the victims were allegedly abducted and then raped so their captors could sell their baby things. this is the interview news live from berlin up next we have a documentary raising the iron curtain about the heroes of eastern europe i'm brian thomas from the entire news team thanks so much. that. can get on the ground news in delusions one of those folks this person it's divisive it's about topics that affect us all. climate change the return of. the phone would ring fence check out.

os. 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. on feel i am sitting in this chair. they are viewed be no repetition of

$56.00. you don't learn to make revolutions. i miss that class. and to the mind man yeah i mean 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 by a good dance eastern poland to warsaw berlin and leipsic. then we had to prague and some villages in bohemia and then on to budapest on the border crossings and it was . our journey ends just short of the black sea in bucharest we began and the old dance shipyard. the fall of the wall began 500 kilometers from berlin and a good dance in this hangar built before the 1st world war to store torpedoes. money just isn't the. in a 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. stuck. 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's see who 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. who 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. because. in 1981 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 pen signed 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 pressed cheered. solidarity the 1st free trade union in the eastern bloc was born thanks. but. feel technically we had 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 presidents reagan and maternal and the pope were all working in their own way to bring down the iron curtain. and that's what we managed to do. and what was your role i joined them through. the year before

for the 1st time in history a paul had also become pope. john paul the second's 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. 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 blood left. 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 boo lecky which is new for poland and that starts with the piglets love the good ol it was all 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 yeah the hours that that as a 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 a 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 turned out 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. it is unfortunately the peace party put a brake on it shit poland's capital warsaw is 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. i see so we asked why when so what he thinks of all the german car makers chinese banks and american business consultants . has poland sold out. those of us have cursed them even though 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 shape you 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 duns 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 like 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 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 this can be shameful it wasn't a gift it was what the people achieved the people managed to overthrow dictatorship and 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 life 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. 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 v. company to list is fully up to 2 outs. and he said when i look at it today the photos seem 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. yahoo

group 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 in lumps of sugar off the stasi and climbed up a church tower. that chef was one of john's risk taking friends he 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 in leipzig mark to see 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 goosebumps. fronts but i soldiered is and tanks were massing on the side

streets of the g.d.r. was on the brink of civil war was both is a 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. 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 allahu. was we are the people was it became the slogan of the revolution was. available

was. 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. 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 the handover was at the revolving door of a hotel as dissidence a concept as soon as i got my hands on the video cassettes transferred them to a format we could broadcast and if they just knew 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 just. the next day

the pictures from the church tower were all over the news. leipsic 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 elie hanukah today it's empty. when you see 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 excessive 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. those to use music the 1st they said we are the people. 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 it's still not really united but did anyone really expect that to happen in one generation. our next destination is the czech republic 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. 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. every 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. the 12th.

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 she 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 horner's. 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. shots and back understands the anger checks achieve a lot but earn little. a large 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 object time 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 and 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 would envy 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 pavol 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 no where else on their trip to europe did they get a reception like that. just. we're actually familiar with foreigners in the czech republic but it's different here and. there aren't many

which causes misunderstandings some people in the village can't tell the difference between vatican novices and the flood of migrants they've seen on t.v. . marc valvo was among those unhappy with the way things were going so he joined a new political movement that promised to change everything for the better. so that also i joined 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 otto now forms the government with its leader andre bobbish as prime minister. but he of all people is suspected of having pocketed millions of illegal funds and obstructing investigations. the memory of his 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 upheaval but perhaps the citizens will soon be able to shake the dissatisfaction that permeates the country. the next stop is the past and the garion border crossings. 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 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 the sits 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 but we used donations to buy several 100 tents and blank. it's the nights in september and we're already quite cold. and i know i shopped at 5 got up shot or. 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 border it was a different picture with different refugees. it was always all the press clapping and we're here hard to believe it's. 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 and inescapably temped they planned long before bella had only 4 men with him but they were armed they could have prevented the escape. you know. fortunately there wasn't much time for hesitation. people covered 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 and feel. 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. and so i can't believe i'm here i just got off the bus from shop runner and crossed over here. this man helped make their escape possible miklos nemat became prime minister of the still communist hungary in 1908 shortly after taking office he decided to disarm the country's border fortifications. was close to him that peace hungary was bankrupt that time i am sitting in my room. no pleasure really. and you can see all these couple. in the 1989 budget he found a large sum earmarked under a secret code for you mediately big phone and called up the interior minister. and he told me that this is the

somme ford refurbishment for delivery new rule over the fence between hungary and austria and what did you do then then i need girls that make songs out of the budget it was the 1st crack in the iron curtain the news spread around the world. 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 hungry and austria are due to be dismantled by the end of 1990 good old sun all of them noted what was going go. and no. knocking on my door of the soul then time soviet them best suited to budapest protesting what what do we no telephone call from or school in fact never

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 $56.00 which is in order words was a clear 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 exploiting the fear of migrants to further its domestic agenda mental domain manolo. 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. she may well be

right many hungry and 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. to get sick. 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 at 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 to 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. they were shooting with. feel the same here now as i did in december 1909 it is 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 nicholai and alaina ceausescu to death. this is. the school as 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 of the flesh what. they would be no reprieves and no appeals were executed immediately a 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 has supporters of ceausescu especially his security police have occupied buildings and are still firing on soldiers and civilians it is. locals are showing the soldiers where they're hiding shooting from rooftops balconies and sellers will still.

be before the population has to seek shelter from the snipers in doorways and sousaphones a french television journalist was crushed to death by a tank. tonight he arrived in bucharest only a few hours earlier so $200.00 ariens were also shot dead by members of the security forces they had tried to bring aid to romania on their own bread for the soldiers through these. students in particular are bringing in food and medicine there's 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 to the spout. prosecutor done for neda shows us the bullet holes in the chair 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 with regret 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 was the since then there have been constant protests on book arrests victory square. this time it's actors theatre employees and artists speaking out against the government's drastic cuts to funding for culture. actor to me true who runs booker rests national theatre is one

of them his son andre who is a politician and businessman is with him. beyond 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 spotted by. a mother she was they had come straight from jail she needed a woman without enough tonight it was going to haunt us and i didn't really have a 100 and i didn't have one of my movies today he feels the revolution has been let down. she sent him into it. it's disgusting wish to see our rulers arbitrarily pick up changing the law. to catch us since humans will do anything to escape punishment and keep the money they steal it's only a sad little beaver that's no refund for. nothin to us i wish we were finally living

in a clean country is that it must still be said that it will try to put out to. the unsung andriy explains that there is. lack of infrastructure and romania has the fewest motorways in europe. e.u. funds for their developments have often disappeared into private pockets. andre thinks this is just one example of many. north does that mean by 95 percent of the money is distributed to the governments party friends to mayors and companies close to the party who would if you make the money is practically stolen by the church a very simply put it's. back to bucharest already on runs to the national theatre and still performs himself. if he does as the government wants they'll have to dismiss 52 of his staff in the next few weeks he says this sort of behavior reminds him of the chap dictatorship. it was just the current situation. is

nothing new. just the unscrupulous continuation of communist habits. good little beast. donvan am often visits the cemetery in bucharest with the victims are buried most of them were under 30 school kids students and workers many of their killers still haven't been identified. then to put such a shitty 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. this is where we end our journey through a 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. through on this because when we went to the bakery the next day the atmosphere was very odd people were somehow different having relaxed this fuse that we noticed it straight away with 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 god.

gave you mean. anything warm to change. the monument and the frame of scene came golf that all of you know. at least you need seems that gates. the 666. so. just. at the middle of this stick. and we have been learning. the need to greet these old real democratic lives. they are ups and downs. and. all of them all over.

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pick up. clubs gave away their home advantage. ending victory to the visitors. last weekend away to. the. shock of not might see off the top of the table as a real entry into the relegation zone. i was history when i arrived here i slept with 6 people in a room. it was hard i was fit. i even got white hairs that.

benjamin language melnotte those kids need and they'd help us maybe to in truck loads of slaves. if you want to know their story. her finding and reliable information for margaret. to itself. with its own gravitational pull. of the finest musical compositions. with some mysteries to reason. to believe if you listen to them don't tell me that this he never wrote. for yourself and the jointer come up in the morning blame a. brief you listen to the music of your hardest comes. the bombs car.

starts oct 11th a bomb to top it off. this is d w news live from berlin violence erupts in hong kong as tens of thousands of protesters defying a police ban on demonstrations on china's national day they are demanding more democracy from beijing. china puts on a massive show of military might to mark 70 years of communist rule president xi jinping says no power on earth can halt the advance of the chinese nation. and the

pressure mounts on u.s. president donald trump house democrats subpoena his personal lawyer buddy giuliani of the ukraine.