"Mysteries at the Museum" Cold War Secrets

1 00:00:03,170 --> 00:00:05,170 During the second half 2 00:00:05,170 --> 00:00:08,040 of the 20th Century, the U.S. and Soviet Union 3 00:00:08,040 --> 00:00:10,700 armed themselves with enough nuclear weapons 4 00:00:10,710 --> 00:00:13,540 to destroy the planet a hundred times over. 5 00:00:13,540 --> 00:00:16,180 It shall be the policy of this nation 6 00:00:16,180 --> 00:00:18,180 to regard any nuclear missile 7 00:00:18,180 --> 00:00:21,080 launched against any nation in the Western Hemisphere 8 00:00:21,080 --> 00:00:24,950 as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States. 9 00:00:24,950 --> 00:00:27,550 It's a span of history known as the Cold War. 10 00:00:31,090 --> 00:00:32,790 I'm on a mission to reveal some 11 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:36,060 of the most closely guarded secrets of the Cold War. 12 00:00:36,060 --> 00:00:38,070 This is actually an atomic-, biological- 13 00:00:38,070 --> 00:00:39,370 chemical-weapons- proof bunker. 14 00:00:41,070 --> 00:00:44,410 Find out how close we came to nuclear annihilation. 15 00:00:44,410 --> 00:00:46,910 All the tension comes down to this, 16 00:00:46,910 --> 00:00:49,980 to tanks facing off in the streets of Berlin. 17 00:00:49,980 --> 00:00:51,380 Gas, gas, gas! 18 00:00:51,380 --> 00:00:54,550 Discover how the Cold War began 19 00:00:54,550 --> 00:00:55,950 and whether it really ever ended. 20 00:01:03,290 --> 00:01:04,890 I'm Don Wildman. 21 00:01:04,890 --> 00:01:07,490 I've explored the world's greatest mysteries, 22 00:01:07,500 --> 00:01:09,100 examined rare artifacts 23 00:01:09,100 --> 00:01:10,500 and epic monuments. 24 00:01:10,500 --> 00:01:11,900 That is unbelievable. 25 00:01:11,900 --> 00:01:15,240 Now, I'm digging deeper into some of the most perplexing 26 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:17,700 and famous cases in history. 27 00:01:17,710 --> 00:01:19,810 My goal? To get closer to the truth. 28 00:01:19,810 --> 00:01:21,110 Let's burn this place down. 29 00:01:21,110 --> 00:01:23,040 Burn it down. 30 00:01:23,050 --> 00:01:26,650 On this special episode of "Mysteries at the Museum," 31 00:01:26,650 --> 00:01:28,310 "Cold War Secrets." 32 00:01:31,590 --> 00:01:34,120 There may be no greater rivalry in history 33 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:36,520 than the one between the United States of America 34 00:01:36,530 --> 00:01:37,960 and the Soviet Union. 35 00:01:37,960 --> 00:01:39,290 -Mr. Gorbachev, 36 00:01:39,290 --> 00:01:41,400 tear down this wall. 37 00:01:45,130 --> 00:01:49,600 For almost 50 years, it created global catastrophes, 38 00:01:49,610 --> 00:01:52,710 gave rise to a new type of warfare, 39 00:01:52,710 --> 00:01:54,810 and divided the world in two. 40 00:01:54,810 --> 00:01:57,480 German troops took control of the key section 41 00:01:57,480 --> 00:01:58,680 of the Berlin Wall 42 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:01,220 at the Brandenburg Gate early this morning. 43 00:02:04,820 --> 00:02:07,150 When most people think of the Cold War, 44 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:09,790 they think of famous names like Stalin, 45 00:02:09,790 --> 00:02:10,890 Reagan, 46 00:02:10,890 --> 00:02:12,430 Gorbachev. 47 00:02:12,430 --> 00:02:14,900 They think of spies and espionage, 48 00:02:14,900 --> 00:02:17,430 and of nuclear weapons. 49 00:02:17,430 --> 00:02:20,770 But, how much do we know about what really happened? 50 00:02:20,770 --> 00:02:22,840 Because, whether we realize it or not, 51 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:26,170 the Cold War has shaped all our lives 52 00:02:26,180 --> 00:02:29,710 and, if a few key decisions had been made differently, 53 00:02:29,710 --> 00:02:31,450 we might not even be here at all. 54 00:02:35,980 --> 00:02:39,150 Much of the Cold War was shrouded in secrecy. 55 00:02:39,150 --> 00:02:43,490 Now, 30 years on, top-secret files are being declassified, 56 00:02:43,490 --> 00:02:46,660 helping to answer some important questions, 57 00:02:46,660 --> 00:02:48,630 like "How did it start?" 58 00:02:52,270 --> 00:02:56,000 The Cold War officially began in 1947, 59 00:02:56,010 --> 00:02:57,470 but, a few years earlier, 60 00:02:57,470 --> 00:02:59,540 the United States and the Soviet Union 61 00:02:59,540 --> 00:03:02,210 had joined forces to defeat the Axis powers 62 00:03:02,210 --> 00:03:06,610 of Germany, Italy, and Japan, during World War II. 63 00:03:06,620 --> 00:03:10,420 So, how could allies become enemies so quickly? 64 00:03:10,420 --> 00:03:11,620 How you doing? -Nice to meet you. 65 00:03:11,620 --> 00:03:13,490 -Thank you very much. -Welcome to Zossen. 66 00:03:17,630 --> 00:03:19,760 -Military historian Nick Jackson 67 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:21,960 has lived in Berlin for over 20 years 68 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:25,570 and is an expert on its wartime past. 69 00:03:25,570 --> 00:03:28,640 He's brought me 25 miles south of Berlin, 70 00:03:28,640 --> 00:03:31,970 to the ruined bunker complex at Zossen. 71 00:03:31,970 --> 00:03:34,570 Close to Berlin, but hidden away in the forest, 72 00:03:34,580 --> 00:03:37,440 this strategic site was chosen by Hitler 73 00:03:37,450 --> 00:03:38,910 as the headquarters 74 00:03:38,910 --> 00:03:41,880 for the Supreme High Command of his German Army. 75 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:44,780 It was the Nazi equivalent of the Pentagon, 76 00:03:44,790 --> 00:03:48,120 packed full of state-of-the-art German communications equipment. 77 00:03:51,060 --> 00:03:52,830 In July 1945, 78 00:03:52,830 --> 00:03:55,660 the Allies held a conference a few miles from here, 79 00:03:55,660 --> 00:03:57,300 at Potsdam. 80 00:03:57,300 --> 00:03:59,270 There, the big-three heads of state 81 00:03:59,270 --> 00:04:01,870 carved up postwar Germany. 82 00:04:01,870 --> 00:04:05,010 Zossen fell under Soviet control. 83 00:04:05,010 --> 00:04:07,970 So, World War II ends, Germans defeated, 84 00:04:07,980 --> 00:04:09,610 the Soviets come into this part, yeah? 85 00:04:09,610 --> 00:04:11,140 Yeah, and you can see what they did because, 86 00:04:11,150 --> 00:04:13,480 almost immediately after World War II, 87 00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:15,950 the Allied Control Council of the Four Powers in Berlin 88 00:04:15,950 --> 00:04:18,220 decided that it'd be a good idea 89 00:04:18,220 --> 00:04:21,590 to get rid of military- strength buildings, 90 00:04:21,590 --> 00:04:23,160 mainly left from World War II, 91 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:25,890 and that was called Directive 22. 92 00:04:25,890 --> 00:04:27,360 And, very quickly after the war, 93 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:29,160 end of '45, '46, 94 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:31,800 these houses were then deliberately destroyed. 95 00:04:35,970 --> 00:04:38,970 Intentionally knocking down strategic Nazi sites, 96 00:04:38,970 --> 00:04:41,370 like Zossen, was meant to be a sign 97 00:04:41,380 --> 00:04:44,710 the U.S. and Soviets were serious about peace. 98 00:04:44,710 --> 00:04:49,550 But, in 1946, tensions between the countries were running high. 99 00:04:49,550 --> 00:04:51,520 U.S. President Harry S Truman 100 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:54,150 was worried about the spread of communism. 101 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:58,660 We are united in detesting Communist slavery. 102 00:04:58,660 --> 00:05:00,930 Whereas Soviet leader Joseph Stalin 103 00:05:00,930 --> 00:05:03,660 hated the fact that the U.S. was the only country 104 00:05:03,670 --> 00:05:05,670 in the world with the atomic bomb. 105 00:05:07,970 --> 00:05:09,870 So, while the destruction as Zossen 106 00:05:09,870 --> 00:05:11,640 made it look like the Soviet Union 107 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:13,370 was keeping up its end of the bargain... 108 00:05:13,380 --> 00:05:14,610 It's an underground bunker? 109 00:05:14,610 --> 00:05:15,940 That's right. 110 00:05:15,940 --> 00:05:17,710 ...beneath the surface, 111 00:05:17,710 --> 00:05:19,950 it was a different story. 112 00:05:19,950 --> 00:05:22,950 Here we go. In we go. 113 00:05:22,950 --> 00:05:25,550 Because, at Zossen, the Nazis had also built 114 00:05:25,550 --> 00:05:28,790 an underground complex of top-secret bunkers. 115 00:05:31,430 --> 00:05:35,700 And, quietly, the Soviets repurposed them. 116 00:05:35,700 --> 00:05:39,100 Each subterranean floor is the size of a football field. 117 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:45,410 Holy mother, look how deep this thing goes. 118 00:05:45,410 --> 00:05:50,580 That's about 40, 50, feet down, and three different levels. 119 00:05:50,580 --> 00:05:53,380 The Soviets turned Zossen back into a high-tech 120 00:05:53,380 --> 00:05:56,780 military installation and, later, in the Cold War, 121 00:05:56,790 --> 00:06:00,250 all air-patrol operations along the crucial Western border 122 00:06:00,260 --> 00:06:01,560 were controlled from here. 123 00:06:04,730 --> 00:06:09,000 In 1947, relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union 124 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:12,930 broke down further when Truman introduced the Marshall Plan, 125 00:06:12,930 --> 00:06:17,140 an economic aid package to rebuild war-torn Europe. 126 00:06:17,140 --> 00:06:18,470 Stalin wouldn't allow 127 00:06:18,470 --> 00:06:21,610 any countries under his control to accept the money 128 00:06:21,610 --> 00:06:25,480 and, instead, tightened his grip on Eastern Europe. 129 00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:28,950 From Stettin in the Baltic 130 00:06:28,950 --> 00:06:31,150 to Trieste in the Adriatic, 131 00:06:35,590 --> 00:06:40,030 So, these two former allies are now enemies watching each other. 132 00:06:40,030 --> 00:06:41,590 That's right. As tensions start 133 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:44,130 to rise in the years after World War II, 134 00:06:44,130 --> 00:06:45,930 both sides start making sure 135 00:06:45,930 --> 00:06:47,030 they're got the information, 136 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:50,840 fearing the other is about to launch a strike. 137 00:06:50,840 --> 00:06:55,240 But the real catalyst for the Cold War happened in 1949. 138 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:56,980 That is the moment the Soviet Union 139 00:06:56,980 --> 00:06:58,110 finally developed 140 00:06:58,110 --> 00:06:59,980 a nuclear bomb of its own. 141 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:07,074 Do you want subtitles for any video? -=[ ai.OpenSubtitles.com ]=- 142 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:11,060 When the Soviet Union got the atomic bomb, 143 00:07:11,060 --> 00:07:14,390 it ended the U.S. monopoly on nuclear weapons, 144 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:16,930 but both countries quickly realized that, 145 00:07:16,930 --> 00:07:18,800 if war did break out, 146 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:21,870 it could end with both sides being wiped off the map. 147 00:07:21,870 --> 00:07:23,400 It created a stalemate. 148 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:24,940 That's why it's called the Cold War. 149 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:32,950 The nuclear standoff between the U.S. and Soviet Union 150 00:07:32,950 --> 00:07:35,680 was at the heart of the Cold War. 151 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:38,820 One false move could lead to nuclear annihilation, 152 00:07:38,820 --> 00:07:40,420 so both countries wanted to know 153 00:07:40,420 --> 00:07:42,760 how many nukes the other side had 154 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:44,690 and where they were positioned. 155 00:07:44,690 --> 00:07:46,160 But the problem was -- 156 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:48,290 How do they find out? 157 00:07:48,300 --> 00:07:50,100 The answer was spies. 158 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:58,970 The Cold War became the age of espionage 159 00:07:58,970 --> 00:08:00,970 and the best place to find information 160 00:08:00,980 --> 00:08:03,180 was Berlin. 161 00:08:03,180 --> 00:08:06,380 That's because, at the end of World War II, 162 00:08:06,380 --> 00:08:09,880 none of the Allies wanted to give up a presence here, 163 00:08:09,890 --> 00:08:13,120 so the city was divided into four sectors -- 164 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:15,790 one for each of the occupying nations, 165 00:08:15,790 --> 00:08:17,320 British, French, 166 00:08:17,330 --> 00:08:19,790 U.S., and Soviet. 167 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:23,800 In reality, though, there were two halves. 168 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:27,000 It created a tense environment where East and West 169 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:30,740 came into contact like nowhere else in the world. 170 00:08:30,740 --> 00:08:32,140 And, at one point, the U.S. had 171 00:08:32,140 --> 00:08:35,480 15 separate intelligence agencies working here. 172 00:08:49,460 --> 00:08:51,290 As the front line of the Cold War, 173 00:08:51,290 --> 00:08:52,890 Berlin acquired a reputation 174 00:08:52,890 --> 00:08:55,960 as the capital city of espionage. 175 00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:58,430 So, what was it like to be a spy here, 176 00:08:58,430 --> 00:09:01,570 in this city of spies, during the Cold War? 177 00:09:05,940 --> 00:09:08,740 Treptow Park, in former East Berlin, 178 00:09:08,740 --> 00:09:11,180 was a popular meeting place for spies. 179 00:09:11,180 --> 00:09:14,050 It's also home to the Soviet War Memorial, 180 00:09:14,050 --> 00:09:17,380 a tribute to the 80,000 Red Army soldiers who died 181 00:09:17,390 --> 00:09:21,190 in the 1945 Battle for Berlin. 182 00:09:21,190 --> 00:09:23,390 I'm here to meet Nigel Dunkley, 183 00:09:23,390 --> 00:09:25,060 who served in the British military 184 00:09:25,060 --> 00:09:27,690 and was stationed in Berlin during the Cold War. 185 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:35,740 So, you worked in Berlin back in the day. 186 00:09:35,740 --> 00:09:36,870 Yeah, back in the day. 187 00:09:36,870 --> 00:09:38,400 What years? 188 00:09:38,410 --> 00:09:41,210 I first came here in about 1978. 189 00:09:41,210 --> 00:09:45,010 I was then deployed into Communist East Germany 190 00:09:45,010 --> 00:09:50,020 as a covert intelligence- gathering agent or officer. 191 00:09:50,020 --> 00:09:51,320 We don't like the word spy, 192 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:52,550 but that's basically what we were. 193 00:09:52,550 --> 00:09:54,820 -You were a spy. Okay. -We were a spy. 194 00:09:54,820 --> 00:09:56,690 And what were you looking for? 195 00:09:56,690 --> 00:09:58,020 Why were you spying? 196 00:09:58,030 --> 00:10:01,830 The top of the list was, of course, nuclear weapons. 197 00:10:01,830 --> 00:10:04,960 What kind of nuclear weapons were they, 198 00:10:04,970 --> 00:10:06,970 were they tactical, battlefield nuclear weapons 199 00:10:06,970 --> 00:10:09,300 or were they intercontinental ballistic missiles? 200 00:10:09,300 --> 00:10:10,540 -Yeah. -Did they have all 201 00:10:10,540 --> 00:10:12,440 of those types of nuclear weapons? 202 00:10:12,440 --> 00:10:13,910 And the answer is yes, they had nukes. 203 00:10:13,910 --> 00:10:15,640 Yes, they did, and we had to, therefore, 204 00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:18,640 go and confirm what was being seen 205 00:10:18,650 --> 00:10:20,850 from satellites, which, in those days, 206 00:10:20,850 --> 00:10:23,180 was probably just a fairly fuzzy image 207 00:10:23,190 --> 00:10:24,580 with not too much detail. 208 00:10:24,590 --> 00:10:26,120 So, you were the eyes and ears, 209 00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:27,520 on the ground, -Yes. 210 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:28,650 -of the West. -Yeah. 211 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:36,400 Much of the Soviet nuclear arsenal 212 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:39,430 didn't have the range to be launched from Moscow. 213 00:10:39,430 --> 00:10:41,730 Instead, the Soviets placed their weapons 214 00:10:41,740 --> 00:10:44,100 as close to the West as they could. 215 00:10:44,110 --> 00:10:48,510 It was up to spies, like Nigel, to find out where they were. 216 00:10:48,510 --> 00:10:52,050 Today, we're driving 50 miles south of Berlin, 217 00:10:52,050 --> 00:10:53,810 to a place called Jueterbog, 218 00:10:53,820 --> 00:10:57,550 an area where Nigel conducted covert operations. 219 00:10:57,550 --> 00:10:59,550 During the Cold War, it was a garrison town 220 00:10:59,550 --> 00:11:02,820 for the Red Army, housing around 40,000 troops, 221 00:11:02,820 --> 00:11:05,290 making it the largest contingent of military 222 00:11:05,290 --> 00:11:07,490 outside the Soviet Union. 223 00:11:07,500 --> 00:11:10,430 And, hidden deep in the surrounding forest, 224 00:11:10,430 --> 00:11:14,170 lay some of their most closely guarded secrets. 225 00:11:14,170 --> 00:11:17,240 So, we just pulled off the public highway. 226 00:11:17,240 --> 00:11:19,370 This normally would be 227 00:11:19,370 --> 00:11:21,910 looking quite innocent here, this kind of thing. 228 00:11:21,910 --> 00:11:23,180 -Yeah. -We would start creeping 229 00:11:23,180 --> 00:11:25,180 through the woods. 230 00:11:25,180 --> 00:11:26,250 We would have the lights off. 231 00:11:26,250 --> 00:11:28,880 We'd make sure that it was low-key 232 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:30,250 and as covert as possible. 233 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:33,720 I feel like we're doin' somethin' wrong here. 234 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:35,050 Good. That's a good feeling. 235 00:11:35,060 --> 00:11:36,160 It's exciting. 236 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:37,860 So, this would have been 237 00:11:37,860 --> 00:11:39,660 crawling with military, obviously. 238 00:11:39,660 --> 00:11:41,860 Yes. 239 00:11:41,860 --> 00:11:44,060 I'm spying in East Germany. 240 00:11:44,070 --> 00:11:46,130 Getting deeper and deeper into trouble here. 241 00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:50,140 Not even this car can get past this. 242 00:11:50,140 --> 00:11:51,970 All right, we're goin' for a walk. 243 00:12:01,980 --> 00:12:03,820 This is not new. 244 00:12:03,820 --> 00:12:04,880 This was here at the time, 245 00:12:04,890 --> 00:12:06,890 as a last-ditch 246 00:12:06,890 --> 00:12:09,320 -To block off. -vehicle block, yeah. 247 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:12,430 I can see, from the barbed wire fencing, 248 00:12:12,430 --> 00:12:13,960 that we're moving towards something here. 249 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:15,860 Ever closer. Ever closer, yeah. 250 00:12:27,180 --> 00:12:30,380 So, average, you know, German forest, right? 251 00:12:30,380 --> 00:12:32,110 Nothin' much out here. 252 00:12:32,110 --> 00:12:34,450 But then you start to see this -- these features. 253 00:12:34,450 --> 00:12:36,780 Look, this is the old barbed wire. 254 00:12:36,790 --> 00:12:38,250 It stretches the whole perimeter. 255 00:12:38,250 --> 00:12:40,650 You can see these posts are all the way along here. 256 00:12:40,660 --> 00:12:44,660 And look at this, this old guard outpost. 257 00:12:44,660 --> 00:12:46,790 What's distinctive about this? 258 00:12:46,790 --> 00:12:49,130 It's still camouflaged. 259 00:12:49,130 --> 00:12:52,070 Look, it's still painted with the camouflage, 260 00:12:52,070 --> 00:12:55,940 to keep this from being photographed from the air. 261 00:12:55,940 --> 00:12:58,740 And what all this is, this barbed wire fencing, 262 00:12:58,740 --> 00:13:03,140 these pillboxes, these guard sentry posts, is 263 00:13:03,150 --> 00:13:04,880 guarding that mound of earth over there, 264 00:13:04,880 --> 00:13:07,080 which is a Soviet warhead bunker. 265 00:13:09,820 --> 00:13:11,480 I'm on a mission to reveal some 266 00:13:11,490 --> 00:13:14,320 of the most closely guarded secrets of the Cold War, 267 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:17,090 and they don't get much more protected than this. 268 00:13:17,090 --> 00:13:19,030 Wow, look at that. 269 00:13:32,660 --> 00:13:35,390 In recent years, we've learned the clandestine work 270 00:13:35,390 --> 00:13:38,060 carried out by spies during the Cold War. 271 00:13:38,060 --> 00:13:40,260 It's giving us a unique insight 272 00:13:40,260 --> 00:13:44,130 into top-secret strategic military installations, 273 00:13:44,140 --> 00:13:47,170 like the nuclear weapons storage facility at Jueterbog. 274 00:13:49,740 --> 00:13:52,610 Here we go. 275 00:13:52,610 --> 00:13:54,480 Wow, look at that blast door, right off the bat. 276 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:55,680 Isn't that fantastic? Look at that. 277 00:13:55,680 --> 00:13:58,080 Look at the size of the hinges as well. 278 00:13:58,080 --> 00:13:59,220 -Yeah. So they were -Check that out. 279 00:13:59,220 --> 00:14:00,720 seriously worried about gettin' 280 00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:01,850 -Yeah. -attacked here. 281 00:14:06,020 --> 00:14:06,890 -Wow. Look at that. -Yep, there it is. 282 00:14:06,890 --> 00:14:08,990 That's incredible. 283 00:14:13,300 --> 00:14:14,830 Spooky place. 284 00:14:14,830 --> 00:14:16,770 -Spooky place, isn't it? - God. 285 00:14:16,770 --> 00:14:17,770 And, when you think about it, 286 00:14:17,770 --> 00:14:20,370 you are in the absolute epicenter 287 00:14:20,370 --> 00:14:23,170 of what was the most important weapon, 288 00:14:23,170 --> 00:14:24,970 throughout the Cold War, 289 00:14:24,980 --> 00:14:26,640 that the Soviets had -Yeah. 290 00:14:26,650 --> 00:14:29,350 to be used against us, and that's nuclear weapon 291 00:14:29,350 --> 00:14:31,980 warhead storage we've got here. 292 00:14:31,980 --> 00:14:33,420 I mean, when you're talkin' about 293 00:14:33,420 --> 00:14:36,850 what the Cold War was all about, it was about a place like this. 294 00:14:36,860 --> 00:14:38,120 Absolutely correct, yeah. 295 00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:39,260 -Crazy! -Absolutely correct. 296 00:14:39,260 --> 00:14:40,860 And you were snoopin' the whole time. 297 00:14:40,860 --> 00:14:42,460 We were snooping. 298 00:14:42,460 --> 00:14:44,730 The nuclear warheads stored at Jueterbog 299 00:14:44,730 --> 00:14:47,000 were intended for missiles aimed at key targets 300 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:49,330 in the West, like Paris and London. 301 00:14:56,940 --> 00:14:59,010 So, this is where the warheads were stored. 302 00:14:59,010 --> 00:15:01,310 So, basically, they'd come in on the crane. 303 00:15:01,310 --> 00:15:04,080 Yeah, on the overhead gantry, lowered down, 304 00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:06,150 and then, finally, put into the storage 305 00:15:06,150 --> 00:15:08,350 -Okay. -facilities on both sides. 306 00:15:08,350 --> 00:15:09,850 How many am I talkin' about, here? 307 00:15:09,850 --> 00:15:12,220 Each storage bay -- there are four of them -- 308 00:15:12,220 --> 00:15:14,890 I think, held about 139 warheads. 309 00:15:14,890 --> 00:15:16,230 In each? There's three rooms. 310 00:15:16,230 --> 00:15:17,560 In each of these. There are four of them, actually. 311 00:15:17,560 --> 00:15:19,560 So, there's hundreds of warheads down here. 312 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:20,960 Yes, absolutely. 313 00:15:20,970 --> 00:15:22,430 This is why it was so spectacularly 314 00:15:22,430 --> 00:15:25,670 sensitive and important. 315 00:15:25,670 --> 00:15:28,470 The full extent of the Soviet nuclear capabilities 316 00:15:28,470 --> 00:15:30,440 at Jueterbog was only discovered 317 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:33,580 when the troops finally left in 1992. 318 00:15:47,730 --> 00:15:49,460 This is incredible. I mean, you're 319 00:15:49,460 --> 00:15:53,600 basically standing at the heart of the Cold War. 320 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:56,000 I mean, the information, the spying, 321 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:58,530 all the espionage, was being conducted 322 00:15:58,540 --> 00:16:05,410 in order to find out what was being held in this very space. 323 00:16:05,410 --> 00:16:06,740 So wild. 324 00:16:16,350 --> 00:16:20,260 Nuclear weapons were one source of tension during the Cold War; 325 00:16:20,260 --> 00:16:23,330 differing ideologies were another. 326 00:16:23,330 --> 00:16:26,000 The U.S. feared the spread of Communism, 327 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:28,360 leading to many pivotal Cold War events, 328 00:16:28,370 --> 00:16:31,330 like the Bay of Pigs and the Vietnam War. 329 00:16:31,340 --> 00:16:36,040 It was also behind one of the war's most iconic structures -- 330 00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:38,170 the Berlin Wall. 331 00:16:38,180 --> 00:16:42,240 It was erected in August 1961 by the East German government, 332 00:16:42,250 --> 00:16:44,950 in an attempt to stop thousands of its citizens 333 00:16:44,950 --> 00:16:46,920 from defecting to the West. 334 00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:50,720 It became one of the most fortified regions in the world. 335 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:53,820 There were guard towers manned by armed soldiers. 336 00:16:53,820 --> 00:16:55,320 There was even a minefield. 337 00:16:58,530 --> 00:17:01,330 The Berlin War Memorial, on Bernauer Strasse, 338 00:17:01,330 --> 00:17:03,600 contains the last piece of Berlin Wall 339 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:06,270 with the border fortifications behind. 340 00:17:06,270 --> 00:17:08,340 Check this out. You can sort of see, 341 00:17:08,340 --> 00:17:10,310 I mean, they have actually preserved 342 00:17:10,310 --> 00:17:13,210 a small segment of what used to be the wall, 343 00:17:13,210 --> 00:17:14,940 going all the way in both directions. 344 00:17:14,950 --> 00:17:18,150 But, boy, you can really see how oppressive that is, 345 00:17:18,150 --> 00:17:20,920 you know, how forbidding that strip was. 346 00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:26,760 The Berlin Wall is one 347 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:30,160 of the most iconic symbols of the Cold War, 348 00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:34,960 but there are surprising things about it you may not know. 349 00:17:34,970 --> 00:17:36,370 For some perspective, 350 00:17:36,370 --> 00:17:38,830 I've come to the wall's most infamous crossing point -- 351 00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:40,170 Checkpoint C, 352 00:17:40,170 --> 00:17:42,970 more commonly referred to as Checkpoint Charlie. 353 00:17:44,710 --> 00:17:46,980 A few hundred feet from the checkpoint 354 00:17:46,980 --> 00:17:49,510 there is a tethered hot air balloon. 355 00:17:49,510 --> 00:17:52,720 So, there's an important fact about geography here. 356 00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:55,050 Many people assume that the Berlin Wall 357 00:17:55,050 --> 00:17:57,350 was the division between East and West Germany. 358 00:17:57,360 --> 00:17:58,720 It's not. 359 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:00,320 East Germany, the border of East Germany, 360 00:18:00,330 --> 00:18:03,530 is actually 100 miles to the west. 361 00:18:03,530 --> 00:18:06,800 West Berlin is a tiny enclave of U.S.-controlled land 362 00:18:06,800 --> 00:18:10,070 deep behind Soviet lines, and the Berlin Wall 363 00:18:10,070 --> 00:18:12,330 is actually a loop, encircling it. 364 00:18:13,940 --> 00:18:18,140 This is what made this city so important during the Cold War. 365 00:18:18,140 --> 00:18:22,340 The Allied territory is inside Soviet-held territory 366 00:18:22,350 --> 00:18:24,480 and the Soviets hated this 367 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:27,350 and they were trying every which way to get us outta here. 368 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:36,060 After the Berlin Wall went up, the East German government 369 00:18:36,060 --> 00:18:39,130 imposed severe travel restrictions. 370 00:18:39,130 --> 00:18:43,300 So, to avoid global conflict, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev 371 00:18:43,300 --> 00:18:46,570 insisted the East Germans make an exception. 372 00:18:46,570 --> 00:18:50,140 American, British, and French civilians living in West Berlin 373 00:18:50,140 --> 00:18:54,080 wouldn't need to show their passports to travel to the East. 374 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:56,110 But rather than defuse the situation, 375 00:18:56,110 --> 00:18:57,310 the gesture triggered one 376 00:18:57,320 --> 00:18:59,820 of the most dangerous moments of the Cold War. 377 00:19:01,790 --> 00:19:05,590 Most people have heard of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, 378 00:19:05,590 --> 00:19:08,590 but, the previous year, an equally perilous moment 379 00:19:08,590 --> 00:19:11,190 occurred right here at Checkpoint Charlie. 380 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:12,600 What's surprising to learn 381 00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:15,660 is that it was triggered by the least likely person. 382 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:22,940 On October 22, 1961, 383 00:19:22,940 --> 00:19:24,810 an American named Allan Lightner 384 00:19:24,810 --> 00:19:28,610 crossed Checkpoint Charlie on his way to the opera. 385 00:19:28,610 --> 00:19:31,550 East German guards demanded to see his passport, 386 00:19:31,550 --> 00:19:36,290 but Lightner, citing the Soviet exception, refused. 387 00:19:36,290 --> 00:19:38,090 The guards wouldn't back down, 388 00:19:38,090 --> 00:19:40,020 so, General Lucius Clay, 389 00:19:40,020 --> 00:19:43,360 the senior U.S. officer in all of occupied Germany, 390 00:19:43,360 --> 00:19:48,760 ordered ten M48 tanks to take up position at Checkpoint Charlie. 391 00:19:48,770 --> 00:19:50,100 Not to be outdone, 392 00:19:50,100 --> 00:19:53,900 the Soviets sent the same number to face down the Americans. 393 00:19:53,910 --> 00:19:55,840 The incident at Checkpoint Charlie 394 00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:57,570 was the only point during the Cold War 395 00:19:57,580 --> 00:20:00,510 when Soviet and American forces faced off 396 00:20:00,510 --> 00:20:02,850 and it pushed both sides to the brink. 397 00:20:02,850 --> 00:20:05,580 One nervous soldier, one overzealous commander, 398 00:20:05,580 --> 00:20:08,380 and the Cold War would go nuclear in a heartbeat. 399 00:20:11,060 --> 00:20:14,460 On one side stood a young, untested U.S. president, 400 00:20:14,460 --> 00:20:17,660 still reeling from the Bay of Pigs disaster. 401 00:20:17,660 --> 00:20:19,400 On the other, a Soviet premier 402 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:22,330 under pressure from East Germany. 403 00:20:22,330 --> 00:20:24,330 The Cold War is heating up, 404 00:20:24,340 --> 00:20:27,540 so how close did we really come to nuclear Armageddon? 405 00:20:38,230 --> 00:20:41,370 The Cold War spanned five decades. 406 00:20:41,370 --> 00:20:44,170 Today, 30 years on, there are still moments 407 00:20:44,170 --> 00:20:46,740 we're only beginning to comprehend. 408 00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:53,280 Like the standoff that occurred on October 27, 1961, 409 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:55,680 in the heart of Berlin. 410 00:20:55,680 --> 00:20:57,220 For 16 hours, 411 00:20:57,220 --> 00:21:00,950 U.S. and Soviet Union tanks stood opposite one another 412 00:21:00,950 --> 00:21:03,960 in one of the only armed confrontations of the Cold War. 413 00:21:05,790 --> 00:21:08,230 So, all this Cold War conflict, 414 00:21:08,230 --> 00:21:10,730 all the tension comes down to this, 415 00:21:10,730 --> 00:21:14,270 the tanks facing off in the streets of Berlin. 416 00:21:14,270 --> 00:21:16,270 Aahh! 417 00:21:16,270 --> 00:21:18,700 -Gas, gas, gas! -Ay yah yah! 418 00:21:24,180 --> 00:21:26,750 Some experts believe the incident in Berlin 419 00:21:26,750 --> 00:21:31,150 was more dangerous than the Cuban Missile Crisis. 420 00:21:31,150 --> 00:21:34,590 It seems incredible to think of these tanks all facing off 421 00:21:34,590 --> 00:21:37,360 in the streets of Berlin over the Berlin Wall. 422 00:21:37,360 --> 00:21:39,560 It's a nightmare, you know, claustrophobic. 423 00:21:39,560 --> 00:21:42,760 All these guys, they realize they are the trigger point 424 00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:45,430 of global thermonuclear warfare. 425 00:21:45,430 --> 00:21:47,700 The potential for World War III 426 00:21:47,700 --> 00:21:50,340 was only averted when President John F. Kennedy 427 00:21:50,340 --> 00:21:53,240 contacted Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev 428 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:56,640 and convinced him to withdraw his tanks. 429 00:21:56,640 --> 00:21:59,240 The standoff was over. 430 00:21:59,250 --> 00:22:01,310 But the Berlin Wall remained. 431 00:22:04,390 --> 00:22:07,920 Its sudden presence shook Berlin. 432 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:10,460 The wall ran right through the middle of neighborhoods, 433 00:22:10,460 --> 00:22:15,030 splitting up families and separating loved ones. 434 00:22:15,030 --> 00:22:17,600 Those in the West enjoyed continued freedom, 435 00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:19,930 but life for the people trapped in the East 436 00:22:19,930 --> 00:22:23,270 was full of hardship. 437 00:22:23,270 --> 00:22:24,800 Hello, Stephan. 438 00:22:24,810 --> 00:22:25,740 How you doin'? 439 00:22:25,740 --> 00:22:27,140 Greetings. Nice to meet you. 440 00:22:27,140 --> 00:22:28,270 Nice to meet you. 441 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:36,620 Stephan Krawczyk is a notable folk musician 442 00:22:36,620 --> 00:22:39,250 who grew up in East Germany. 443 00:22:39,250 --> 00:22:41,220 He's brought me to the DDR Museum, 444 00:22:41,220 --> 00:22:45,360 which features a perfectly recreated East Berlin apartment. 445 00:22:45,360 --> 00:22:47,090 It's the best place in the world 446 00:22:47,090 --> 00:22:48,760 of an East German flat. 447 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:50,500 There you go. 448 00:22:50,500 --> 00:22:51,700 I mean, it's very typical. 449 00:22:51,700 --> 00:22:53,970 It's not bad. 450 00:22:53,970 --> 00:22:56,640 So, everyone had sort of the same thing, right? 451 00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:57,700 Really. Really. 452 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:04,640 As a professional musician in East Germany, 453 00:23:04,650 --> 00:23:07,850 Stephan needed to apply for a permit from the government 454 00:23:07,850 --> 00:23:10,380 in order to write and play. 455 00:23:10,380 --> 00:23:12,850 So, the music that you made had a message 456 00:23:12,850 --> 00:23:16,020 and it had to align with the ideology of East Germany, yes? 457 00:23:17,590 --> 00:23:20,330 Well, it was a development in the beginning. 458 00:23:20,330 --> 00:23:24,000 I started my career by winning a national song competition 459 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:27,070 and, back then, I was in line with everything that was wanted. 460 00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:32,140 Stephan was celebrated as a national artist, 461 00:23:32,140 --> 00:23:34,670 which was one of the highest recognitions. 462 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:37,940 But, in 1984, he moved to East Berlin 463 00:23:37,950 --> 00:23:40,010 and his life began to change. 464 00:23:40,010 --> 00:23:42,750 So, did you notice any discrepancies in the East, 465 00:23:42,750 --> 00:23:44,280 I mean, the iniquities of things? 466 00:23:45,490 --> 00:23:47,490 Definitely. The party leaders 467 00:23:47,490 --> 00:23:49,760 could buy all kinds of products from the West. 468 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:52,860 They had Western cars and most of them lived 469 00:23:52,860 --> 00:23:54,490 in the city district called Wandlitz 470 00:23:54,500 --> 00:23:56,900 and we called that the Western village. 471 00:23:56,900 --> 00:23:59,630 And, when they were driven home to Wandlitz from work, 472 00:23:59,630 --> 00:24:01,700 everybody had to stop their cars 473 00:24:01,700 --> 00:24:03,340 and there were huge traffic jams 474 00:24:03,340 --> 00:24:05,770 because they needed the roads for themselves. 475 00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:11,640 Stephan began to write songs about the inequalities he saw. 476 00:24:11,650 --> 00:24:14,750 It brought him to the attention of the East German authorities, 477 00:24:14,750 --> 00:24:17,980 who banned him from playing music altogether. 478 00:24:17,990 --> 00:24:21,020 But the government didn't stop there. 479 00:24:21,020 --> 00:24:22,990 What if everything you thought you knew 480 00:24:22,990 --> 00:24:26,060 about the people closest to you wasn't true? 481 00:24:26,060 --> 00:24:28,730 What if your friends and family were actually spying on you? 482 00:24:39,220 --> 00:24:41,290 Since the end of the Cold War, 483 00:24:41,290 --> 00:24:43,560 declassified documents have shed light 484 00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:47,500 on the inequality of life under a Communist regime. 485 00:24:47,500 --> 00:24:50,700 Many citizens in the East lived in poverty. 486 00:24:50,700 --> 00:24:55,100 Meanwhile, the governing elite had vast stately homes, wealth, 487 00:24:55,110 --> 00:24:57,710 even indoor swimming pools; 488 00:24:57,710 --> 00:25:00,180 and authorities were willing to go to great lengths 489 00:25:00,180 --> 00:25:02,380 to keep the status quo. 490 00:25:02,380 --> 00:25:05,780 The DDR Museum has recreated a surveillance room, 491 00:25:05,780 --> 00:25:08,250 the likes of which East German government officials 492 00:25:08,250 --> 00:25:12,250 could use to secretly listen in and record suspected dissidents. 493 00:25:14,390 --> 00:25:16,660 So, this would be a surveillance post 494 00:25:16,660 --> 00:25:18,930 that would be in a typical flat building? 495 00:25:18,930 --> 00:25:22,730 I mean, they would set up a post in the building? 496 00:25:22,730 --> 00:25:25,400 Yes. Well, in my case, the secret police had rented 497 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:28,340 the whole flat right in front of my wife's flat. 498 00:25:28,340 --> 00:25:30,010 So, they needed to listen in on you 499 00:25:30,010 --> 00:25:33,480 because you were suspected of doing what? 500 00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:35,340 I think they wanted to find out 501 00:25:35,350 --> 00:25:37,480 when I was calling somebody from the West 502 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:39,620 or meeting somebody from the West, 503 00:25:39,620 --> 00:25:41,150 because, then, they could use that 504 00:25:41,150 --> 00:25:45,960 to make me look like an enemy of the state, like a spy. 505 00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:49,490 Stephan was eventually arrested and imprisoned. 506 00:25:49,490 --> 00:25:51,360 The government agency responsible 507 00:25:51,360 --> 00:25:54,430 was the State Security Service, 508 00:25:54,430 --> 00:25:56,370 more commonly known as the Stasi. 509 00:25:59,340 --> 00:26:04,170 Today, their old headquarters have been turned into a museum. 510 00:26:04,170 --> 00:26:06,040 Described as one of the most repressive 511 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:08,940 intelligence organizations to ever have existed, 512 00:26:08,950 --> 00:26:13,450 at its peak, the Stasi had 91,000 full-time employees 513 00:26:13,450 --> 00:26:16,820 and, from a population of around 16 million people, 514 00:26:16,820 --> 00:26:20,560 the Stasi held files on almost half of them. 515 00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:22,320 After the fall of the Berlin Wall, 516 00:26:22,330 --> 00:26:25,460 the German Parliament passed a Stasi Records Law, 517 00:26:25,460 --> 00:26:28,330 which gave Germans the right to view their Stasi files. 518 00:26:30,970 --> 00:26:33,700 So, what is in this file that hold, generally, 519 00:26:33,700 --> 00:26:35,740 is the surveillance over the years. 520 00:26:35,740 --> 00:26:38,070 No. No. This is only a little part. 521 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:42,140 So just a sampling of a much bigger file on you? 522 00:26:42,150 --> 00:26:44,210 -Yes, a sample. - Wow. 523 00:26:44,210 --> 00:26:45,810 All right. I see a lot of black. 524 00:26:45,820 --> 00:26:47,350 What is this? - Names. 525 00:26:47,350 --> 00:26:50,790 Names from the people who observed me. 526 00:26:50,790 --> 00:26:52,420 All right, so, how many -- I mean, 527 00:26:52,420 --> 00:26:54,490 what did you find out from these files? 528 00:26:54,490 --> 00:26:58,260 I mean, how extensive was the network that was watching you? 529 00:26:58,260 --> 00:26:58,990 80. 530 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:00,500 -80 people? -80. 531 00:27:00,500 --> 00:27:02,160 80 people were listed in here, 532 00:27:02,170 --> 00:27:03,930 who were spying on you? 533 00:27:03,930 --> 00:27:05,270 -Yes. -Oh, my gosh. 534 00:27:05,270 --> 00:27:07,100 That's amazing. 535 00:27:07,100 --> 00:27:11,040 And who were these people? They were colleagues and -- 536 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:14,380 Colleagues and 537 00:27:14,380 --> 00:27:17,110 ...acquaintances and people I didn't know. 538 00:27:17,110 --> 00:27:18,850 And some people, like, for example, 539 00:27:18,850 --> 00:27:23,020 the owner of the bar I used to go to, and his wife. 540 00:27:23,020 --> 00:27:26,190 So, professional acquaintances, colleagues, 541 00:27:26,190 --> 00:27:28,860 the owners of venues that you played in, 542 00:27:28,860 --> 00:27:30,660 all of these, they had been organized 543 00:27:30,660 --> 00:27:32,530 -Yes. -into a network of people 544 00:27:32,530 --> 00:27:33,730 to watch you. 545 00:27:33,730 --> 00:27:35,360 This is overwhelming. 546 00:27:35,370 --> 00:27:38,870 How did this make you feel, to see this? 547 00:27:38,870 --> 00:27:41,740 It wasn't surprising, because I knew that observation 548 00:27:41,740 --> 00:27:44,010 had been going on for a long time. 549 00:27:44,010 --> 00:27:46,210 The only thing that really surprised me was 550 00:27:46,210 --> 00:27:47,940 the bad style it was written in. 551 00:27:47,950 --> 00:27:50,610 Okay. You were insulted. 552 00:27:50,610 --> 00:27:51,610 I'm a writer, you know. 553 00:27:51,620 --> 00:27:53,420 You were insulted by the writing. 554 00:27:53,420 --> 00:27:54,980 I understand. 555 00:27:54,990 --> 00:27:57,420 I don't know how you stay -- You're humorous about this. 556 00:27:57,420 --> 00:27:59,190 It's amazing to me. 557 00:27:59,190 --> 00:28:00,160 Wow. Yeah. 558 00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:02,060 In February 1988, 559 00:28:02,060 --> 00:28:04,660 Stephan was deported from East Germany. 560 00:28:07,030 --> 00:28:08,960 Despite the risk 561 00:28:08,970 --> 00:28:12,500 of being imprisoned, or even shot, by the Stasi, 562 00:28:12,500 --> 00:28:15,770 many East Germans were still willing to try and escape, 563 00:28:15,770 --> 00:28:17,240 and the danger was real. 564 00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:20,040 At least 140 people were killed, 565 00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:23,780 trying to get over, under, or around the wall. 566 00:28:23,780 --> 00:28:27,180 However, some were able to beat the odds. 567 00:28:27,180 --> 00:28:29,380 You'll be surprised to learn the extreme lengths 568 00:28:29,390 --> 00:28:30,850 they went to to do it. 569 00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:36,330 In October 1964, 570 00:28:36,330 --> 00:28:38,490 Joachim Neumann and his college friends 571 00:28:38,500 --> 00:28:40,830 dug a 500-foot-long passageway, 572 00:28:40,830 --> 00:28:43,000 named Tunnel 57, 573 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:46,570 for the 57 people who escaped through it. 574 00:28:46,570 --> 00:28:48,270 In May 1963, 575 00:28:48,270 --> 00:28:51,470 mechanic Heinz Meixner employed his engineering skills 576 00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:55,010 to modify his car and, with his girlfriend in the back, 577 00:28:55,010 --> 00:28:59,480 he limboed between the security barriers at Checkpoint Charlie. 578 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:03,080 Other people used ziplines to escape over the wall. 579 00:29:03,090 --> 00:29:05,550 Some even built homemade hot air balloons. 580 00:29:08,890 --> 00:29:11,490 And then, there's Hartmut Richter. 581 00:29:11,500 --> 00:29:12,830 Since he was a teenager, 582 00:29:12,830 --> 00:29:16,430 Hartmut had been disillusioned with his life in the East. 583 00:29:16,430 --> 00:29:19,030 But he couldn't imagine how far he'd be forced to go, 584 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:22,170 in order to escape to the West. 585 00:29:22,170 --> 00:29:24,310 In the summer of 1966, 586 00:29:24,310 --> 00:29:26,640 Richter came here, to the Teltow Canal, 587 00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:29,640 on the outskirts of Berlin, which, during the Cold War, 588 00:29:29,650 --> 00:29:31,650 formed the border between East and West 589 00:29:31,650 --> 00:29:32,850 in this part of the city. 590 00:29:35,650 --> 00:29:37,590 So, was it like this back in the day? 591 00:29:37,590 --> 00:29:39,860 Was it very woodsy and everything? 592 00:29:41,530 --> 00:29:42,560 A death zone. Okay. 593 00:29:46,530 --> 00:29:48,730 Mm-hmm. So, nothing like the nice, 594 00:29:48,730 --> 00:29:50,330 natural scenery we're seeing today. 595 00:29:58,540 --> 00:30:01,740 Hartmut picked a bridge from which he could access the canal. 596 00:30:01,750 --> 00:30:04,810 From there, he planned to swim to an unprotected part 597 00:30:04,820 --> 00:30:08,150 of the border wall, then climb across. 598 00:30:08,150 --> 00:30:09,350 So, this is the bridge, huh? 599 00:30:09,350 --> 00:30:10,820 This is the bridge, yeah. 600 00:30:10,820 --> 00:30:12,090 Why risk your life? 601 00:30:12,090 --> 00:30:14,260 I mean, why was life so bad 602 00:30:14,260 --> 00:30:16,860 that you were willing to risk being shot to get away? 603 00:30:19,130 --> 00:30:23,500 Well, it was a continuous story of familiarization, basically. 604 00:30:23,500 --> 00:30:27,300 For example, when I was 16, I already hated the regime 605 00:30:27,300 --> 00:30:29,970 and I was a fan of the Beatles and the Stones 606 00:30:29,970 --> 00:30:32,510 and I had long hair, and they wanted 607 00:30:32,510 --> 00:30:35,640 all the young people in the region to look neat, 608 00:30:35,650 --> 00:30:39,180 so they caught me and cut my hair short. 609 00:30:39,180 --> 00:30:41,720 So, I felt very humiliated by this 610 00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:45,150 and, um, you couldn't say it to, to anybody, 611 00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:47,660 that you had a different opinion on anything. 612 00:30:47,660 --> 00:30:49,860 Okay, so tell me exactly what happened. 613 00:30:49,860 --> 00:30:52,190 Give me the method of your escape. 614 00:30:54,870 --> 00:30:58,530 Next to the bridge, where you had lots of barbed wire there, 615 00:30:58,540 --> 00:31:00,870 and I had to dive from reeds to reeds 616 00:31:00,870 --> 00:31:04,140 because I could hear dogs and voices of the guards, 617 00:31:04,140 --> 00:31:05,810 and I knew that, along the banks, 618 00:31:05,810 --> 00:31:07,480 they had alarm systems in place, 619 00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:10,140 so, I couldn't climb up the banks. 620 00:31:14,950 --> 00:31:17,890 For four hours, Hartmut waded through the canal, 621 00:31:17,890 --> 00:31:21,090 fearful that, at any moment, he would be spotted and shot. 622 00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:27,700 I heard a dog and the dog was barking 623 00:31:27,700 --> 00:31:29,460 and I was hiding in my reeds 624 00:31:29,470 --> 00:31:31,570 and my jaws were clattering so much 625 00:31:31,570 --> 00:31:33,840 that I had to put my hand into my mouth 626 00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:35,700 to stop them from making such a noise, 627 00:31:35,710 --> 00:31:37,110 because I thought 628 00:31:37,110 --> 00:31:40,410 that the guards would hear my jaws clattering. 629 00:31:40,410 --> 00:31:42,710 Hartmut Richter was trying to flee repression 630 00:31:42,710 --> 00:31:44,710 in the Communist East. 631 00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:49,050 But what price would he end up paying in his bid for freedom? 632 00:31:49,050 --> 00:31:50,850 You're a testament to the human spirit, 633 00:31:50,850 --> 00:31:52,620 you know, fighting for freedom. 634 00:32:01,010 --> 00:32:03,280 During the Cold War, some people in the East 635 00:32:03,280 --> 00:32:06,290 went to extraordinary lengths to escape. 636 00:32:06,290 --> 00:32:09,420 Worn down by years of an authoritarian regime, 637 00:32:09,420 --> 00:32:11,860 Hartmut Richter fled to the West. 638 00:32:11,860 --> 00:32:13,830 But standing between him and freedom 639 00:32:13,830 --> 00:32:16,960 was an iron fence that marked the border. 640 00:32:19,570 --> 00:32:22,500 The dogs calmed down and they went away 641 00:32:22,500 --> 00:32:26,240 and then, um, I approached the side of the iron fence 642 00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:29,170 and there was a bit of a shadow there from the reeds 643 00:32:29,180 --> 00:32:31,980 and, in that place, I climbed over the iron fence, 644 00:32:31,980 --> 00:32:34,150 that was about three meters high. 645 00:32:34,150 --> 00:32:37,050 So, a combination of pure determination 646 00:32:37,050 --> 00:32:39,920 and a lot of luck gets you through. 647 00:32:42,060 --> 00:32:44,790 Remarkably, that isn't the end of Hartmut's story. 648 00:32:47,860 --> 00:32:51,330 In 1971, a new law was introduced, 649 00:32:51,330 --> 00:32:54,230 that would allow Hartmut to become a West German citizen 650 00:32:54,230 --> 00:32:58,640 and travel back to the East without any consequences. 651 00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:01,070 So, because of that law change, you were able to get back in 652 00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:03,880 and eventually help other people out, 653 00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:05,310 some 30 people, I understand. 654 00:33:08,550 --> 00:33:11,950 Yes, I helped 33 people flee the GDR 655 00:33:11,950 --> 00:33:15,620 and I did that by using the transit route with my car. 656 00:33:15,620 --> 00:33:18,020 I was helping these people because I saw myself 657 00:33:18,020 --> 00:33:21,230 in their situation, um, me as a refugee. 658 00:33:21,230 --> 00:33:24,360 I would so much have liked to be driven out in a trunk. 659 00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:25,930 That's why I was doing it. 660 00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:30,440 In March 1975, 661 00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:32,170 Hartmut was caught trying to smuggle 662 00:33:32,170 --> 00:33:34,370 his sister and her boyfriend out. 663 00:33:34,370 --> 00:33:35,570 All three were arrested. 664 00:33:35,580 --> 00:33:38,110 And, in 1976, 665 00:33:38,110 --> 00:33:41,110 Hartmut was sentenced to 15 years in prison. 666 00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:46,250 While locked up, he went on a hunger strike three times 667 00:33:46,250 --> 00:33:48,920 and spent four years in solitary confinement, 668 00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:52,390 before eventually being released in October 1980. 669 00:33:55,330 --> 00:33:57,930 I know that a lot of Americans, myself included, 670 00:33:57,930 --> 00:34:01,500 don't appreciate how free we've been all of our lives. 671 00:34:01,500 --> 00:34:04,200 It's someone like you who shows us that. 672 00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:07,340 I mean, you're a testament to how the human spirit, 673 00:34:07,340 --> 00:34:09,210 you know, fighting for freedom. 674 00:34:09,210 --> 00:34:10,580 It's amazing. 675 00:34:10,580 --> 00:34:12,180 Thanks so much. -Same. 676 00:34:15,850 --> 00:34:17,080 By the late '80s, 677 00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:18,820 relations between the United States 678 00:34:18,820 --> 00:34:20,920 and the Soviet Union were shifting. 679 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:22,120 In the Kremlin, 680 00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:24,560 Mikhail Gorbachev was more open-minded 681 00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:26,390 than his predecessors, 682 00:34:26,390 --> 00:34:30,090 and U.S. President Ronald Reagan glimpsed a chance at peace. 683 00:34:30,100 --> 00:34:31,560 Mr. Gorbachev, 684 00:34:31,570 --> 00:34:33,830 tear down this wall. 685 00:34:36,900 --> 00:34:41,110 In response, a wave of uprisings spread across Eastern Europe, 686 00:34:41,110 --> 00:34:44,640 with people demanding freedom to travel to the West. 687 00:34:44,640 --> 00:34:47,180 In an effort to pacify its citizens, 688 00:34:47,180 --> 00:34:49,780 the East German government called a press conference 689 00:34:49,780 --> 00:34:51,850 to announce lifting travel restrictions 690 00:34:51,850 --> 00:34:53,590 in the coming months. 691 00:34:53,590 --> 00:34:56,050 Politburo member Guenter Schabowski was asked 692 00:34:56,060 --> 00:34:58,390 when the changes might take effect. 693 00:34:58,390 --> 00:34:59,860 His response triggered 694 00:34:59,860 --> 00:35:04,060 the most consequential moment of the entire Cold War. 695 00:35:04,060 --> 00:35:08,630 He said, "Immediately, without delay." 696 00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:10,340 What most people don't realize is that 697 00:35:10,340 --> 00:35:14,070 the fall of the Berlin Wall happened sort of by accident. 698 00:35:14,070 --> 00:35:17,940 The confusing press conference prompted thousands of Berliners 699 00:35:17,940 --> 00:35:19,810 to come to the wall and see for themselves. 700 00:35:19,810 --> 00:35:21,750 One of the focal points is right here, 701 00:35:21,750 --> 00:35:24,680 the Bornholmer Strasse Checkpoint. 702 00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:28,820 Thousands of people gathered, demanding to cross to the West. 703 00:35:28,820 --> 00:35:31,220 Receiving no instructions from their superiors, 704 00:35:31,220 --> 00:35:34,190 the overwhelmed border guards opened the crossing point here 705 00:35:34,190 --> 00:35:37,500 on their own, and other gates soon followed. 706 00:35:40,700 --> 00:35:43,330 Shortly after, people began congregating 707 00:35:43,340 --> 00:35:45,300 on top of the Berlin Wall, 708 00:35:45,310 --> 00:35:47,910 and scenes unthinkable days earlier 709 00:35:47,910 --> 00:35:49,610 played out across the city. 710 00:35:55,450 --> 00:35:57,520 Berliners from both East and West 711 00:35:57,520 --> 00:36:01,450 linked hands and danced round their liberated territory. 712 00:36:01,450 --> 00:36:04,220 And it didn't stop there. 713 00:36:04,220 --> 00:36:05,990 Anti-Communist uprisings 714 00:36:05,990 --> 00:36:08,390 were springing up all over East Germany. 715 00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:11,530 What few people realize is how they jump-started the career 716 00:36:11,530 --> 00:36:13,330 of one of the world's most powerful men. 717 00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:18,540 In the East German city of Dresden, 718 00:36:18,540 --> 00:36:20,140 a crowd of angry protestors 719 00:36:20,140 --> 00:36:24,010 threatened to storm the local offices of the KGB. 720 00:36:24,010 --> 00:36:26,880 The building was saved by one quick-thinking officer, 721 00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:28,210 who tricked the mob into believing 722 00:36:28,220 --> 00:36:31,520 a troop of armed soldiers was inside. 723 00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:33,350 The defiant officer was none other 724 00:36:33,350 --> 00:36:37,020 than current Russian President Vladimir Putin. 725 00:36:37,020 --> 00:36:38,290 After the incident, 726 00:36:38,290 --> 00:36:42,830 Putin began a meteoric rise up the ranks of the KGB. 727 00:36:42,830 --> 00:36:46,030 Above all, it left Putin with huge anxiety 728 00:36:46,030 --> 00:36:49,430 about how easily political elites could be overthrown, 729 00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:52,040 something that motivates him to this day. 730 00:36:52,040 --> 00:36:54,610 A few months later, in October 1990, 731 00:36:54,610 --> 00:36:57,710 East Germany was reunified with the West; 732 00:36:57,710 --> 00:37:01,710 and, the year after that, the Soviet Union was dissolved. 733 00:37:01,720 --> 00:37:03,380 The Cold War was over. 734 00:37:03,380 --> 00:37:06,150 Or was it? 735 00:37:06,150 --> 00:37:08,450 Now, almost a quarter of a century on, 736 00:37:08,460 --> 00:37:11,760 relations with Russia have deteriorated again. 737 00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:13,590 It's left some people wondering -- 738 00:37:13,590 --> 00:37:16,330 Are we facing a new Cold War? 739 00:37:25,390 --> 00:37:27,460 Today, the news is dominated by stories 740 00:37:27,460 --> 00:37:31,060 about Russia, nuclear war, and espionage. 741 00:37:31,060 --> 00:37:35,830 It's led some to speculate that we're entering a new Cold War. 742 00:37:35,830 --> 00:37:37,200 But, 30 years on, 743 00:37:37,200 --> 00:37:39,700 what would the reality of a nuclear war be like? 744 00:37:44,140 --> 00:37:46,980 To find out, I've come to the heart of Berlin, 745 00:37:46,980 --> 00:37:49,840 with historian Nick Jackson. 746 00:37:49,850 --> 00:37:52,110 So, we're right in the middle of town here. 747 00:37:52,120 --> 00:37:53,850 That's right, the city center. 748 00:37:53,850 --> 00:37:55,520 Okay. 749 00:37:55,520 --> 00:37:57,790 Nick is showing me a Cold War relic 750 00:37:57,790 --> 00:37:59,820 that might have a new purpose today. 751 00:37:59,820 --> 00:38:01,890 And we're going down into a subway station. 752 00:38:01,890 --> 00:38:03,390 Well, it's not just a subway station, 753 00:38:03,390 --> 00:38:05,930 but, this is actually a multipurpose 754 00:38:05,930 --> 00:38:08,300 atomic, biological, and chemical bunker. 755 00:38:12,370 --> 00:38:14,700 Pankstrasse is one of the busiest stations 756 00:38:14,710 --> 00:38:17,610 in the city's U-Bahn subway system. 757 00:38:17,610 --> 00:38:20,840 But if we're facing nuclear war, this spot could be vital. 758 00:38:24,250 --> 00:38:26,510 That's crazy. 759 00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:28,120 Man, it's pristine, isn't it? 760 00:38:28,120 --> 00:38:30,250 So, this is, what? This is a bunker. 761 00:38:30,250 --> 00:38:32,920 This is one of the five entrances to this atomic-, 762 00:38:32,920 --> 00:38:35,220 biological-, chemical- weapons-proof bunker. 763 00:38:35,230 --> 00:38:37,460 Okay, so how many people would fit in here? 764 00:38:37,460 --> 00:38:39,990 The bunker is designed for 3,339. 765 00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:42,330 So, in the case of this nuclear attack, 766 00:38:42,330 --> 00:38:44,700 it's gonna be mayhem. 767 00:38:44,700 --> 00:38:46,470 It's gonna be a completely traumatized, 768 00:38:46,470 --> 00:38:48,270 panicking crowd and you're gonna need 769 00:38:48,270 --> 00:38:51,240 some way to control the number of people. 770 00:38:51,240 --> 00:38:52,440 And that's this door. 771 00:38:52,440 --> 00:38:55,740 So, this is what's called a people press. 772 00:38:55,750 --> 00:38:57,750 You can open it fully and allow the crowd 773 00:38:57,750 --> 00:38:59,880 just to storm in freely and then, gradually, 774 00:38:59,880 --> 00:39:01,820 you close that to limit the number of people 775 00:39:01,820 --> 00:39:03,150 that are coming through. 776 00:39:03,150 --> 00:39:04,290 So, there's a crowd of people. 777 00:39:04,290 --> 00:39:06,750 I'm the last guy in and I'm pushin' in 778 00:39:06,760 --> 00:39:08,890 and this thing is closing on me. -That's right. 779 00:39:08,890 --> 00:39:10,890 So, people would be squeezing through, 780 00:39:10,890 --> 00:39:12,760 but, as you can see, this bit gives. 781 00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:14,700 -Oh, I see. -So, at the final moment, 782 00:39:14,700 --> 00:39:16,160 it'll close on you. 783 00:39:16,170 --> 00:39:17,370 You could then push against it. 784 00:39:17,370 --> 00:39:19,230 -Gotcha. -And you get popped in or out. 785 00:39:19,240 --> 00:39:20,700 Then the door's shut and that's it. 786 00:39:20,700 --> 00:39:23,100 All right, so this is dealing with the reality that people 787 00:39:23,110 --> 00:39:24,440 are gonna be squeezing in there for their 788 00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:26,570 -That's right. -dear life. 789 00:39:26,580 --> 00:39:27,710 All right. And then they go 790 00:39:27,710 --> 00:39:29,110 through this door? -Exactly. 791 00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:36,680 The nuclear bunker at Pankstrasse Station 792 00:39:36,690 --> 00:39:38,520 is still being funded today, 793 00:39:38,520 --> 00:39:42,760 so, if there were an emergency, it could be put into action. 794 00:39:42,760 --> 00:39:46,130 I'm thinking how different it was to be in Germany 795 00:39:46,130 --> 00:39:47,860 in the Cold War, versus the United States. 796 00:39:47,860 --> 00:39:49,730 I mean, were people really hyped up 797 00:39:49,730 --> 00:39:53,400 and were they in drills, and so forth? 798 00:39:53,400 --> 00:39:55,540 There were drills and, of course, 799 00:39:55,540 --> 00:39:57,210 people were worried, 'cause you could start 800 00:39:57,210 --> 00:40:00,070 to see, at certain periods of the Cold War, 801 00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:01,740 that things might lead 802 00:40:01,740 --> 00:40:05,480 to the Cold War getting warmer, or hot. 803 00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:07,080 In fact, there's even a German word for that, 804 00:40:07,080 --> 00:40:10,950 this feeling of sort of a doomsday feeling, 805 00:40:10,950 --> 00:40:13,290 Weltuntergangstimmung, and I think people 806 00:40:13,290 --> 00:40:14,760 in West Berlin must've felt that 807 00:40:14,760 --> 00:40:18,830 more than others further to the west of Germany. 808 00:40:18,830 --> 00:40:20,330 Exactly. People in Iowa 809 00:40:20,330 --> 00:40:22,160 are digging their bunkers in their backyards, 810 00:40:22,170 --> 00:40:23,660 but, here, it's a whole different thing. 811 00:40:31,310 --> 00:40:33,410 Welcome to the dorm. 812 00:40:33,410 --> 00:40:34,940 It continues. 813 00:40:34,940 --> 00:40:36,040 Look at that! 814 00:40:36,050 --> 00:40:37,180 Oh, my goodness. 815 00:40:41,880 --> 00:40:43,650 Did they have a system for keeping 816 00:40:43,650 --> 00:40:44,850 families together, and so forth? 817 00:40:44,860 --> 00:40:47,260 I mean, the psychology of this is overwhelming. 818 00:40:47,260 --> 00:40:49,860 I think that's a very good point because, 819 00:40:49,860 --> 00:40:52,130 when you think of the entrance requirements, 820 00:40:52,130 --> 00:40:55,260 the doors would open and, as that people-press shut, 821 00:40:55,270 --> 00:40:56,870 it's possible that families were divided. 822 00:40:56,870 --> 00:40:58,400 -Yeah. -So, you imagine factoring that 823 00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:00,430 into the way people were feeling. 824 00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:01,540 "The future's unknown. 825 00:41:01,540 --> 00:41:03,200 Where's the other half of my family? 826 00:41:03,210 --> 00:41:04,670 Did they manage to get in? 827 00:41:04,670 --> 00:41:06,940 Are they still outside? What's happening outside?" 828 00:41:06,940 --> 00:41:08,210 Right. And nobody really knows 829 00:41:08,210 --> 00:41:10,210 what happens to people under those conditions, 830 00:41:10,210 --> 00:41:11,680 'cause we've never had a nuclear war. 831 00:41:20,360 --> 00:41:22,160 The truth is that nuclear weapons 832 00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:25,630 have only been used in combat two times -- 833 00:41:25,630 --> 00:41:28,360 on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 834 00:41:31,430 --> 00:41:33,700 Since then, we've lived with the threat 835 00:41:33,700 --> 00:41:38,740 that they might be used again and, today, that danger is real. 836 00:41:41,110 --> 00:41:42,240 In North Korea, 837 00:41:42,250 --> 00:41:44,510 we face a seemingly unpredictable threat 838 00:41:44,510 --> 00:41:47,150 and, though the old Soviet Union is gone, 839 00:41:47,150 --> 00:41:49,050 Russia, under Vladimir Putin, 840 00:41:49,050 --> 00:41:52,390 is still a repressive and aggressive opponent. 841 00:41:52,390 --> 00:41:55,320 It's like a new Cold War has begun. 842 00:41:55,330 --> 00:41:57,730 Or maybe the fairer question to ask is -- 843 00:41:57,730 --> 00:42:00,460 Did the old one ever end? 843 00:42:01,305 --> 00:43:01,324 -== [ www.OpenSubtitles.com ] ==-