collapse of the soviet -- and the collapse of the soviet union. history. russia adopted capitalism after a fashion. hello and welcome to the special new year's edition of "european journal." today, we are in what used to be east germany, an hour's drive south of berlin. it was here that tens of thousands of soviet troops are stationed, the very cream of the red army, ready to defend communism against the west in the event of a war that,

mercifully, never happened. this theater used to entertain the russians who were stationed here. here, they could watch classic by checkoff or pushkin in their own language. the troops were drawn back home to mother russia. over the post cold war years, a great number of russians have chosen to visit, and even to set up home in the city that they dreamed about. berlin. a russian could feel quite at home in berlin. >> while living, working, and even partying in their mother tongue. it is full of russian speakers. >> this city is very creative and you feel comfortable here. >> vladimir came here in 1990 and says he is a russian in his private life and a writer by

profession. >> to facilitate the administration of society, the americans invoke -- invented the electric chair. the russians, the home distiller. the germans, the ring binder. >> his new book is "with love from germany." he also loves his home country, the former soviet union. >> i don't love my soviet union because it was great. it was a terrible dictatorship. but, it was my home. you don't want to spend your whole lifetime there anymore than you want to spend your whole life with her mother. they would say, that guy has some kind of problem. more and more people are having little problem leaving their homes in the former soviet republics. marina came to berlin from kazakhstan to study music.

today, she runs a popular russian restaurant. she says there's more to berlin than just -- >> personally, i like the fact that berlin is a safe city. it is safe to walk the streets at night in berlin. there is no corruption on the scale you see in russia, and you get what you expect to get. >> russia is everywhere in berlin. one area was already known in the east german era. it's still has the original early 1960's styling. tonight is russianized and the mood is just as it was when the first wave arrived in berlin a century ago. many of the new immigrants are students. young russians adapt easily to life in germany.

an estimated 100,000 russian speakers now live in berlin. there are russian-language newspapers, magazines, even a radio station broadcasting 12 hours a day. the media company keeps the lines of communication to the old country open. today's russia is very different from the one many expatriates' left many years ago. >> they have come to germany to stay. these are their new homes. most acquired german citizenship. they owned homes here. their children go to school here. most, nearly 95%, stay here permanently. >> a painter and musician did not want to come to germany at all at first. as a child, she had been taught

that germans were the villains, the enemy. when the iron curtain fell, she came to berlin to take part in an art project. a deep installed a for her home country echoes through the music of her band. she has overcome the present -- prejudices of her youth. germany has changed for for the better, she says. >> i don't feel as close to people who stayed in russia as i do to the ones here in germany. when i go back now, i have a totally different perspective. >> many russian speakers only return as temporary visitors to the former soviet republics they

came from. as the dj urges, they stay attuned to berlin. >> hard as it is to believe, this used to be really station exclusively for the russians with a daily service to moscow. for decades, this was the way soldiers and their families got to and from postings or went to visit relatives back at home because it is from here they left in the end. the memories linger. here, there were the best of the best. they have status. it is hardly surprising that back in russia, there was a certain amount of nostalgia for the time they spent in germany. >> alexander's comrades are singing "farewell germany," like they did when they left the first time. there were officers south of berlin. they have very fond memories of their stay there.

extremely proud that their husbands and fathers were we had been entrusted with service in a prestigious garrison. >> today, he is in moscow. his time in communist eastern -- east germany made a huge impression on the retired general. daughter to the country, where he keeps his personal archives. photos, letters, and papers document almost five decades of the soviet military presence in east germany. the former soldier, now a historian, is adamant that the error should not be forgotten. he was one of the last officers to leave germany. >> we have good relations with the people in east germany. strict rules were imposed from

above. personal contact had to be authorized by our high command. things improved after urged germany was unified. then we would meet and visit each other. >> although many generals of the soviet pullout from post cold war germany as a defeat, he says the decision surprised him. the treaties signed ahead of german reunification in 1990 included the withdrawal of all soviet troops from eastern germany, where moscow still had over 330,000 soldiers deployed. the last departed in the summer of 1994 with a military parade. he remembers that farewell and the emotions involved. the german government provided billions of dollars to help the troops reintegrate back home. they were going back to an empire that had collapsed and an uncertain future.

>> we were worried about it. we discharge our soldiers without knowing what would become of them, or where they would live. i was worried about my friends and myself. what was in store for me? >> their departure from germany marked the end of an era. many of the top brass were against it and blamed the last soviet leader, gorbachev. alexander is reluctant to criticize the former leader. he does still miss the soviet union. >> russian specialists were sent to all parts of the soviet union. they became the lead, getting the local economy's going and making massive cultural contributions. then, it all fell apart,

including the russian language. many russians have since left the former soviet republics. that is why we regret the end of the soviet union. >> a veteran as honored on his birthday. the former officers who served on the western frontier are still close. they were part of an elite, after all, something they will always be proud of. >> you don't see quite so many statues of this person about these days, but this one still stands. it was the officer quarters of the garrison cultural center. it was bad news for communist parties elsewhere. many of them named -- change names. supporters wear different badges

these days. in the old days, moscow was generous toward communist parties, especially in the west. in some places, the old spirit lives on. ♪ >> the old tracks of fallen into disrepair. the railway workers who were once communists are also quiet these days. the only ones still manning the barricades, the mayor. she's trying to get the residential -- residential estate back into shape. >> these are typical real worker houses. this is our soul. >> she still works for the national rick -- this man still works for the national railway. he has been able to remain.

>> i don't want to leave. my friends are here. their current and former railway workers. i was born here. my father was a railway worker. i love this world. >> the mayor even managed to have the state designated a listed site. 100 kilometers further south in paris, the communist party headquarters is also a local landmark. it was designed by a start architect in the 1970's. back then, the avant-garde building was considered cutting edge in design. >> at the time, the communists were at the height of their power. that is why they built the most modern building in all of paris. >> one person was also a

communist in the 1970's, but he was never a hard-liner. some of his people had been deported by stalin in the soviet union. >> the soviet union was an authoritarians and repressive police state. everyone was forced to put on a show of enthusiasm, but this bureaucracy led to the downfall of the soviet union. >> before the collapse of the soviet union, many french communists were apologists for the stalin regime. a french historian still has one of the old posters commemorating stalling. at the time, many people remained loyal to the stalin cult. most french communists were not aware of the full extent of his atrocities until the fall of the soviet union, when the door to the archives finally opened.

he wrote his best-selling book several years after the collapse. >> these are the foreign editions of the black book. there are so many, i don't know what to do with them. recently, it was translated into japanese. the book was important to all on the left. it was no longer possible to ignore the criminal nature of the regime. the book helped bring about the definitive downfall of communist ideology. >> the mayor remains committed. she says the soviet union never instituted true communism. she still keeps the dream of the victory of the proletariat alive. the traditional marion that she was given when she took office is still on -- marionette she was given when she took office

is still on display. >> he has his foot up, ready to step on any injustice. >> she still believes in the superiority of a planned economy and feels vindicated by the local -- recent economic crisis. >> the crisis is the fault of capitalism in european countries. the market has become too important. >> she also believes capitalism is in decline and eventually fade, like communism. it is now time for something entirely new. >> a french communist once said, communism is just an archaic name for a project that will be called something entirely different one day. >> two decades after the soviet collapse, french communists are still on the search for a new ideological home.

>> these are some of the old barracks in which russian soldiers used to live. in other parts, some of them have been renovated and made fit for habitation. in russia, a lot of people would like to see a return to the sort of power and influence their country once enjoyed. you get the feeling may be vladimir putin feels much the same way. he like to cling to power like his predecessors. he does not like criticism. he tries to silence those who would oppose him. is he just giving russia a lick of date? -- paint? >> vladimir putin could stay in office until 2024. his critics are already comparing him to the soviet leader for 18 years. >> to compare putin with him and would almot be a complement to putin. he is much -- he has revived

what was bad about the soviet system. >> un putin's what, dissent has been stifled, public demonstrations forcibly dispersed, and critics thrown in jail, all highly reminiscent of soviet times. a token parliamentary opposition hardly dares to challenge him. the state television allows no criticism. now, dissatisfaction with the kremlin has brought tens of thousands of ordinary russians on to the streets, including young, well-educated middle- class citizens who had never been politically active before. the unrest was triggered by reports of vote fraud in the recent elections. the discontent with putin's entire system is widespread. >> corruption in russia is out of control. it makes life very hard, almost impossible. hardly anyone supports putin and

his party anymore, so they rig to the elections. -- they rigged the elections. >> i don't want my vote stolen. >> putin dismisses his critics as jackals and accuses the west, specifically the u.s., of inciting protests and trying to destabilize his country. president medvedev has even threatened to redeploy missiles. >> in a typical soviet tradition, putin is pinning the blame on an external enemy, using the u.s.a., for example. he seems to think he only has enemies abroad. >> putin inspects a shipyard in st. petersburg. appearances like this are designed to show how close he is to ordinary citizens. his supporters say he has brought stability and economic growth to russia. putin takes every opportunity to warn against too much freedom, equating it with chaos, claiming

it could threaten the progress russia has made so far. >> what if we see the representatives on television tearing each other's hair out and beating and spitting at each other, like we some in the 1990's? that is still going on in neighboring countries. if we were to see that, the state could not work effectively. >> putin's critics say his this -- stability is actually st agnation. the economy is still heavily dependent on oil and gas while capitalists are fleeing the country. >> russia today resembles the soviet union of the 1980's, when the governing elite started to realize the regime was losing its legitimacy. then they began organizing its end. >> putin seems to want to turn back the clock as he edges

toward a eurasian union that would unite some of the former soviet republics under russian hegemony. as usual, it comes down to the economy. that will decide whether putin will be remembered as the savior of russia or just a one time kgb officer who led russia into yet another cul-de-sac. >> this is the bunker where missile defenses over east germany were to be controlled at the cold war had heated up. it didn't. the soviet union fell apart. one of the first places to go was the baltic states of estonia. if you go to the capital, even today, the old communists still give you a surprise. >> estonia tried to banish memories of communism after the cold war. they have been pretty successful in banishing the physical reminders. there are still some notable remnants of that legacy.

this hotel towers above the town. this is the communications manager here. he takes us to see a relic of the soviet past hidden on the 23rd floor. >> everybody knew there is something on the 23rd floor, but what it is exactly, nobody knew. >> the soviet secret police had a plan designed monitoring post here. it was strictly off-limits to everybody else -- had a clandestine monitoring post here. it was strictly off-limits to everybody else. >> this is what the kgb left us in 1991 when we may say they disappeared from the house one day. there were about 60 rooms that were wired, or it was possible

to spy, to record. >> the kgb's agents had their ears everywhere. they communicated regularly with their colleagues in helsinki and also had a hot line to moscow. the hotel technician recalls how his services were not wanted on the 23rd floor. >> once i had to replace a phone. the door was slightly open. i took a look inside and suddenly felt the barrel of a gun in my stomach. they grabbed the phone and threw me out. ♪ >> back then, the hotel was the showcase of soviet architecture and design. western guests were particularly welcome.

the hotel opened in 1972. it was meant to show that communism, modernity, and luxury did not have to be mutually exclusive. 20 years after the collapse of the soviet union, the 23rd floor has been turned into a museum. for hotel guests from the old days, it is an eerie experience coming back. >> they all told us that the room that you cannot say what you want in the room because there listening, it is so absurdly to look at. >> buying was common during the communist era. some people -- spying was common during the communist era. some people suffered far worse. >> we have now opened the museum. you are not telling about these

other things. people actually can understand without telling the bodies and murders. people can understand that. it was not nice time. >> the end of the cold war meant more tourists and also more competition for the hotel. but, the hotel has certainly made a break with the past. the modest dishes sold in the soviet era are still available, but only on request. today, the emphasis is on nouveau cuisine. few estonians have positive memories of the soviet era. for the younger generation, it is distant history. a tourist guide was just a child when estonia regain its independence. -- regained its independence.

>> these things here, they seem such a long history. >> even the painful history can be an entertaining one. hotel guests are treated to a soviet-themed music and dance show, nostalgia without the sentimentality. ♪ >> it is a lovely scene. of course, 20 years after the fall of the soviet union, we know that the end of the cold war did not bring universal peace to us all. i do hope that 2012 brings peace and prosperity to you and those who care about. next week, "european journal" returns to its normal home of brussels. for now, goodbye and a very happy new year. ♪

captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--