a minimum of the. shots finally from somalia move around the world. on a phone needed urgent assistance a. family starts oct anything on. such. this is d.w. news these are our top story is former austrian chancellor sebastian curt's is poised to return to power after his people's party won snap elections but he'll have to find a coalition partner the vote was held after a corruption scandal involving the far right freedom party triggered the collapse of course as governing.