this was a civil rights activists in east germany. ow he heads the commission for rustagi documentation. >> getting chosen for this job was a signal that we will continue to account for the history the east german dictatorship. i see myself as a kind of lawyer for the victims. >> more than two million applications had been received from people who want to see their old files. many people must wait years to read about themselves. the files still hold many secrets. it will take years to work through the archives and the history they represent. >> italy is taking new steps to bring down its debt, but it is still not enough. >> the debt rattle -- battle rages on. it is hard to cut debt when growth is coming to a grinding halt. the government has been selling off some of that debt is government bonds to raise funds, but investors are not that excited. this did not bode well for the italian economy. >> it was a sobering moment for italy as the country's 10-year bond option -- option garnered a spectacle -- skeptical response. although the yi

she was one of the leading writers in east germany. her life under communism and form her work. some claimed that she was too close to the regime, but her writing earned her plaudits on both sides of the iron curtain bee. >> her life and writing career were dominated by political upheaval. she lived in nazi germany and communist east germany, but it was greek mythology that inspired two of foremost inspired works, recounting aged myths to explore contemporary themes. >> it continues to occupy me how early civilizations and the history of other people's is still visible today. >> christa wolf grew up in the 1930's in what is now western poland. she studied the literature and worked for a publisher before starting to write for herself. her breakthrough came in the 1960's, but her strong subjective writing style was met with increasing criticism. she moved to the countryside, where writing became a means of self discovery. many of her novels reflect faces of her life. >> i have never wanted a different life than i have had. if i had my time again, i like to be smarter and do lots o

he hated america and east germany in the 1970s. and now america is east germany in the 1970s. he ran on the platform and now we got it. >> eric: dana, obama blamed your administration hundreds of time times in the last three years. what was unemployment under the bush administration? >> dana: at one point it was 4.9%. you end with the unemployment rate you have. it was higher and there was a crisis coming. everybody knew that. obama and mccain said we're facing the worst crisis since the great depression. nowtheer they're not taking responsibility for the policies they put in place that made the economy worse. or they weren't prepared when they said they were. i'm not exactly sure which is worse, except one thing i think is interesting, obamacare one of the biggest drags on the economy. no one talks about it. >> bob: you talk about it all the time. >> dana: i don't think so. >> greg: you're hitting me again. >> andrea: they are actually -- that is a tacit acknowledgment. we have didn't know how bad it was going to be. everything we've done so far has been -- >> bob: you know w

. >>> tonight, east germany threw open the gates of the country, the gates that have been closed now almost 30 years. and to help the process, east germany actually attacked the wall. >> tom brokaw in front of the berlin wall in 1999 for the "nbc nightly news." are you upset about the green jacket, looking back on that? >> i had to trade jackets with my colleague because i got to thinking, this is probably going to be on videotape for a while. i ought to get dressed up for a while. i spent a lot of times in the outdoors, the wilderness, so i tend to travel with those kinds of jackets wherever i go and suddenly i find myself in this historic moment wearing that fairly battered jacket. it's a proud relic of a very important night for me. by the way, i was going to say something, piers, in the book i talk about that night because it really is symptomatic of how quickly things can change. the wall came down, germany was united, berlin is the most cosmopolitan city in central europe. germany, in so many ways, is the heart now of the european economy and the most sensible piece of the euro

weeks before a freshman clarinet >>> tonight, east germany threw open the gates of that country, the gates which have been closed for almost 30 years now. and to help the process, east germany attacked the wall. >> that was tom brokaw in front of the berlin wall for the nbc "nightly news." >>> any regrets over the jean jacket, looking back? >> i had to trade jackets and with mike boettcher, this is going to be on tape for a long time. i'm one of the guys -- i spent a lot of time in the outdoors, wilderness, i travel with those jackets wherever i go. and suddenly i fine myself in this historic moment wearing that fairly battered jacket. it's a proud relic of a very important night for me. >> of all of the incredible -- >> i ooh was going to say something, piers. in the book i talk about that night because it really is simple mattic of how quickly things can change. the wall came down, germany united, berlin the most cosmo kozma poll tin. it's the most sensible piece of the euro zone. when i was there, just 1990, they had communist rule in the other half. they did all of that by having

it is a priest in east germany leading the fight against it. >> mathias is arriving at his church. every morning he likes channels -- lights candles for villages close to the polish border whose residents might have to move to make way for mines, a notion that, particularly for the elderly, is unbearable. >> people approaching the end of their lives would like their last resting place to be here. but there is no resting in peace here. they will be dug up again, no matter what. it is an unbearable fought for people. it gives them sleepless nights and denies them peace and security in old age. >> this is not about the land, however. it is about what is underneath it. germany is the world's biggest producer of brown coal. as well as removing homes and people, the mines would also have devastating consequences for the local landscape. like the pastor, he has been living here for decades, and has joined the campaign. he is willing to fight until the bitter end. >> this is where i grew up, and i do not want to leave. just because they insist they won the cold here never meant that i woul

west they paid over a trillion ruble a i'm sorry euro's for that now and those two you know the east germany wasn't poor ok now look at north korea i mean it's a dilemma for everybody around. it is and certainly you know the earlier administrations that supported the sunshine policy of the engagement policy with north korea were looking precisely at that scenario and projecting not only from the german case but from the widening gap between north and south korea economic li speaking and that's essentially why you know the sunshine supporters were saying look we we want unification we want to reunification but we don't want it quite yet will kind of support a slow motion reunification where we gradually bring north korea up to the economic level of south korea through economic engagement through exchanges and so forth. had some success some success which even continues today in the case on industrial complex but it has largely been repudiated by the administration the current south korean administration over the last four years a relatively hostile policy toward north korea but to his party t

. >>> tonight, east germany threw open the gates of that country, the gates which have been closed for now. and to help the process, east germany attacked the wall. >> that was tom brokaw in front of the berlin wall for the nbc "nightly news." any regrets over the green jacket, tom, looking back on that? >> well, actually, i had a trade jackets later with one of my colleagues. i got to thinking this is going to be on videotape for a long time. i ought to get dressed up a little more. i'm one of the guys that like -- i spend a lot of time in the outdoors. i tend to travel with those kinds of jackets wherever i go and then i find myself in this historic moment wear that fairly battered jacket. but it's a proud relic of a very important night for me. >> by the way -- >> sorry. >> i was going to say something. i talk about that night in the book. it really is symptomatic of how quickly things can change. the wall came down. germany was united. berlin is the most cosmopolitan city in central europe. germany in so many ways is the heart now of european economy and the most sensible piece of

the only person they knew, brecht, because brecht is east germany. at that time-- i can't do it now-- i gave a lecture for three hours. and at that time i could because i just came out of university, i am full of the human condition and this drama terminology, which i can't do anymore, you know. >> hinojosa: so at that point, did you imagine... did you think, "look, hollywood is on my radar, hollywood..." because now you live in hollywood. >> no, that was before hollywood. >> hinojosa: exactly, but were you thinking at all like hollywood might be something that... >> no, i never think hollywood might be something ever, because you have to understand, my... the actors in england, my time, they may want to go to hollywood... >> hinojosa: but they would never say so. >> they would never say so. it's like really selling yourself. you see, so you never think about hollywood. and you never think about getting awards. now, of course, there is an award every year, right? i mean, not every year. every day, every day. >> hinojosa: every month. >> no, every day

you see here the border between east and west germany. this is a map of my childhood and the top of many people in the room. berlin was an island inside east germany. berlin was further subsidized edition of. it was encircled by the berlin wall, west berlin, and cut west berlin off from east berlin. and of course president reagan -- president reagan! president reagan famously went to berlin in june 1987, and images of him here and in the museum exhibits that we toured earlier today, president reagan, there he is, standing in front of the berlin wall. there is helmut kohl, and this is the famous teardown this wall. but the actual opening took place two years later, november 9, 1989, after vice-president george h.w. bush was there in january 1989. it was at the end of 1988. the events of 1989 were as unexpected as what was going on now in the arab spring, and was very difficult to predict what would happen. of course we know now that what happened in 1989 in europe was peaceful, but bear in mind by comparison the example tiannamen square, t

is absolutely terrifying this piece of legislation that will make it i mean this turns us into east germany i mean it's like having the stasi the legislation that enabled the stasi to go in black bag somebody and get rid of them just because they commit so-called belligerent acts it's charlie thank you so much for weighing in on that that was found there out wide awake news dot com tom mcgrath. well after the break we'll get some insight from a former classmate of can john on about his personality his school year is and what might be in store for north korea as the next step cam takes center stage. pepper spray that just burns your eyes right right i mean it's like a derivative of actual pepper it's a food product essentially. most. it's stronger than anything you buy a lot of sort of these is thousands of times we're stronger than any kind of ever put you know. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so. you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear see some other part of it and realize that everything is ok if you don't i'm sorry welcome is a big issue.

deal with it they don't have the money they're not rich like the germans so they could absorb east germany and they would be in desperate straits so from the south korean border view while they took the wonders of reunification and really they're very happy not to have or even to pick asian the least nineteen citizens and their hope is that north korea can gradually improve its economy so that when the day does come that they won't be starving desperate situation there but it's not now erick what about north korea's controversial nuclear program is there a possibility it could now change course. i don't see why the north koreans would need to build any more nuclear weapons and they have these weapons really are for defensive purposes and spy wall the noise about them threatening the world they're designed to prevent an attack on north korea and have been accepted with such by both china and i believe russia. what will happen is the missiles nuclear weapons will stay put unless the north korean government collapses and then its neighbors may decide to launch an attack to try and destroy the

is absolutely terrifying this piece of legislation that will make it i mean this turns us into east germany i mean it's like having the stasi the legislation that enabled the stasi to go in black bag somebody and get rid of them just because they commit so-called belligerent acts it's charlie thank you so much for weighing in on that that was found there alba wide awake news dot com tom mcgrath. well coming up after the break we'll get some insight from a former classmate of kim jong un about his personality his school years and what might be in store for north korea as the next of can take center stage. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else here see some other part of it and realize that everything is ok you don't i'm trying hard is a big issue. and what drives the world the fear mongering used by politicians who makes decisions to break through it's already been made who can you trust no one who is you can be you with the global machinery to see where are we heading state controlled capitalism is called fascism w

you see it this city -- there were massive protests in east germany. vernment may follow the chinese example. the east german was very instrumented -- interested to know. there were great concerns that these kinds of protests could send in similar violence. of course, that did not happen. we know that what did happen, what did happen -- [laughter] was the peaceful overcoming of the berlin wall. this is one of the great examples of contingency industry. the east german government did not intend to open the berlin wall. the government despised what gorbachev was doing. found a very sympathetic soul mates in beijing. - millions of people on the streets. it decided to start holding press conferences, which was a very bad idea. they decided to start holding press conferences and decided to announce a relatively minor change in the travel laws. this is not well understood. even the voice-over on the video was not accurate. the east german government decided to make it easier to apply for a visa to leave the country. you still had to have a passport, which was

when you look at kplas ens with the east and west german -- >> you lived in germany at the time. >> exactly. that was exciting when the wall fell. what it did it maybe pacified the east german population, although i'm not sure it was necessary to do it. the others will survive on their own. the negatives were that the east germans were not motivated to actually make a lot of money, right? because they were getting the money. unemployment rate was high for a very long time. it became sort of bottomless pit for west german finances, which made it much more difficult for the west -- >> would you say that the lessons learned, if you could make parallels, if we see reunification down the line is for the south koreans not to flood too much money into north korea? >> for sure. you need to learn to teach the people of north korea to actually make their own money, and produce on their own. you cannot hold their hand all the time. they need to be competitive. their economic level of development is closer, otherwise it's a big mess. >> there's a pretty big chasm with the economic level. very interesti

i've covered movements all around the world i covered all of the revolutions in eastern europe east germany czechoslovakia romania all the uprisings against milosevic in belgrade when movements like these begin you never know where they're going even the leaders don't know where they're going i was sitting in a room in leipzig on the afternoon of november ninth one thousand nine hundred nine with the leaders of the east german opposition and they were saying that perhaps within a year there would be free passage back and forth across the berlin wall within a few hours the wall didn't exist so i mean that's a small illustration of the fact that even the purported leaders of populist movements like this one have no idea where it's going to go we're all hoping that it becomes so powerful and so immense that it begins to shift power away from the one percent back to the rest of the citizenry when you compare this moment to what we saw going on in the one nine hundred thinks things here in america i think the sixty's were different. the status the new left in the sixty's was largely a middle cla

p.s., you lost east germany, too. >> bob: yeah.gure out what the -- i'll still trying to figure out what a unicorn is. >> bob: look at the picture up there. see, a unicorn. >> greg: some say it's -- >> bob: symbol for the sea seals? >> greg: unicorn is considered a mythical creature but it's a real creature. people saying it's mythical are part of a big coverup. >> bob: have you seen them before? >> greg: yes, i have. >> bob: do you talk to them? >> greg: they talk to me at night. >> eric: you have experience. did harry reid looked like he needed rehab? >> bob: he look tired. >> dana: harry is like i can't believe my staff wrote this for me andvy to read it on the floor of the united states. >> bob: put out a challenge at the table to come up with a millionaire that created a job. >> greg: what are you talk about? corporation. i could ask you. what foreperson hired anybody? >> bob: a lot. >> kimberly: that doesn't make any sense. >> bob: guy running a shoe shine stand down here has an assistant. i get my shoe shines down there. >>