Transcripts For DW Check-in 20240712

A small city in the state of hessen in the heart of germany. There are more than 1000 have to merge houses here. And if youre lucky youll hear the bells ringing at the marketplace. When i was born and spiegel was located on the fringe of the German Federal republic germanys in our border right only a few kilometers from here it separated has and to lincoln and germany and all of europe for that matter and to east and west but in 1909 the wall came down in berlin and the border between east germany and the federal republic was opened for the past 30 years now and speaking it has been at the heart of germany. Today i want to take you on a little tour along the border between has set. And well visit places that still bear witness to the Cold War Division of germany and thats a victims animals find out what has changed since reunification turning a once heavily fortified death strip and so unattractive Tourist Destination. Well visit a small town torn apart in the cold war. Well check out castle one of the symbols of german reunification. And globetrotters steve painter sends us regards from durban in south africa. Im heading south all the way along the border between hess and tooling and until i reach the. 3rd cities and towns meadows and feels quite unimaginable that this region was once marred by the cold war and cut into by the iron curtain i want to find out what things were like back in the day and head over to point alpha a former u. S. Observation post at the inner german border. Takes me around the premises 1st he shows me the different stages of the east german border fencing. Starting in 1952 the old boundary stones were replaced with barbed wire. But those trying to flee could easily cut it when no Border Guards were in sight so the east german leadership made escaping more and more dangerous. And i know were in the middle of a minefield that dates back to the 1960 s. When they began building the berlin wall on august 13th 1961 the inner german border was secured through military means and 1. 3 to 1400000 land mines were planted. The death strip whoever managed to pass it unscathed was often brought to a halt at the last border fence would have from there. It would have been very difficult to climb the fence practically impossible to pull yourself up by your fingertips like that. Up until 1904 there were also s. M. Seventys here antipersonnel mines which would detonate if anyone tried to climb up. They were called automatic firing devices and would have fired shrapnel that anyone trying to escape and. This was the Border Patrol road in the former east. Only 50 meters across the border a u. S. Army watch tower it was part of observation post alpha 40 u. S. Soldiers were stationed here they all belong to the reno and black horse regiment a demanding task at the frontline of a conflict that had the whole World Holding its breath news that quickly meant that the black horse regiment was a very strong unit on its own combat helicopters armored infantry and artillery the assumption was that if war broke out the soviets would advance and this would be one of the 1st sights of a 3rd world war i hope its understood and it could fly into. Every Accidental Movement could have had devastating consequences tanks were only allowed to drive up to this red line a rule established by the americans and meant to avoid provocation that could have cost the soviet leadership to see. Nowadays point out tells the tale of germany seemingly distant but there youve recent history groups of schoolchildren come to learn but also veterans who served here and many people from around the world interested in germanys peaceful reunification by the way this watch tower was only built in 1984 back then nobody thought that 5 years later the cold war and the iron curtain would be history until not too long ago the region were in right now the loon was full of military infrastructure on both sides of the border today the low Mountain Range as a protective bias fair reserve and still somewhat of an insider tip for travelers for hiking biking or just taking a little time up. The one is a low Mountain Range in the middle of germany often called the land of open spaces it ranges from the state of turning in to has and the various. To know. There are some larger cities on the outskirts for example mine again in the east which for a long time was the capital of the duchy of socks of mine again. For the broken city of boulder in the west. And right in the middle is the vasa cookbook the highest peak of the book at 950 meters. This is the heart of gliding in germany because of the thermals. The 1st attempts at gliding took place before the 1st world war the 1st competitions were organized in 1920. A sailplane is designed to write the air currents without an engine so that it can just glide through space. Back when germany was still divided sailplanes from hessen in the west sometimes found themselves gliding towards and even over the border just 15 kilometers from the boss a cookbook. Some pilots were even arrested and only released weeks later after paying a hefty fine in torch marks. The planes were confiscated. Today these gliders and paragliders have the same ideal thermal lift conditions but theres no border that they have to mind. So they can glide freely in their own plans of the open spaces. Little remains of the iron curtain only the Border Patrol road still meanders through germany i can start to walk on it on the shores of the baltic sea and would end up in hope and bavaria the 1400 kilometers of exclusion zone have turned into a greenbelt a protected area for flora and fauna. As one of the many environmental activists in east and west that demand the german greenbelt not be used for construction or agricultural purposes he wants it to be fully returned to nature resumed its will close to the book on the taft which is now flowing again in its own bed and. Before the wall came down this stream was part of a no go zone on the eastern side of the patrol road set up to prevent escapes. After the wall fell the riverbed was recalled evaded by environmentalists and hassen was it enough to move her to sea in. India. That now there are wetlands for plants and animals for and this is a very valuable limitation that im going with something you dont have a. Surprisingly political and military hostility were Fertile Ground for endangered species. And regularly takes visitors around the greenbelt to introduce them to the biodiversity of the region and. I know. I went on a really fun watch with some biology students from all snuck in the show from the us we went to the also bag which is known for its orchids the country. Instead of the usual half hour the walk took 2 and a half because the biology students kept stopping at every blade of grass. Or doing that for. Their lives so its not just the locals in the greenbelt has turned into an attractive Tourist Destination may have to clean a bunch of the greenbelt will never be a tourist trap thank god. Its done but its very important that those who are interested should be able to come here you know coleman clinton as well this will always be a small select group there wont be any mass tourism. But were noticing more and more people coming from a far more fun closer than in front of. My next stop is fox one of the oldest towns in tooling and. Its existence was 1st documented in the year 814. Almost as old this bridge that crosses the vent of river on the other side lies phillips only a stones throw away but unreachable when germany was divided. Its born and raised and fought tells me how this bridge when from connecting people to separating them. During a cold war was located in the exclusion zone what was daily life like. With a few when we drove in and drove out we had to show a special stamp on our ideal. No one else was allowed in on friends couldnt visit us. We were allowed to request a visitors permit from the police for very close relatives 6 we wouldnt know for 6 weeks whether wed get permission or not this could mean were going. To win that battle then this place looked very different and you tell us about this bridge and the role it played. Yeah the. Bridge was a very important artery cause of 4 kids from the Holy Roman Empire inside it was on the v. A regular from like sick to frankfurt or the like to very much for when you leave and you were able to cross it until 1952 and im on now you know my aunt lived in the house on the border of monotonic and then that ended here your fear was that there were more and more fences. First a wire mesh fence. Then a watch tower was built on the bridge. And then everything was closed off and there was nothing around this because it was a no mans land really i mean months lot and i dont want to people trying to flee across the veterans of that knowledge. Very often my brother escaped in 1962 he was a student in fly back and he and his friends played jazz and that got them into trouble. So well they swam across in august 1960 to. Try and safety did they succeed as they made it out of them and no member of 989 the border opened what was that like her family was reunited so was germany euphoria must have been immense i suppose and. Its the best thing to have happened to us at the end of the 20th century. Yes. Thats why its a feeling that you dont experience very often come on in the us. You can relive this moment in local history museum. And amateur filmmaker captured the scene as the west started to tear down the border wall the famous berlin wall came down on nov 9th 989 only 3 days after the border between father and phillips all followed. Oh. God. Since then the old bridge has returned to its original function connecting and philip stop. Trying to take a little tour of philips town the small town is home to a true gem a castle dating back to the 17th century and surrounded by a lush park. Setting out to explore the world wasnt really an option for the citizens of communist east germany people in fox couldnt even visit their neighbors here in philips top nowadays things are much easier look at our globe trotters save painted all he needs is a ticket a backpack and his sense of adventure this time we caught up with him and durban south africa 2nd biggest city. That we start things off in the sunny city of devon im here with my little boy guides tell me who god is around for today some sun i could go now im going to be legal welcome to the city of durban was when we looked up were going to take up a lot on the cold but should there be. South africas warmest city is located on the east coast and has a population of about 3 and a half 1000000 in the metropolitan area durban is famous for being the busiest port in the country its also seen as one of the Major Centers of 2 reason because of the citys warm subtropical climate and extensive beaches. Get. It. Right richard and moses was happy the stadium which was built for the world cup in 2010 were here to do the big rush the worlds tallest one thats got. To be. Put through what if. It. Was it steve and it was scary. Right its expected its gets to be back on its. Stay on the route. To the next morning we hit the road and drug about 3 hours northeast. So we just drove away and look what we see just right after we went to some c. Bras here. I guess. Our base inside the park was the hill top 10 which overlooks the reserve. First came dr abyssinian right. There ready im going to see him right off at 630 this morning. The little date and follows me pat is the oldest prickly nature set in africa it consists of 960 square kilometers of heli topography and is known for its rich wildlife and conservation efforts. Here each of the big 5 game animals can be found in just a short amount of time also we were able to see 4 out of the big 5 on our 1st game drive. And we are back at 6 every resort in the pool which is the perfect way to finish this trip through the region of was a little not so. But. Back in germany im on my way to the protest mining area stretching out on both sides of the back and hassen as well as tooling up between 1945989 it was divided after reunification east and west german potage industries merged the privatisation led to the closure of unsafe or inefficient mines and the loss of many jobs in the former east the mine in macas was turned into a visitors attraction. Polish guba takes me on a tour of the huge underground labyrinth. Even the ride is quite an adventure. 140 square kilometers of winding tunnels the nazis believed this to be the perfect hiding spot in april of 1905 u. S. Soldiers couldnt believe their eyes when they came upon this room thousands of boxes and bags filled with cash diamonds and gold paintings by rembrandt duda and many others anticipating the downfall of the 3rd reich the nazis hid a lot of their gold and currency reserves in makkah. From by some means oh what dimensions are we talking about here that whole i dont mind i mean you were right mark you are from britain. I mean if you count everything going but it comes to 3000000000 reichs mark you think notes alone. There was so much money stored here that there was a shortage of cash in berlin or. One of the most spectacular finds never t. V. This is of course a replica the original is back in berlins Pergamon Museum if all of this is an adventurous enough for you you can also explore the labyrinth by Mountain Bike but there are only a limited amount of spots and dates so you should sign up ahead of time in any case theres plenty to see down here. Like this grotto full of sparkling salt crystals. Theres no reason bar its Something Special or unique in the world as far as we know the salt crystals of this size with a metre long edge arent found anywhere else except at america. And in the right light its twice as beautiful. The time now for our weekly the mail our of the orange f. M. s might send us a video of his trip to the island of later on the philippines there he went scuba diving and thats an amazing footage of the pacific colorful underwater world. That book castle in iceland a symbol of german reunification. Into was located only a couple of kilometers from the inner german border germany is arguably a country of many castles so why did the violence book play such a crucial role in german history i meeting with to find out that. For many years hes been showing visitors through the vote book into the birthplace of the modern german language 500 years ago monte lucia translated the bible into german in this very room until then there have been countless dialects lose has bible created a unified german language car in the language that german speak today emerged in this room with Martin Luther when good to start here hundreds of years later he said we became a people a nation because of Martin Luther. Thats how we found a common language you would find that in minds of. The another milestone in german history took place in the books banquet hall and 817. 00 students and fraternities hailing from small states and principalities got together and this room. Here they demanded the founding of a unifying german nation with Democratic Civil rights. Under the 1st the un a fraternity germanys 1st fraternity invited people to the festival. And the fraternity colors were black red and gold with gold black in the middle red and then a modest gold on the rim of the flag and in the middle and old french. The flag became the symbol of german democracy black red and gold blue over the books for the 1st time. Today the buck book is once again a castle for all germans are they still remembers the 1st months after the border was opened west germans were finally able to cross into the east without needing a visa or passport and for many the book was the 1st place to visit. Just that one year more than 700000 people came. And they waited in line for hours. Well they were amazed because the vault board wasnt such a good state and that money had been invested over decades were all prejudices flew out the window before they saw all the gold cross on the tower and they knew they were home here with the hose. Even the hardest of frontiers are essentially artificial concepts and because theyre artificial they can be challenged by the people and eventually taken down its been 30 years since the fall of the iron curtain and the reopening of the inner german border 3 decades that have blurred the lines between east and west and still we mustnt forget about the past which is why its so important to have places that remind us of how difficult and Different Things used to be around these parts thanks for joining me thats it for this week ill see you next time somewhere in germany. The. Our planets faithful companion. But is it also a potential habitat for humans. Og scientists have worked intensively for 50 years to answer this question. Is the living on the horizon. Surviving. In 15 minutes on d w. Can take this back on the catwalk. Globally into shimmering fabric. Fashions into canada clothes by young designer ben moyer. Upcycling trash to. What else will you find on the dump. Youre back. In 90 minutes on d w. Climate change. The state. Environmental projects we give globalization affect biodiversity Species Conservation exploitation equality. Human rights displacement to. Show the Global Impact of the local actually global 3000. D. W. Youre going to unofficial estimates more than 1200000 venezuelans live in colombia neatly and illegally. Already at all the local wild returned a vast whaler. To visit friends i dont think id ever go back there to live you know what i live there again i dont know so im not sure. Witness global news that matters. Made for mines. The global corona crisis you can find more Information Online at g. W. Dot com and on t. W. Social media channels. Such. This is do w. News live from berlin protests erupt across the us demanding justice for george floyd it was killed in Police Custody in the city of minneapolis earlier this week the end rest following his death has given way to a 4th night of demonstrations and violence from coast to coast. Also coming out their opinion in the United States and britain to warn china against imposing a strict new security law on tangs kong fun facing tells them their efforts are doing