most every journey begins with the 1st step and every language with the 1st word. rico is in germany to learn german why not learn with him simple online on your mobile and free. learning course. german mading see. the berlin wall came down 3 decades ago it happened suddenly for many people and triggered a lengthy process of social political and economic change parts of eastern germany is still trying to reinvent themselves and hold on to those young people who are eager to move away a people when everything changes that's our focus today on mate we start in the

eastern german city of the one thing that hasn't changed there is the construction of cars a tradition dating back to 9904 it's where the iconic truck was produced in the days of communist east germany. took over the company in 1900 modernised the plant now it's really engineering the business one small to make electric cars joining a revolution of a different type the green push towards a mobility something good for the planet this time as opposed to the trouble which is germans waited years to get their hands on and despite conjuring up feelings of nostalgia really did stick. this 2 stroke engine belongs to a church and it's a car you would have seen all over the east german roads 30 years ago and said trickles that it's a very practical vehicle when so good you could repair pretty much everything yourself from the build senate commission coils to spark plugs you could access

everything and fix it fast this was the 1st car i had as a student these days you can find the so-called tragedies in a museum here in ca cal common you factoring has a century long history. set is employed by a company that to mum's flexibility he sees to that i must have had 10 different jobs he's always been happy to go where he's needed and i started in the paint shop and then i was working in sales and customer service i worked in assembly for a short time too i've been in a number of different locations including south africa that was a very interesting time on that side. but the biggest change is yet to come the plantain sicko is being converted into an electric car factory.

here and speak out transformation means that every vokes wagon employee and saxony has to rescale and learn how to do other jobs every worker has to be retrained sometimes multiple times. but is that a good thing. other employees think it's good that we offer job security not just until today and tomorrow but also for the coming years one of. the jobs are being guaranteed despite the fact that electric vehicles that easy had to build that's because v.w. is increasing output it wants to produce some $333000.00 vehicles a year. the investment is good news for the city of which has seen a decline in both manufacturing and population since the fall of the wool. the average age of the population in former east germany is very high young people

are emigrating apart from the auto industry not many jobs of state and speak out we're glad the jobs we have here are secure. but the situation is very different to supply as this plant south of charleston produces and a 1000000 gearboxes for a range of common but until now only for combustion engines. which is a sort of these days we're a little concerned about how things are progressing in the car industry the fear is that what we're producing here will no longer be needed and it's always us it looks like the combustion engine is on its way out and they're trying to push electric engines through by hook or by crook. they're not thinking about the losses with. at the morning meeting there's a sense of looming crisis the diesel emission scandal has led to a swift decline in orders and in the long term customers are likely to switch to

electric mobility. so what then. the plant's post says demand for gearbox parts could continue for example in hybrid vehicles which run on both diesel and electric power he's hoping for a long transition period. that cycle. which is your hybrid cars will take over a large share of the market in the next 10 years it's an opportunity for us because the portion of aluminum in the casting that is in the vehicle itself is going to rise everyone is fighting for orders for the brick army corps have an advantage it's harder for the smaller casting works we think the market will consolidate in the next few years. the big fear here is that there could be job losses as there well after the fall of the wool the car industry employs some 40000 people in saxony alone the mood is more upbeat at the largest employer here especially

in the i.t. department which is looking for new recruits as technology advances so driving cars could become commonplace. michelle said his son is doing his training here. i will play a huge role in the future and my son can be part of it that makes me proud so cars have a bright future will along with environmental protection yes it moved through. despite not being a very environmentally friendly process the production of electric vehicles is government subsidized and its hope they'll improve equity in cities still grappling with the fallout of the diesel emissions scandal v.w. has an ambitious target. one percent at the moment. the clear goal we've set for ourselves is 25 percent electric vehicles by 2025 at the

latest if not earlier. series production has just begun. 1500 of the id 3 models are to roll off the factory line here every day. up to 2000000 east germans pack their gear and headed west on to the wall came down mostly women but hardly any of them made it into boardrooms of west german companies like. b.m.w. and is now on the board of. the journey. and i found out in this exclusive interview she found it difficult to leave. the wall. and it's. come across to visit my parents in. mass migration among. the border crossing on.

what was. most. 20. and then suddenly everything changed. almost everything. it also meant shortly after the union of germany my husband lost his job and i flowed more than 50 applications to a lot of companies. on the east german council to say and it turned out that nothing had a long term perspective. you didn't know at the time which industries with a wife and which companies would so why in east germany we had extremely high unemployment rates in some cities above 20 percent and. he of west

germany. what was it like being in the struggling you know western company that well of course my accent at the beginning was an opportunity for colleagues to laugh about but. at the end of the day my my education in germany was excellent i had nothing. where where i felt. i couldn't do. it was more the private life that was very difficult. to let's take a walk through the east. you grew up with trouble you drove a walk and then suddenly you ended up with b.m.w. that must have been a shock it took i guess 6 years before i had my 1st b.m.w.

when i came to. my 1st car there was a course 10 years old when i boarded and that was already a for me to have another off. but i was always thrilled. even as a kid even as a kid i had more matchbox then. i have 2 older brothers so that there was no option so the male dominated car industry wasn't wasn't really a challenge for. i wasn't afraid of it i i knew that. i have to speak the language of the other so i know more about horse power than about the colors of the car so to say it was so fascinating to see that every car in the production line is different not only by color but also by interior and. in east germany that you had 3 weeks where the same time in the same color with the

same options was produced and then it was changed and you could also not choose which options were in the car that you got delivered so one thing that doesn't seem to have changed is that there are so few women working in your area and so few women in leadership positions folks one is working very hard on diversity and inclusion in the whole focus one group we do have a chief human resource officer at bentley and no just recently also i was her son actor. is a woman that was appointed so i'm not the only one anymore and i'm glad for that and i hope that this development continues. so would you say you've profited from a major crisis of a system twice now the fall of the wall and then he's ok. i think it's fair to say that yes. i would probably not be in the position that i would now follow

these new. i do think that. the changes in the system that the wall came down and. pushed my career and in 2 instances. and how are you dealing with these ok now there's still a lot to do. when i joined in january 2016 i i said to my colleagues it will take 8 to 10 years to clean up have you been able to benefit from your fair. push towards immobility for example i mean it was quite late 1st one was also in the past in many instances often a fast follower but yes i think. awareness of climate change and gate where there are 2 factors that help us to strengthen i was targeted towards immobility. so what's the future of mobility by 2040 we will have

a lot of i don't know most cars driving around and what about women in leadership positions i hope that doesn't take till 2000 for the until we have reached. parity . in the workforce you think it's possible i think it's possible. if vanna told me east and west no longer play a role in daily life but one survey shows more than half of people in the former east say they feel like 2nd class citizens is a look at some of the developments since reunification. the fall of the berlin wall 30 years ago an extraordinary moment in time. west germany and east germany kept apart for decades could finally come together again it was nothing short of

a love story. but then the cleanup in the east began rundown factories the legacy of state owned industries many of them worthless or at best uncompetitive not like in the west. if the west was at 100 percent the east was well way below 100 percent. in 1900 economic output per capita in the east was 43 percent of the value in western germany by 2018 it had risen to 75 percent the gap in pay has also shrunk but only somewhat average annual wages in the east are still nearly $5000.00 euros lower than in the west it's not altogether surprising that 57 percent of people living in eastern germany say they feel like 2nd class citizens. but as we saw the east is catching up. g.d.p. growth last year was 1.4 percent in the west and 1.6 percent in the east.

wages grew over the same period 3 percent in the west and 3.6 percent in the east. eventually economic output in the east is set to catch up. but at the current rate it's likely to take quite a long time. so it's still set to take a long time and it's already been the year is surprising then that many east germans have run out of patience and left to seek a better life in western germany the resulting brain drain and loss of young people is having a dramatic effect in some areas entire regions in the east are on the verge of dying out and that the fact that the population is aging in both parts of the country the future does not look good so what's urgently needed is a fresh influx of people communities in eastern germany or working hard to attract

new residents like our reporter to do milan who wondered whether she could be one of those people can she be one of. you in south brandenburg. it's your job if i would you move. well i can tell you what kind of like you have here as it depends what's important for you. move 100 kilometers away from berlin to a place that could use more people if they find it on google maps hunted eighty's and issue here the district of alba elster as such who's 40 percent of its working age population in the next 15 years demographic change has made its mark. walk down the street and you'll see how many shops are closed but that's due to old age the confines successors to take over the shops the center will die out one day . when that needs to be countered by getting young people to come here or even

better get the people who used to live here to return. noting represents the district and parliament is from the far right my current alternative for germany party it's becoming more popular here in new comers might not be. the standard have to be that you cretinous to ensure a livelihood for its own young people. after reunification many young workers moved from east to west as the old economic order crumbled this conveyor bridge is a symbol of that time it was used in the late night coal mining that powered east germany. one could argue that this is a region that is still trying to find itself in the years after mining pass this bridge was shut down and soon after reunification many mines here closed and thousands lost their jobs now in germany plans to phase out coal completely but how much coal mining shaped the region is easy for outsiders to forget.

the land where i live is 125 kilometers in that direction apparently now that doesn't sound all that far but from up here certainly feels that way. back on the. around i'm on my way to my next stop finster vida it's 16000 strong population is stable people have recently stopped leaving but not many are coming. so finding an apartment promises to be easy here as in many places in former east germany many apartment blocks were torn down to reduce oversupply as the population shrank. until it is a 42 square meter apartment. meter is way above the rent is $223.00 euro. 20 years ago we did a lot of refurbishing but the rants only rose to

a moderate extent what we needed to have affordable housing and it wouldn't have made sense to have high rents only to be left with empty apartments who claimed a man had now her skin and one home that's half of what tenants pay on average in berlin there are plans to improve rail connections between the 2 cities so i could keep a foothold in boats. in the future you'll be able to get from the fence divided a main station we just have the one to berlin main station in an hour and a half so i think that's a clear argument when you're considering whether to stay in berlin or move to the surrounding region that will or cool. and there are some who are from the region and who've decided to move back there is still a rare breed but i do meet one of them and i ts to bring for a coffee. you

come with a certain level of experience from elsewhere in germany and you think it can work when you come back to these outdated structures you know how antiquated it all is to realize how difficult it is to get a foothold again sometimes i feel like the wall is still up it's kind of hard. starting an organic cornflakes business had him facing stifling bureaucracy and a resistance to new ideas but he's not alone and not work of young entrepreneurs active in the region meets regularly for mutual support or to practice pitching it's a space for those on willing to write off their hometowns as places to work and in that. i admire their optimism and their loyalty to a place many preferred to leave for good i'll be thinking about that on my way back to berlin. so the train seem to run

a lot less frequently at night i'm looking at about an hour until the next one comes so i got some time no it's. probably not enough to figure out whether it moved here it turns out that learning where region is headed and whether you can go with it is a complicated journey and not one to make just once well while the show is all about transformation we've been talking about pulling down walls not putting them up fact is much of the globe is in the grip of protectionism and nationalism right now that includes britain and brags that as a result bankers have been leaving for other european capitals companies have been shifting their u.k. offices to the e.u. to keep business running smoothly but not everyone's heading in the one direction we need some doctors brushing up on their english skills ready to apply for work in britain for them the ongoing break that saga is not at the turret. canis reverse achieve here is a venezuelan who used to live in spain and run

a sleep disorder clinic but he's now living in leicester england where he's about to start a new life as a general practitioner or g.p. . i was going. on. my future i'm not really the model. for medical. professional development and i am getting in here in england would use really different. from one before in the brain or when a swelled up and the prospect of breaks it doesn't scare him in his initial contract is for 3 years now he wants to bring his family over as soon as possible before heading to leicester he did an english course. in the polish capital morsel the students are all doctors intending to work in the u.k. among them is kareena but ya know from rumania. the course financed by the u.k.'s

national health service the n.h.s. is designed for g.p.'s they rehearse conversations with patients and practice balancing empathy and efficiency under time pressure. the doctors can expect to see quite a few patients every day. kareena but she is very aware of the dramatic changes the u.k. is facing. cared a little bit about the new. a little bit about the bracks it also but i assume that also the britons are and it's a bit concerned about that situation. but for now she's concentrating on passing her english exams here in poland she's been studying 10 hours a day for 3 months now. how soon she and her daughter

be off to england she's heard how expensive rents are in much of the u.k. and knows that will be her 1st challenge 'd. well for her for the beginning i hope that i will find a place to. rent. affordable prices. carlos reverse edge of a pier has already found a home in leicester he's settling in the says he feels good there the n.h.s. health service is paid for him to take driving lessons. while driving on the other side of the road. why then for an. hour. drive. somewhere on. our have to go in the other. the way the health system works in britain is also new to him. he's going to be

working under supervision for the 1st 10 months then there will be another language test after that he can apply for a license to practice medicine in the u.k. then he can treat patients independently or. are always under supervision and also always teaching all the people. part of what i have been doing all my life and what i'm going to do the rest of my life whatever. carlos reverse edge of idea is in his early fifty's and back in training but he doesn't mind despite be up even in his life he's happy to have found challenging new work in his profession. perhaps our people is a fact of life even if it's not always as dramatic as the fall. the berlin wall change can be challenging but it really always offers new opportunities that's it

from a join us again next sunday and then fizzle on face the accompanying. the

book. to your front during tonio deuces when your mother was born in 1069 the one was already 8 years old you know my grandchildren were born after the wall fell born in china. 3 generations one family on a journey through a recent german history. of our family. 15 d.w. . climate change. sustainability. environmental

pressure. globalisation the face biodiversity species conservation exploitation the quality. human rights displacement. of the global and current of local action. global 3090 minutes on w. . good job it. sure link to news from africa and the world or link to exceptional stories and discussions. of these events and what i would say deputed come still to come join us on facebook d w africa. how to.

discover your concept discover with about. a school legend up to 100 it is the ideals of the bond house a more relevant today than they were a. 100 years ago visionaries reshaped things to come because people understood design as a way of shaping society. the power house and that's cost so far. with ideas that are part of our future. what makes the bow to. spring spirit to excel in power a part of. a. cause world mark argument during starts nov 14th on t.w.

. this is d.w. news live from berlin the nation commemorates the upheaval that changed the world order germany's marking fans years since the fall of the berlin wall a week of celebrations is underway here in the capital we'll take you to the church where prayers and plans for a peaceful revolution shared the same space. a key witness in the impeachment inquiry against donald trump revises his testimony u.s. ambassador to europe gordon some blunt confirms aid was withheld unless you crane investigate.