1 00:00:52,500 --> 00:00:56,600 I'm in Slovakia. It's a bit of a shock after the flat lands of Poland 2 00:00:56,600 --> 00:01:01,140 to find yourself confronted with an 8,000 foot mountain range in the heart of Europe, 3 00:01:01,140 --> 00:01:04,660 but these are the High Tatras, part of the Carpathian range, 4 00:01:04,660 --> 00:01:07,740 and I've got to cross them to be in the last stage of my journey 5 00:01:07,740 --> 00:01:13,420 through Slovakia, the Czech Republic and into East Germany. 6 00:01:16,700 --> 00:01:19,700 Once through Slovakia and across the Czech Republic, 7 00:01:19,700 --> 00:01:22,540 I'll be following the River Elbe through eastern Germany, 8 00:01:22,540 --> 00:01:24,500 from Dresden to Berlin, 9 00:01:24,500 --> 00:01:28,580 then on to journey's end at Rugen Island on the Baltic coast. 10 00:01:34,940 --> 00:01:38,020 Slovakia is one of Europe's newest countries, 11 00:01:38,020 --> 00:01:43,020 splitting from Czechoslovakia by mutual agreement just 14 years ago. 12 00:01:44,300 --> 00:01:48,340 It was always considered the underachiever of the Czechoslovak partnership, 13 00:01:48,340 --> 00:01:50,940 with a slower, more rural way of life. 14 00:01:54,660 --> 00:01:57,700 In the mountain villages, little seems to have changed. 15 00:01:57,700 --> 00:02:00,940 Today the people who live here have killed a pig. 16 00:02:00,940 --> 00:02:03,940 Elena, a Slovak married to a Welshman, lives nearby. 17 00:02:03,940 --> 00:02:06,260 What are they gonna do now? 18 00:02:06,260 --> 00:02:08,860 Are they going to... I think they're going to... 19 00:02:08,860 --> 00:02:10,700 Obviously they need to clean it now. 20 00:02:10,700 --> 00:02:14,420 I think they boil the water, you see they're preparing the water outside. 21 00:02:14,420 --> 00:02:15,740 Yeah, yeah. 22 00:02:22,260 --> 00:02:23,740 You can help cleaning! 23 00:02:25,740 --> 00:02:28,780 Alphonse is saying you perhaps want to take your coat off! 24 00:02:28,780 --> 00:02:32,580 I don't want to do it at all, but I'll do it! 25 00:02:32,580 --> 00:02:34,940 LAUGHTER 26 00:02:38,300 --> 00:02:42,980 They're asking are you married? Yeah, yeah. Married. 27 00:02:42,980 --> 00:02:44,740 So don't do it like with the woman, 28 00:02:44,740 --> 00:02:47,100 you've got to go really for it! 29 00:02:47,100 --> 00:02:49,060 Go for it! That's right! 30 00:02:52,060 --> 00:02:53,300 I'm a city boy! 31 00:02:54,940 --> 00:02:57,220 I'm not used to all this! 32 00:02:57,220 --> 00:03:00,940 For young Slovakians, a day like this could soon be a thing of the past. 33 00:03:04,940 --> 00:03:08,540 And scenes like this confined to EU approved premises. 34 00:03:14,420 --> 00:03:15,660 That's great! 35 00:03:17,900 --> 00:03:21,340 Oh sorry! Oh dear! 36 00:03:21,340 --> 00:03:22,940 'Oh, dear indeed! 37 00:03:22,940 --> 00:03:26,020 'Next time, the ladies take safe sausage precautions!' 38 00:03:26,020 --> 00:03:28,180 I don't know the Slovakian for stop! 39 00:03:41,860 --> 00:03:44,220 'None of the pig will be wasted. 40 00:03:44,220 --> 00:03:47,380 'What isn't eaten today will be stored away for the winter.' 41 00:03:47,380 --> 00:03:50,380 This is all parts of the pig, isn't it? 42 00:03:53,860 --> 00:03:57,340 After work, I ask Elena about Slovakia. 43 00:03:57,340 --> 00:04:03,980 Did you feel that Slovakia had to be its own nation in order to sort of realise what it wanted? 44 00:04:03,980 --> 00:04:09,740 Probably, yes, yeah, because through the history, through the centuries, 45 00:04:09,740 --> 00:04:13,820 we always had Hungary and the Austrian monarchy over us 46 00:04:13,820 --> 00:04:18,660 and we never could say what we wanted or do what we wanted 47 00:04:18,660 --> 00:04:22,300 and we did what they told us and so it's a good time. 48 00:04:22,300 --> 00:04:25,220 We are learning to stand on our own, I think. 49 00:04:25,220 --> 00:04:26,980 It's funny really, isn't it? 50 00:04:26,980 --> 00:04:29,260 This whole process seems to be in Europe going on 51 00:04:29,260 --> 00:04:32,620 of interconnections through the European Union, 52 00:04:32,620 --> 00:04:35,100 through transport and all that sort of thing. 53 00:04:35,100 --> 00:04:38,980 At the same time, more and more small nations springing up 54 00:04:38,980 --> 00:04:42,980 who feel they can only realise what that nation wants by being independent. 55 00:04:42,980 --> 00:04:46,260 DRUNKEN SINGING 56 00:04:49,780 --> 00:04:52,700 'At a time like this, the old songs are always the best... 57 00:04:53,900 --> 00:04:56,380 '..even if no-one can remember them!' 58 00:04:56,380 --> 00:04:58,460 # Oom-pa, oom-pa, ya-ya-ya... # 59 00:04:59,820 --> 00:05:03,100 You're making that up! 60 00:05:03,100 --> 00:05:05,180 Even I know that! We've caught him! 61 00:05:07,140 --> 00:05:10,020 SINGING CONTINUES 62 00:05:10,020 --> 00:05:13,620 I'm almost tempted to say it's been a pig of a day, but I won't! 63 00:05:18,820 --> 00:05:21,820 Well, it's time to leave the snows of the High Tatras behind 64 00:05:21,820 --> 00:05:26,220 and back onto the plain and west to my penultimate country... 65 00:05:26,220 --> 00:05:27,900 the Czech Republic. 66 00:05:46,220 --> 00:05:50,500 Being in the European Union has helped the Slovaks emerge from the Czech shadow 67 00:05:50,500 --> 00:05:56,260 and tourism in the Tatras is one of the big hopes in an increasingly optimistic future. 68 00:06:13,340 --> 00:06:16,380 I've crossed my 19th border into Brno, 69 00:06:16,380 --> 00:06:18,580 the second city of the Czech Republic. 70 00:06:20,540 --> 00:06:24,780 Brno is a solid, manufacturing town with a few surprises off the main drag. 71 00:06:26,540 --> 00:06:28,580 In this unglamorous little theatre, 72 00:06:28,580 --> 00:06:31,500 the Czech tradition of satirical mime is carried on 73 00:06:31,500 --> 00:06:35,340 by one of its most illustrious practitioners, Ctibor Turba. 74 00:06:35,340 --> 00:06:39,820 Could you be so kind, 75 00:06:39,820 --> 00:06:44,780 try to play in the time, 76 00:06:44,780 --> 00:06:49,780 try to express, as big as possible, 77 00:06:49,780 --> 00:06:54,420 palette of different expressions of red colour. 78 00:07:02,380 --> 00:07:05,140 Martina, asked to mime the colour red, 79 00:07:05,140 --> 00:07:08,780 seems to set herself almost literally on fire! 80 00:07:15,140 --> 00:07:16,980 OK. Fine. Yeah. 81 00:07:16,980 --> 00:07:19,660 Michael, may I ask you, 82 00:07:19,660 --> 00:07:26,620 could you be so kind and could you make a study of "le coq"? 83 00:07:27,620 --> 00:07:29,660 Oh God! 84 00:07:29,660 --> 00:07:33,420 Could you use this mask? 85 00:07:33,420 --> 00:07:35,940 This Capitano, no? 86 00:07:35,940 --> 00:07:40,180 If there is some correspondence 87 00:07:40,180 --> 00:07:44,420 between the character of the cock and the character of Capitano. 88 00:07:44,420 --> 00:07:46,380 Let's try. 89 00:07:46,380 --> 00:07:52,260 And don't forget now, this mask, more moments, longer. 90 00:07:52,260 --> 00:07:54,780 Don't forget to stop 91 00:07:54,780 --> 00:08:00,460 to make so-called representative positions. 92 00:08:18,580 --> 00:08:23,780 'I model my performance on everything I wanted to be when I was young, but never dared.' 93 00:08:35,820 --> 00:08:37,460 'They love it!' 94 00:08:39,740 --> 00:08:45,780 Now that you're free, nobody's oppressing you, is that sense of humour still... 95 00:08:45,780 --> 00:08:50,260 is it still satirical? Is it still having a go at establishment? 96 00:08:50,260 --> 00:08:56,540 Stupid... but not this. This element of this thing can easily change, 97 00:08:56,540 --> 00:09:01,460 but in details, there are still so many problems 98 00:09:01,460 --> 00:09:07,780 and we can be on occasions menacing so I know people 99 00:09:07,780 --> 00:09:13,660 which go on this excellent humour which makes some sort of cleaning. 100 00:09:13,660 --> 00:09:15,980 It's like kidneys or... 101 00:09:15,980 --> 00:09:17,380 Yes, I know, kidneys... 102 00:09:17,380 --> 00:09:19,260 Kidneys which clean your blood! 103 00:09:28,100 --> 00:09:33,900 I feel people like Turba are happier with something to fight against, 104 00:09:33,900 --> 00:09:38,780 In the new Europe, we're all theoretically free and of course encouraged to keep moving. 105 00:09:49,980 --> 00:09:54,460 A smooth, tilting train that's come from Vienna carries me northwards 106 00:09:54,460 --> 00:10:00,100 and pilsner lager, one of the Czechs' finest contributions to the world, helps the journey slip by. 107 00:10:11,500 --> 00:10:17,980 Nestling in the western mountains of the Czech Republic is a town where all excess can be cured, 108 00:10:17,980 --> 00:10:20,420 in excessively plush surroundings. 109 00:10:25,340 --> 00:10:28,540 Karlovy Vary, once the German town of Carlsbad, 110 00:10:28,540 --> 00:10:30,780 sits on a bed of healing waters 111 00:10:30,780 --> 00:10:34,780 and there are people who tell you how best to make use of them. 112 00:10:38,220 --> 00:10:43,620 Milada, who runs this clinic, has treated such icons of new Europe as Gorbachev 113 00:10:43,620 --> 00:10:45,780 and Czech President, Vaclav Havel, 114 00:10:45,780 --> 00:10:47,620 so she's a force to be reckoned with. 115 00:10:49,860 --> 00:10:56,580 I prescribe you now how you drunk the water, and to this, you make two or three treatments every day, OK? 116 00:10:56,580 --> 00:10:59,660 Right. This water which is very, very special. 117 00:10:59,660 --> 00:11:05,940 Our water. We drink the water from these cups. 118 00:11:05,940 --> 00:11:12,220 We drink the water every time on empty stomach because you will see... 119 00:11:15,220 --> 00:11:18,740 We wash mechanically all digestive system. 120 00:11:18,740 --> 00:11:22,500 Treating it special! I think so, yes, yes! 121 00:11:22,500 --> 00:11:27,260 Because when the people have constipation, they must drink water at 30 degrees Celsius? 122 00:11:27,260 --> 00:11:30,660 My body just doesn't know what it's got to look forward to! 123 00:11:30,660 --> 00:11:33,460 And how long is this programme? 124 00:11:33,460 --> 00:11:36,980 You drink the water around 10 minutes... How many days? 125 00:11:36,980 --> 00:11:39,340 The best is 20 days. 20 days. 126 00:11:39,340 --> 00:11:42,740 Because every day we drink around 5 cups. 127 00:11:42,740 --> 00:11:47,540 It is 1 litre, and when you really drink 20 litres, 128 00:11:47,540 --> 00:11:50,700 your liver can regenerate. 129 00:12:07,220 --> 00:12:10,700 You deal with the heart, as well as the body? Uh-huh! 130 00:12:10,700 --> 00:12:11,980 The line down the body? 131 00:12:11,980 --> 00:12:17,140 Yeah. Complex. Our body, our mind and our soul. 132 00:12:17,140 --> 00:12:22,820 When everything is healthy and happy, it means we can speak about the... 133 00:12:22,820 --> 00:12:30,020 Can you tell from somebody quite quickly whether they're happy or unhappy, or likely to be depressed? 134 00:12:30,020 --> 00:12:33,500 I think love is very important in life 135 00:12:33,500 --> 00:12:39,300 because everybody who is in love, they are happy and they are much nicer! 136 00:12:39,300 --> 00:12:43,700 Laugh? Love is very good. 137 00:12:43,700 --> 00:12:46,260 But also love is very painful for some people! 138 00:12:46,260 --> 00:12:48,700 They have very unhappy... affairs? 139 00:12:48,700 --> 00:12:52,260 I think you've found... The second... 140 00:12:52,260 --> 00:12:58,460 the woman found the good man and it is really this very good love 141 00:12:58,460 --> 00:13:01,260 which means they must be happy because life is... 142 00:13:01,260 --> 00:13:02,820 Good sex, really! 143 00:13:02,820 --> 00:13:09,220 Sex is very important because of all the hormones situated in the body, 144 00:13:09,220 --> 00:13:15,020 it's very important and I think that people don't make enough love and sex now 145 00:13:15,020 --> 00:13:20,340 because they don't have time for this now. It needs time, too. 146 00:13:20,340 --> 00:13:22,380 Time is very important. 147 00:13:22,380 --> 00:13:24,900 Can you give me a prescription? 148 00:13:27,860 --> 00:13:31,460 'So star-studded is Milada's clientele that I find myself 149 00:13:31,460 --> 00:13:36,020 'in a bagful of ice-cold CO2, next to the current Miss World!' 150 00:13:36,020 --> 00:13:38,500 Hello! Hello! 151 00:13:38,500 --> 00:13:44,780 You're obviously radiant! I think white is definitely your colour! 152 00:13:44,780 --> 00:13:49,620 'Tatiana Kucharova is the first Czech girl ever to win the title.' 153 00:13:49,620 --> 00:13:52,220 It's like your body is bursting. 154 00:13:56,260 --> 00:13:58,340 It feels like the wind in the willies! 155 00:14:02,460 --> 00:14:06,700 'The carbon dioxide wind treatment is intended to dilate the capillaries, 156 00:14:06,700 --> 00:14:10,140 'causing the skin to radiate a smooth, therapeutic glow.' 157 00:14:14,020 --> 00:14:18,660 Are you feeling any better for this? Are your... 158 00:14:18,660 --> 00:14:21,300 I think it will come later! 159 00:14:21,300 --> 00:14:23,340 Your skin is sort of opening up and... 160 00:14:23,340 --> 00:14:26,780 I'm glad something's happening! 161 00:14:28,060 --> 00:14:30,260 It's a bit like going to the dry cleaners! 162 00:14:33,740 --> 00:14:38,460 Have you ever been in a bag, a plastic bag, before? No, no, never! 163 00:14:38,460 --> 00:14:40,100 This is the first time! 164 00:14:40,100 --> 00:14:42,700 Me too! And I'm older than you! 165 00:14:42,700 --> 00:14:45,540 How have I missed out on this all my life? 166 00:14:45,540 --> 00:14:51,340 Anyway, sleep, we have to sleep, so here we go. 167 00:15:04,340 --> 00:15:06,260 It's an odd feeling, isn't it? 168 00:15:06,260 --> 00:15:11,340 I think you need really to have someone to tell you that this is good for you, 169 00:15:11,340 --> 00:15:17,340 otherwise it's like sitting in a warm, wet bath with a lot of gravel up your backside! 170 00:15:17,340 --> 00:15:18,820 It's quite dirty! 171 00:15:18,820 --> 00:15:20,220 It is quite dirty! 172 00:15:20,220 --> 00:15:23,660 So have you been to Karlovy Vary many times? 173 00:15:23,660 --> 00:15:28,220 Yeah. I've been here many times, but this is the first time here in the spa centre. 174 00:15:41,660 --> 00:15:45,820 The success of the private clinics may make Karlovy Vary glow with health, 175 00:15:45,820 --> 00:15:48,700 but the town's most valuable resource is free. 176 00:15:48,700 --> 00:15:52,140 Every day, the place is full of people taking nature's medicine. 177 00:16:07,740 --> 00:16:10,260 You have to drink it fresh! 178 00:16:10,260 --> 00:16:12,500 Fresh, yeah, yeah, fresh... 179 00:16:12,500 --> 00:16:14,580 And here it comes up from the earth. 180 00:16:17,900 --> 00:16:20,140 OK. 181 00:16:20,140 --> 00:16:22,780 Well... Mmm! 182 00:16:26,660 --> 00:16:30,340 The clinics may be all futuristic hi-tech, but on the street, 183 00:16:30,340 --> 00:16:34,340 there's traditional porcelain mugs and elegant old colonnades. 184 00:16:34,340 --> 00:16:38,300 Here's another one, and I've heard they get hotter? 185 00:16:38,300 --> 00:16:41,260 Is that right, as you go along? Yes, it is. And, oh... 62. 186 00:16:41,260 --> 00:16:44,740 62 it says, yes. 187 00:16:44,740 --> 00:16:47,780 It's quite hot, isn't it? 188 00:16:47,780 --> 00:16:50,220 Yes, it is! Well, here we go! 189 00:16:53,300 --> 00:16:55,460 Now I actually prefer it that way! 190 00:16:55,460 --> 00:16:57,380 Yeah? You like it better? Yeah. 191 00:16:57,380 --> 00:16:59,340 I like it better than the lukewarm. 192 00:16:59,340 --> 00:17:01,340 This is like a sort of really hot cuppa. 193 00:17:01,340 --> 00:17:05,060 So we're not the only... We're not the first ones in history? 194 00:17:05,060 --> 00:17:08,260 No we're not! A lot of famous people drink this water. 195 00:17:08,260 --> 00:17:13,340 For example, Goethe, Beethoven, Karl Marx and a lot of others. 196 00:17:13,340 --> 00:17:15,140 And now Miss World! 197 00:17:15,140 --> 00:17:17,820 Yeah! Maybe I'm the first one! 198 00:17:27,380 --> 00:17:31,460 Karlovy Vary fosters the impression that time has stood still, 199 00:17:31,460 --> 00:17:36,940 an illusion reinforced tonight at the Hotel Pupp with an aristocrats ball. 200 00:17:39,180 --> 00:17:40,820 New Europe seems a world away, 201 00:17:40,820 --> 00:17:45,060 as those from rich and well-connected families greet each other like old friends. 202 00:17:47,500 --> 00:17:49,540 But there are occasional impostors! 203 00:17:49,540 --> 00:17:52,780 Enjoy your evening! Thanks. Pleasure to meet you. 204 00:17:52,780 --> 00:17:55,220 You're too kind. 205 00:17:56,500 --> 00:17:57,900 Thank you. 206 00:17:57,900 --> 00:18:02,140 Hello, hello! We've come all the way from London to see this. 207 00:18:02,140 --> 00:18:05,300 Mr World! I'm Mr World? I'll think about that, actually! 208 00:18:05,300 --> 00:18:10,180 That's very good, yes. Maybe you are if you're with Miss World. Thank you, thank you very much. 209 00:18:10,180 --> 00:18:12,860 Good evening. Thanks. Mr and Mrs World! 210 00:18:12,860 --> 00:18:14,900 That's rather good, that. 211 00:18:16,020 --> 00:18:19,100 It's a spectacular room, 212 00:18:19,100 --> 00:18:23,820 but I think Tatiana and I have made the mistake of sitting down too soon! 213 00:18:25,780 --> 00:18:28,060 It's an amazing place! 214 00:18:28,060 --> 00:18:29,940 It's a different kind of world. 215 00:18:29,940 --> 00:18:32,580 Yeah, a different kind of world. 216 00:18:32,580 --> 00:18:35,180 Totally different! Yeah. Me too. 217 00:18:35,180 --> 00:18:37,180 We're not aristocrats! 218 00:18:37,180 --> 00:18:38,420 No, we are not! 219 00:18:41,460 --> 00:18:45,660 It's interesting to observe though, isn't it? 220 00:18:45,660 --> 00:18:47,620 Don't you like to look at it? 221 00:18:47,620 --> 00:18:51,380 This is a world I don't really know much about, see how they're... 222 00:18:51,380 --> 00:18:54,340 'Suddenly, an aristocrat spots me.' 223 00:18:54,340 --> 00:18:56,340 Hello, Mr Palin! How are you? 224 00:18:56,340 --> 00:18:58,420 Thank you, thank you! 225 00:18:58,420 --> 00:19:03,940 I was admiring your spectacular medal...and this is Tatiana. 226 00:19:03,940 --> 00:19:06,580 Nice to meet you! 227 00:19:06,580 --> 00:19:08,980 Nice to meet you. What is this? 228 00:19:08,980 --> 00:19:14,260 It's the Sicilian Order of the Knights of the Collar of St Agatha, yeah! 229 00:19:14,260 --> 00:19:17,100 The Sicilian Order of the Knights of the...? 230 00:19:17,100 --> 00:19:20,940 The Knights of the Collar of St Agatha, yeah? You have... 231 00:19:20,940 --> 00:19:24,100 From the 11th century, you had three royal houses in Italy. 232 00:19:24,100 --> 00:19:29,060 You had the House of Aragon, you had the House of Savoy and Bourbon. 233 00:19:29,060 --> 00:19:32,340 The Bourbon is the... 234 00:19:32,340 --> 00:19:36,980 'My great grandmother was an Irish orphan but I don't think I want to bring that one up!' 235 00:19:36,980 --> 00:19:39,900 ..the House of Aragon is sort of the Collar of St Agatha's. 236 00:19:39,900 --> 00:19:42,020 If you go to Catania... 237 00:19:42,020 --> 00:19:43,940 Yes, Catania. I... You can always... 238 00:19:43,940 --> 00:19:45,660 In Sicily, yeah. 239 00:19:45,660 --> 00:19:48,940 In February, we always have the Feast of St Agatha, 240 00:19:48,940 --> 00:19:50,540 so that's the main event for us. 241 00:20:01,380 --> 00:20:05,540 The period flavour of the Aristocrats Ball is so immaculately recreated 242 00:20:05,540 --> 00:20:09,380 that one can almost forget that two world wars ever happened! 243 00:20:09,380 --> 00:20:12,900 I mean these people's families organised the Crusades! 244 00:20:29,020 --> 00:20:31,860 Prague, an hour's drive from Karlovy Vary, 245 00:20:31,860 --> 00:20:37,540 was spared the devastation the Second World War inflicted on so many European capitals. 246 00:20:37,540 --> 00:20:41,780 It's splendidly rich in history, but doesn't take itself too seriously. 247 00:20:50,740 --> 00:20:53,180 Prague's architecture is a bit of everything, 248 00:20:53,180 --> 00:20:56,220 from the Gothic houses by the cathedral on the hill 249 00:20:56,220 --> 00:21:00,540 to the majestic and neo-classical bulk of the Rudolfinum Concert Hall. 250 00:21:09,460 --> 00:21:13,500 The 600-year-old Charles Bridge is packed 20 hours a day, 251 00:21:13,500 --> 00:21:18,260 as people squeeze down the tourist trail they call "The Golden Mile". 252 00:21:19,820 --> 00:21:22,020 But there is a quieter way to see the city. 253 00:21:22,020 --> 00:21:25,900 For the price of a pedalo, I get a view not just of Prague, 254 00:21:25,900 --> 00:21:30,020 but of the Czech Republic from local girl, Bara Vatsalikova. 255 00:21:30,020 --> 00:21:35,660 Do they regard any of the nations and the countries around as their natural allies? 256 00:21:35,660 --> 00:21:39,260 Is there one sort of people that the Czechs tend to like more than others, 257 00:21:39,260 --> 00:21:42,940 or understand better than others? 258 00:21:42,940 --> 00:21:48,220 I think we get along with the Slovaks the most of course because of the link, 259 00:21:48,220 --> 00:21:54,300 but we also think that the Slovakian girls come to the Czech Republic to steal our good-looking boys, 260 00:21:54,300 --> 00:22:00,740 and in general, I think we don't much like Germans, 261 00:22:00,740 --> 00:22:04,660 because of all the oppressions and all the wars, 262 00:22:04,660 --> 00:22:09,300 and it's been like thousands of years of our fights with Germans, 263 00:22:09,300 --> 00:22:12,180 and we think they're a little too strict 264 00:22:12,180 --> 00:22:17,860 and not any flexible and no fun at all! 265 00:22:17,860 --> 00:22:20,700 'I daren't ask about the British! 266 00:22:20,700 --> 00:22:23,180 'Our stag parties love Prague!' 267 00:22:23,180 --> 00:22:25,380 What's essentially Czech, do you think? 268 00:22:26,780 --> 00:22:29,020 I think it's the humour. 269 00:22:30,420 --> 00:22:32,820 I think it's the dark humour. 270 00:22:32,820 --> 00:22:37,540 We're very ironic and sarcastic and we like it about ourselves. 271 00:22:37,540 --> 00:22:38,820 We... 272 00:22:42,060 --> 00:22:46,980 We like to make fun of everything and take everything lighter than like... 273 00:22:46,980 --> 00:22:50,020 from the lighter perspective. 274 00:22:50,020 --> 00:22:53,820 Are you very sociable? Well, I am! 275 00:22:53,820 --> 00:22:57,660 I am and definitely, I think so. 276 00:22:57,660 --> 00:22:59,500 I think Czechs are very social. 277 00:22:59,500 --> 00:23:02,740 You can see people hanging out together all the time. 278 00:23:04,420 --> 00:23:09,860 It's very based on friendship and community and branches of people that gather together. 279 00:23:09,860 --> 00:23:13,540 It's not only that you one friend but basically people 280 00:23:13,540 --> 00:23:18,180 usually have at least like a group of 10 friends that they hang out with. 281 00:23:24,580 --> 00:23:29,940 Bara's friends are based around a singing group to which she belongs called The Yellow Sisters. 282 00:23:29,940 --> 00:23:35,620 Tonight they and their band will be playing at a riverside castle at Usti. I tag along. 283 00:23:46,540 --> 00:23:49,900 As the industrial sprawl of Northern Bohemia slips by, 284 00:23:49,900 --> 00:23:52,660 the Yellow Sisters discuss the show. 285 00:23:57,620 --> 00:24:03,260 All of them have studied in West Africa, and their music reflects a strong African influence. 286 00:24:05,180 --> 00:24:07,340 HE PLAYS 287 00:24:07,340 --> 00:24:10,660 SHE SINGS 288 00:24:18,500 --> 00:24:20,860 This seems very Czech! 289 00:24:20,860 --> 00:24:25,460 I can't imagine an English band being allowed to do this sort of thing in the restaurant car! 290 00:24:27,100 --> 00:24:30,260 THEY SING HARMONIES 291 00:24:45,340 --> 00:24:50,180 When the castle at Usti finally comes in sight, I feel I know the concert pretty well, 292 00:24:50,180 --> 00:24:55,260 and privileged to have had my ringside seat in the restaurant car, I head back to Prague. 293 00:25:07,780 --> 00:25:11,620 The thousands of graves huddled together in the city's Jewish Cemetery 294 00:25:11,620 --> 00:25:15,700 reflect the size and strength of the old Jewish community in Prague, 295 00:25:15,700 --> 00:25:23,100 but for people like Lisa Mikova, life changed catastrophically when the Nazis marched in, in 1939. 296 00:25:26,980 --> 00:25:31,620 She and her family were sent north, to the old garrison town of Terezin. 297 00:25:38,180 --> 00:25:42,180 Under the chilling motto, "Work makes you free" 298 00:25:42,180 --> 00:25:44,620 an overcrowded ghetto was created. 299 00:25:46,100 --> 00:25:51,100 It was here in 1944 that the Nazis made a propaganda film to be called 300 00:25:51,100 --> 00:25:53,500 The Fuhrer Gives The Jews a City. 301 00:25:59,940 --> 00:26:03,740 The forced smiles, the hastily cleaned up areas 302 00:26:03,740 --> 00:26:07,220 help blind the world, including Red Cross inspection teams, 303 00:26:07,220 --> 00:26:10,420 to the realities of the Nazis genocidal policy. 304 00:26:12,660 --> 00:26:16,820 This was something that happened anyway? Yes. This really happened. 305 00:26:16,820 --> 00:26:18,140 That really happened. 306 00:26:37,660 --> 00:26:41,500 Here are the gardens. And here you see the gardens. 307 00:26:41,500 --> 00:26:43,580 There were around... 308 00:26:43,580 --> 00:26:51,300 There were a lot of vegetable fields, and there we had to work. 309 00:26:51,300 --> 00:26:54,340 Of course the vegetables were not for us. 310 00:26:54,340 --> 00:27:01,420 The Germans came every second day with cars to carry the vegetables away 311 00:27:01,420 --> 00:27:05,700 and there were guards and when they saw 312 00:27:05,700 --> 00:27:09,740 that we would eat one tomato or one turnip 313 00:27:09,740 --> 00:27:13,980 it was terrible. You were punished... 314 00:27:15,580 --> 00:27:20,580 The truth of Terezin is that of 144,000 Jews who passed through, 315 00:27:20,580 --> 00:27:27,940 121,000 died, either here, on forced marches or in the concentration camps they were sent to. 316 00:27:27,940 --> 00:27:32,740 I lost my parents here. I saw them for the last time, 317 00:27:32,740 --> 00:27:40,420 but then when I came to Auschwitz and then to the work camp near Dresden to Freibach, 318 00:27:40,420 --> 00:27:44,460 so we remembered Terezin as a spa. 319 00:27:46,100 --> 00:27:50,780 In February 1945, allied bombers carried out a massive raid on Dresden, 320 00:27:50,780 --> 00:27:55,700 wiping out its historic centre and killing an estimated 35,000 people. 321 00:27:55,700 --> 00:28:02,300 We lived so near Dresden that we saw this bombardment, 322 00:28:02,300 --> 00:28:07,180 these two in February. They locked us in the factory 323 00:28:07,180 --> 00:28:11,020 and we saw the planes and I must say today 324 00:28:11,020 --> 00:28:15,580 that we were so happy when we saw the English planes, 325 00:28:15,580 --> 00:28:19,140 yes, and it was of course a possibility 326 00:28:19,140 --> 00:28:24,860 that something could also destroy our factory where we were. 327 00:28:25,740 --> 00:28:29,820 We were locked up, but we didn't think about that 328 00:28:29,820 --> 00:28:35,900 and we were so happy that we didn't think about our deaths in Dresden. 329 00:28:35,900 --> 00:28:41,380 And so and so. We said, "Oh, something, something yes, 330 00:28:41,380 --> 00:28:47,860 "they do something, they will help us. They will free us, yes." 331 00:28:47,860 --> 00:28:54,180 This was our thinking and they gave us so many strengths. 332 00:28:54,180 --> 00:29:00,660 When I say something to a German he looks at me if I am normal, 333 00:29:00,660 --> 00:29:03,780 but it was like that. 334 00:29:11,700 --> 00:29:14,900 Today's Dresden is a symbol of resurrection... 335 00:29:14,900 --> 00:29:18,060 a rebuilt city in a reunited Germany. 336 00:29:18,060 --> 00:29:21,180 62 years ago, this was a burning shell. 337 00:29:21,180 --> 00:29:25,060 Now beside the banks of the Elba, the Saxon capital is reborn. 338 00:29:30,540 --> 00:29:35,820 There are symbols of reconciliation, like the cross made by a British bomber pilot's son. 339 00:29:35,820 --> 00:29:38,660 It sits on top of the rebuilt Frauenkirke, 340 00:29:38,660 --> 00:29:42,980 which had been left as a pile of rubble by the communists of the GDR - 341 00:29:42,980 --> 00:29:44,740 the German Democratic Republic. 342 00:29:46,380 --> 00:29:49,220 High on the dome, I meet Felix Shoga. 343 00:29:50,620 --> 00:29:52,860 Were you born and bred in Dresden? 344 00:29:52,860 --> 00:29:54,340 I was, in 1986. 345 00:29:54,340 --> 00:29:55,980 I'm 21-years old right now. 346 00:29:55,980 --> 00:29:59,580 And the memories of the bombing and that awful bombing in 1945, 347 00:29:59,580 --> 00:30:02,340 was that something you sort of learned about at school? 348 00:30:02,340 --> 00:30:08,180 My grandma told me about it. She saw the bombing from about 20kms away and the sky was burning and... 349 00:30:08,180 --> 00:30:14,420 she still doesn't talk about a lot, but it's a part of our history 350 00:30:14,420 --> 00:30:17,700 and even the German Democratic Republic is a part of our history, 351 00:30:17,700 --> 00:30:19,820 even though I don't know much about it. 352 00:30:19,820 --> 00:30:22,220 I was three when the Berlin Wall fell, 353 00:30:22,220 --> 00:30:24,940 and it's a part of our identity, I guess. 354 00:30:24,940 --> 00:30:27,580 Yes. So most people think it's a good thing? 355 00:30:27,580 --> 00:30:29,860 It's a good thing, yeah! Unite? 356 00:30:29,860 --> 00:30:32,300 Yeah. You see I don't know much about it, 357 00:30:32,300 --> 00:30:37,180 but what my parents tell me is that not everything was wrong in the German Democratic Republic. 358 00:30:37,180 --> 00:30:39,980 I guess it was a larger community. 359 00:30:39,980 --> 00:30:43,860 Everybody was helping each other and yeah, not everything was wrong. 360 00:30:43,860 --> 00:30:47,340 That's what they always tell me. Yeah, yeah, interesting, yeah. 361 00:30:47,340 --> 00:30:52,180 But there is... now they say, some people still have the wall in their heads. 362 00:30:52,180 --> 00:30:56,860 It's a symbol of metaphor and even though now it's 17 years after reunification, 363 00:30:56,860 --> 00:31:00,900 there is still segregation between the Eastern part and the Western part 364 00:31:00,900 --> 00:31:06,740 and it's probably gonna take another generation to get rid of that wall in the heads of people. 365 00:31:07,780 --> 00:31:13,340 We have a last chance to admire the flamboyant skyline of the new Old Dresden 366 00:31:13,340 --> 00:31:17,780 as we slide away down the Elba, on Europe's oldest steamboat service. 367 00:31:27,340 --> 00:31:30,100 It's a mixture of hi-tech and low-tech. 368 00:31:36,460 --> 00:31:40,660 In almost anywhere else but Germany, machinery like this would have been in a museum, 369 00:31:40,660 --> 00:31:43,980 but here it is, paddling us through the Saxon countryside. 370 00:31:52,740 --> 00:31:55,580 HORN BLOWS 371 00:31:55,580 --> 00:32:01,460 On this rather pleasant peregrination we've paddled our way down to the town of Meissen, 372 00:32:01,460 --> 00:32:04,780 world famous of course for only one thing...china! 373 00:32:10,180 --> 00:32:13,860 Meissen hardly resembles the cliched East Germany city... 374 00:32:13,860 --> 00:32:18,900 it's pretty, unspoilt and its success is based on very expensive objects. 375 00:32:26,460 --> 00:32:31,740 A secret formula for making porcelain was discovered here almost 300 years ago. 376 00:32:31,740 --> 00:32:37,860 Collectors have pushed up the prices and some of these camp little figurines go for over £1,000. 377 00:32:40,860 --> 00:32:43,740 I prefer my china a little more down to earth... 378 00:32:45,140 --> 00:32:49,980 ..like the bathroom appliances they make in this factory, relocated here from West Germany. 379 00:32:56,700 --> 00:33:01,380 This state-of-the-art operation has provided a big boost for an East Germany economy 380 00:33:01,380 --> 00:33:04,020 only slowly catching up with the wealthier West. 381 00:33:04,020 --> 00:33:06,620 I'm shown round by a lady from head office. 382 00:33:08,300 --> 00:33:13,780 Was it that there was a tradition of porcelain making around Dresden and Meissen? Was that important? 383 00:33:13,780 --> 00:33:20,900 Yes. I mean the region is very famous for people really educated in producing ceramic ware. 384 00:33:20,900 --> 00:33:24,340 They already have the feeling how to produce ceramic ware. 385 00:33:24,340 --> 00:33:28,580 That's important, is it, the feeling? It's not just making any old products? 386 00:33:28,580 --> 00:33:31,700 It is, absolutely, because it's a material that's all nature. 387 00:33:33,300 --> 00:33:35,700 I love the paint-spraying robot! 388 00:33:35,700 --> 00:33:37,780 Like a dentist's chair gone mad! 389 00:33:42,380 --> 00:33:44,380 MACHINERY BEEPS 390 00:33:53,900 --> 00:33:58,060 And the showroom products are now... the finished... 391 00:33:58,060 --> 00:34:02,540 When the job is finished, as we get into terrible puns, a little... 392 00:34:02,540 --> 00:34:06,980 So what's that? That's a sort of... not conventional? 393 00:34:06,980 --> 00:34:12,100 Well, actually I would like to show that first, maybe, if you want to. 394 00:34:12,100 --> 00:34:16,100 Well, that's, that's the sort of one I associate with Germany particularly, 395 00:34:16,100 --> 00:34:19,100 where there's a sort of flat pan. Absolutely, absolutely! 396 00:34:19,100 --> 00:34:23,660 And so it doesn't drop into the water, your thing? Exactly! We call it the "wash-out" model 397 00:34:23,660 --> 00:34:27,740 and it has a very practical reason actually, medical reasons, so as we say, 398 00:34:27,740 --> 00:34:31,580 you can examine your business when you've made a number two, so that's... 399 00:34:31,580 --> 00:34:36,660 Is that the sort of thing Germans do? I mean are you brought up to examine your business as it were? 400 00:34:36,660 --> 00:34:41,740 Yes, you do! Yes, I mean especially elderly people should do that regularly. 401 00:34:41,740 --> 00:34:45,100 They should check on their sanity as well on that point. 402 00:34:45,100 --> 00:34:47,220 On their sanity? Er, yes. 403 00:34:47,220 --> 00:34:50,180 Sanitary! Their health, yes! Yes, sorry... on their health! 404 00:34:50,180 --> 00:34:53,180 Sanity's is sort of mental, yeah, but probably the same! 405 00:34:53,180 --> 00:34:57,820 Well, you've been talking too much about sanitary ware, so I'm coming back on sanity! 406 00:34:57,820 --> 00:35:03,260 Sanity ware! I like that! That's a very good lavatory! And that's why a lot of Germans use it, and... 407 00:35:03,260 --> 00:35:07,340 Is it still popular then, that particular stuff? Yes, it is very popular. 408 00:35:07,340 --> 00:35:11,100 In Germany there are some, also in Switzerland, some in The Netherlands, 409 00:35:11,100 --> 00:35:14,860 but mostly in Germany, people are used to it and they like to do in that way, 410 00:35:14,860 --> 00:35:22,300 so for those who don't like it in that way, we have mixture where it can take both. More regular... 411 00:35:22,300 --> 00:35:25,140 Also, perhaps you can enlighten me. 412 00:35:25,140 --> 00:35:30,460 I've heard that there's a custom now for German men to actually sit down when they're having a pee, 413 00:35:30,460 --> 00:35:34,140 and it's become quite an important almost a sort of political thing... 414 00:35:34,140 --> 00:35:36,380 that's what's men should do, is it? 415 00:35:36,380 --> 00:35:40,220 Yes. I have to laugh about that, because that's a very frequent question. 416 00:35:40,220 --> 00:35:44,820 It is true that a lot of German men have decided to sit when they pee. 417 00:35:44,820 --> 00:35:50,780 They don't like to speak too much about it because they still consider it as not very masculine, 418 00:35:50,780 --> 00:35:54,420 but they do... they do, more and more, yeah! 419 00:35:54,420 --> 00:35:57,060 BELLS TOLL 420 00:36:01,740 --> 00:36:06,340 Satirical cabaret has a long tradition in Germany and during the Communist period, 421 00:36:06,340 --> 00:36:12,180 it was one of the few arenas in which criticism could be voiced, albeit carefully and ingeniously. 422 00:36:16,260 --> 00:36:18,020 AUDIENCE LAUGHS 423 00:36:18,020 --> 00:36:23,500 Gunter Bankur performed throughout the days of the GDR, when they had full houses every night. 424 00:36:23,500 --> 00:36:29,220 Tonight here in Leipzig, the cast and the audience are re-living some of the old sketches 425 00:36:29,220 --> 00:36:34,540 that wowed them in the '60s and '70s, when satire had a real purpose. 426 00:36:35,860 --> 00:36:38,500 THEY SPEAK GERMAN 427 00:36:42,540 --> 00:36:45,780 APPLAUSE 428 00:36:47,860 --> 00:36:50,500 Leipzig, with its big, international trade fairs, 429 00:36:50,500 --> 00:36:53,660 was the city where the GDR met the rest of the world, 430 00:36:53,660 --> 00:36:58,220 and the state security police, known as the Stasi, were a strong presence. 431 00:37:00,380 --> 00:37:05,820 Gunter explains to me the way the Stasi worked, and what they were trying to achieve. 432 00:37:05,820 --> 00:37:10,940 Well, the idea of these people was 433 00:37:10,940 --> 00:37:14,300 as I think the Minister of State Security once said, 434 00:37:14,300 --> 00:37:21,180 "We have to go into every flat, into every bar, into every head. 435 00:37:21,180 --> 00:37:25,860 "We have to know what people think, what people plan, what people do" 436 00:37:25,860 --> 00:37:30,940 and they had lots and lots of information. 437 00:37:30,940 --> 00:37:36,300 I mean they had six million people in their archives. 438 00:37:36,300 --> 00:37:38,100 Did people disappear? 439 00:37:38,100 --> 00:37:42,740 Did you know of someone who suddenly was off the streets and you didn't see them again? 440 00:37:42,740 --> 00:37:50,380 In the '50s there was a saying "If you tell a joke in the restaurant and somebody hears it, 441 00:37:50,380 --> 00:37:52,860 "you will disappear to Siberia", 442 00:37:52,860 --> 00:37:56,740 and when I was a small boy, I always thought, 443 00:37:56,740 --> 00:38:00,740 "What do they mean by 'you will disappear to Siberia?'" 444 00:38:00,740 --> 00:38:03,620 Well, it meant you you will be sent to the Gulag... 445 00:38:05,900 --> 00:38:08,860 ..in the '50s, until '61 you could be... 446 00:38:10,700 --> 00:38:14,820 There was the death penalty in East Germany 447 00:38:14,820 --> 00:38:21,660 and you could be shot by the Stasi in Leipzig until '61. 448 00:38:26,260 --> 00:38:28,700 The Runden Ecke, or Round Corner, 449 00:38:28,700 --> 00:38:32,660 was the bland building from the which the Stasi spied on the people of Leipzig. 450 00:38:34,100 --> 00:38:37,180 Now it's a museum and people can spy on the Stasi. 451 00:38:50,420 --> 00:38:53,580 Preserved in all its banal colourlessness, 452 00:38:53,580 --> 00:38:56,660 it feels more like a small town technical college 453 00:38:56,660 --> 00:39:02,940 than a place where thousands of lives were watched, listened to and often destroyed. 454 00:39:12,340 --> 00:39:20,060 It's extraordinary how, you know, the evil of the system emanated from just a little office like this. 455 00:39:20,060 --> 00:39:23,660 You didn't need much...the telephone, the filing system, 456 00:39:23,660 --> 00:39:26,220 an enormous amount of details kept on everybody, 457 00:39:26,220 --> 00:39:28,940 and of course the shredder...vital things! 458 00:39:28,940 --> 00:39:31,820 And then the tea and the coffeemaker and the map, 459 00:39:31,820 --> 00:39:35,780 but enormous numbers of people's lives were disrupted from this room. 460 00:39:35,780 --> 00:39:39,500 It really is an example of the bureaucracy of oppression. 461 00:39:47,740 --> 00:39:50,700 One of those who fought the system and ultimately won, 462 00:39:50,700 --> 00:39:55,100 is Hans Zimmerman, a keen naturalist turned environmental campaigner. 463 00:39:57,420 --> 00:40:03,260 The town of Bitterfeld where he was born and brought up, was the centre of East Germany's chemical industry. 464 00:40:07,620 --> 00:40:12,100 A hundred factories, employing 30,000 workers, poured tons of untreated effluent 465 00:40:12,100 --> 00:40:18,300 into the rivers and onto the land. By the 1980s, Bitterfeld was a toxic dump. 466 00:40:27,060 --> 00:40:32,100 After taking me on a tour of Bitterfeld, as it is today, Hans invites me into his home. 467 00:40:40,860 --> 00:40:42,740 Thank you, thank you! 468 00:40:47,540 --> 00:40:51,020 He wants me to meet Margot Miosga, the journalist who helped him make 469 00:40:51,020 --> 00:40:55,260 a TV expose which brought Bitterfeld's pollution to a world audience. 470 00:40:55,260 --> 00:40:58,500 Hans had already been brought to the attention of the Stasi. 471 00:40:59,900 --> 00:41:02,180 How big were the files? How many? 472 00:41:02,180 --> 00:41:06,220 How fat was the... SHE SPEAKS GERMAN 473 00:41:06,220 --> 00:41:12,660 THEY SPEAK GERMAN 474 00:41:15,180 --> 00:41:19,420 It's just information about Hans and... 475 00:41:22,140 --> 00:41:29,780 TRANSLATION: 3,228 pages! 476 00:41:35,500 --> 00:41:40,460 TRANSLATION: So he kept his files very consciously, without problems. 477 00:41:48,460 --> 00:41:53,740 So what was shocking for him was the result, what the Stasi decided what should have been done with him. 478 00:41:53,740 --> 00:41:56,420 Destroy the marriage. 479 00:41:56,420 --> 00:42:03,740 Make it impossible - that he never gets a job again. Make him a criminal. 480 00:42:03,740 --> 00:42:10,180 And lock him away... So that was how the Stasi worked always. 481 00:42:10,180 --> 00:42:14,420 They had like strategic development. 482 00:42:14,420 --> 00:42:19,420 One thing really was they often did, they destroyed families. 483 00:42:19,420 --> 00:42:24,420 Does Hans feel any nostalgia for the GDR? 484 00:42:28,740 --> 00:42:32,980 TRANSLATION: That was my life! I delivered... 485 00:42:32,980 --> 00:42:40,700 I did want to live it differently in another way, in the right way. 486 00:42:40,700 --> 00:42:47,780 The laws for environmental laws were good in the GDR. 487 00:42:47,780 --> 00:42:51,580 They didn't practice them. 488 00:42:51,580 --> 00:42:57,100 And if they would have done this properly, 489 00:42:57,100 --> 00:42:59,780 a lot of things were easier for me. 490 00:42:59,780 --> 00:43:05,260 I only wanted to be a human being. 491 00:43:10,340 --> 00:43:15,980 Today, bio-fuel crops and wind farms mark the landscape of a new, cleaner Germany. 492 00:43:20,500 --> 00:43:23,380 These wide flatlands on the Polish-German border 493 00:43:23,380 --> 00:43:29,260 are ideal tank country, and during the Cold War, the Warsaw Pact had 7,000 tanks here, 494 00:43:29,260 --> 00:43:34,300 which they reckoned they could get to Marseilles within 5 days, and they've still got some left! 495 00:43:39,780 --> 00:43:41,620 So we scramble aboard... Oh, no! 496 00:43:41,620 --> 00:43:43,420 There's a ladder! 497 00:43:44,460 --> 00:43:46,700 Rather camp... 498 00:43:49,020 --> 00:43:50,220 Updated! 499 00:43:52,220 --> 00:43:55,900 This is the heavy stuff up here, isn't it? 500 00:43:55,900 --> 00:44:00,500 These Russian T55 tanks were once the mainstay of the Warsaw Pact forces. 501 00:44:00,500 --> 00:44:02,980 These were the weapons of our enemy. 502 00:44:02,980 --> 00:44:05,620 Will I start the machine? Start the machine, yeah. 503 00:44:07,660 --> 00:44:12,620 In the New Europe, they're a tourist attraction and military training takes all of five minutes. 504 00:44:13,740 --> 00:44:16,980 An awful lot of tap-twiddling and levers going and all that. 505 00:44:16,980 --> 00:44:19,780 I mean, I hope I don't have to reproduce that! 506 00:44:19,780 --> 00:44:22,020 ENGINE RUMBLES 507 00:44:32,020 --> 00:44:34,620 I didn't really see how you did that, but... 508 00:44:34,620 --> 00:44:38,220 This is the tank driving school 509 00:44:38,220 --> 00:44:42,980 set up by an ex Cold War Commander who couldn't bear to see these machines go to waste. 510 00:44:42,980 --> 00:44:46,020 "This is Russian technology," he told me earlier. 511 00:44:46,020 --> 00:44:47,980 "You can do what you like with it!" 512 00:44:50,740 --> 00:44:53,980 And I'll get my own specially shot video at the end of it! 513 00:44:53,980 --> 00:44:58,620 To the left... to the right... 514 00:45:00,380 --> 00:45:02,140 Left and right. Position one. 515 00:45:02,140 --> 00:45:04,060 OK? 516 00:45:04,060 --> 00:45:06,220 Yep. And start! 517 00:45:06,220 --> 00:45:08,540 A little gas. OK, start. 518 00:45:08,540 --> 00:45:09,580 Gas, gas, gas. 519 00:45:12,460 --> 00:45:16,140 To the left, to the right. Steering forward. 520 00:45:16,140 --> 00:45:19,300 Right forward. 521 00:45:19,300 --> 00:45:20,780 Left forward. 522 00:45:20,780 --> 00:45:27,020 1500, 1500 INAUDIBLE 523 00:45:27,020 --> 00:45:31,380 Gas, gas, gas. 524 00:45:33,780 --> 00:45:40,260 Left, is that... More gas, 1500. RPM 1500. 525 00:45:40,260 --> 00:45:41,940 OK? OK. 526 00:45:41,940 --> 00:45:45,300 OK, is the gear neutral? 527 00:45:45,300 --> 00:45:49,380 MUFFLED CONVERSATION 528 00:45:50,180 --> 00:45:52,700 Second gear, three gear. 529 00:45:52,700 --> 00:45:55,260 Three gear. Yeah. 530 00:45:55,260 --> 00:45:58,540 No, two gear. Two gear. 531 00:45:58,540 --> 00:46:04,980 Fully deployed. Position one. One, right. 532 00:46:04,980 --> 00:46:07,540 Left and right. 533 00:46:11,140 --> 00:46:13,020 OK. ENGINE FALLS SILENT 534 00:46:13,020 --> 00:46:14,260 Oh, shoot. 535 00:46:18,580 --> 00:46:20,060 OK? OK. 536 00:46:21,460 --> 00:46:23,900 ENGINE TURNS OVER 537 00:46:26,020 --> 00:46:27,580 Looking good now. 538 00:46:32,460 --> 00:46:33,860 Gas, gas, gas. 539 00:46:37,500 --> 00:46:39,540 Steering forward. 540 00:46:40,780 --> 00:46:42,740 The left...steering forwards. 541 00:46:42,740 --> 00:46:45,020 Left... Gas, gas, gas. 542 00:46:46,460 --> 00:46:47,460 Gas! 543 00:46:53,780 --> 00:46:55,900 Left... 544 00:46:56,820 --> 00:46:58,820 Left. 545 00:47:01,180 --> 00:47:02,380 Left. 546 00:47:03,940 --> 00:47:05,220 Straight on. 547 00:47:14,700 --> 00:47:15,780 Right. 548 00:47:17,620 --> 00:47:19,700 Right. Straight on. 549 00:47:19,700 --> 00:47:21,580 Straight on. 550 00:47:30,580 --> 00:47:33,020 This is a much more comfortable assignment. 551 00:47:33,020 --> 00:47:36,340 I'm in Karl Marx Allee in East Berlin with two young actors 552 00:47:36,340 --> 00:47:40,980 who offer a city tour, which is also a small play about divided Berlin. 553 00:47:42,140 --> 00:47:44,980 He jumps in the back without paying a penny. 554 00:47:44,980 --> 00:47:48,260 Olaf Rauschenbach on the left plays the proud Eastie 555 00:47:48,260 --> 00:47:50,740 and Jorg Pinch plays the cynical Westie. 556 00:47:50,740 --> 00:47:52,860 I play the audience. 557 00:47:54,860 --> 00:47:59,020 And the set for this particular act, is what remains of the Berlin Wall. 558 00:47:59,020 --> 00:48:03,420 This is where the new Germany began - socialistic Berlin. 559 00:48:03,420 --> 00:48:04,660 Let's have a look. 560 00:48:04,660 --> 00:48:07,900 Getting in wasn't all that difficult! 561 00:48:07,900 --> 00:48:09,460 But getting out! 562 00:48:10,820 --> 00:48:14,140 What is the first thing you think of when you think of the GDR? 563 00:48:14,140 --> 00:48:17,180 Aw! Well, a big wall! 564 00:48:17,180 --> 00:48:20,660 The Wall! Well, the GDR were the wall! 565 00:48:20,660 --> 00:48:23,980 Otherwise named as the anti-fascistic protective wall! 566 00:48:23,980 --> 00:48:27,420 Or the stigma of German history! 567 00:48:27,420 --> 00:48:30,700 Just imagine! You are 18 years old, 568 00:48:30,700 --> 00:48:36,580 you are standing there, young and liable for military service 569 00:48:36,580 --> 00:48:40,700 and also convinced that socialism is the right thing for the young GDR. 570 00:48:42,420 --> 00:48:45,660 You're standing there, it's peace vigil. 571 00:48:45,660 --> 00:48:49,940 The border between the two alliances on a watchtower. 572 00:48:49,940 --> 00:48:51,580 You've sworn an oath. 573 00:48:52,980 --> 00:48:57,860 I pledge as a soldier in the National People's Army 574 00:48:57,860 --> 00:49:04,820 side by side with the Soviet Army and the armies of our allies, the United Socialist countries 575 00:49:04,820 --> 00:49:10,900 that I'm prepared, at all times, to defend socialism against all enemies. 576 00:49:10,900 --> 00:49:15,580 The cost of defending socialism along the whole length 577 00:49:15,580 --> 00:49:20,660 of the Wall has been estimated as anything from 300 to 1,000 lives. 578 00:49:22,500 --> 00:49:27,340 If there was one date which marked the end of the Cold War, it would be November 9th, 1989... 579 00:49:28,540 --> 00:49:30,460 ..the day the Wall fell. 580 00:49:39,980 --> 00:49:43,820 So complete was the destruction of their city in World War Two 581 00:49:43,820 --> 00:49:47,460 that most Berliners now live in huge concrete housing estates. 582 00:49:47,460 --> 00:49:52,300 RHYTHMIC CLAPPING 583 00:49:54,260 --> 00:49:58,420 This is one way of dealing with the problems of isolation and alienation. 584 00:49:58,420 --> 00:50:00,620 Kerrin's Laughter Yoga. 585 00:50:00,620 --> 00:50:07,020 OK, Danke schon. Kerrin has ways of making you laugh! 586 00:50:07,020 --> 00:50:10,820 Ho-ho-ha-ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha... 587 00:50:12,220 --> 00:50:15,780 HEARTY LAUGHTER 588 00:50:19,740 --> 00:50:22,980 HEARTIER LAUGHTER 589 00:50:27,420 --> 00:50:31,540 LAUGHING CONTINUES 590 00:50:37,420 --> 00:50:39,860 ALL: Ho-ho, ha-ha-ha. 591 00:50:39,860 --> 00:50:42,140 Ho-ho, ha-ha-ha. 592 00:50:44,700 --> 00:50:49,060 SHE SPEAKS IN GERMAN 593 00:50:49,060 --> 00:50:53,660 Ah! THEY ALL GRUNT 594 00:50:55,500 --> 00:50:58,060 THEY ALL LAUGH 595 00:50:59,860 --> 00:51:03,020 LAUGHTER CONTINUES 596 00:51:18,180 --> 00:51:21,500 ALL: Ho-ho, ha-ha-ha. 597 00:51:21,500 --> 00:51:31,340 Ho-ho, ha-ha-ha. 598 00:51:34,500 --> 00:51:37,580 SHE SPEAKS GERMAN 599 00:51:37,580 --> 00:51:43,980 For the last ten minutes of the class, Kerrin gets us all to lie down, and laugh! 600 00:51:43,980 --> 00:51:50,300 Group hilarity is not something I'd normally associate with the Germans, but this lot has no trouble! 601 00:51:50,300 --> 00:51:53,580 THEY CHORTLE 602 00:52:04,980 --> 00:52:07,620 So how long have you been coming to the classes? 603 00:52:07,620 --> 00:52:10,940 I've been laughing here since last August! 604 00:52:10,940 --> 00:52:13,140 You've been laughing since August - 605 00:52:13,140 --> 00:52:14,700 that's pretty impressive! 606 00:52:14,700 --> 00:52:15,980 Yes, only once a week! 607 00:52:15,980 --> 00:52:18,940 Once a week, but you laugh during the rest of the week a lot? 608 00:52:18,940 --> 00:52:20,980 Yes, I do, but not so long! 609 00:52:20,980 --> 00:52:25,420 Not so long! It's very long, at the end on the carpet... 610 00:52:25,420 --> 00:52:27,140 It's a very long time. 611 00:52:27,140 --> 00:52:30,340 Well, you don't often get the chance to laugh for that long. 612 00:52:30,340 --> 00:52:32,420 Nothing's that funny? 613 00:52:32,420 --> 00:52:38,020 I think it would be a little bit silly, maybe! Everybody would think you are a silly person! Yes! 614 00:52:38,020 --> 00:52:39,940 You'd probably be taken out and... 615 00:52:39,940 --> 00:52:44,220 Here you can be a like a child and the child is laughing! 616 00:52:44,220 --> 00:52:47,220 And it's helped you, has it? 617 00:52:47,220 --> 00:52:49,140 Yes. I think it helps everybody. 618 00:52:49,140 --> 00:52:50,700 Everybody likes to laugh. 619 00:52:50,700 --> 00:52:54,460 Maybe not everybody laughs but everybody likes it! 620 00:52:58,460 --> 00:53:02,500 It's difficult to walk through Berlin without sensing ghosts of the past. 621 00:53:02,500 --> 00:53:07,900 From the grand hopes of socialism, to the squares where the Nazis held their rallies. 622 00:53:10,740 --> 00:53:14,900 But to be able to walk unhampered through the Brandenburg Gate is a reality. 623 00:53:14,900 --> 00:53:20,020 A reality of a Germany re-united and hopefully a Europe re-united. 624 00:53:41,500 --> 00:53:46,660 I'm leaving for my final destination aboard a DC3, which, nearly 60 years ago, 625 00:53:46,660 --> 00:53:50,780 took part in one of the world's most extraordinary peacetime operations - 626 00:53:50,780 --> 00:53:52,500 the Berlin Airlift. 627 00:54:00,380 --> 00:54:04,780 In June 1948, the Russians, mistrustful of allied intentions, 628 00:54:04,780 --> 00:54:08,420 closed off all road and rail links to the city of Berlin, 629 00:54:08,420 --> 00:54:11,780 with the intention of taking control of the whole city. 630 00:54:19,660 --> 00:54:23,980 For 11 months, American, British and French pilots joined together 631 00:54:23,980 --> 00:54:26,580 in a massive siege-busting operation. 632 00:54:26,580 --> 00:54:31,140 Two and a half million tons of food were flown in and at its peak, 633 00:54:31,140 --> 00:54:34,820 the planes were landing at intervals no more than a minute apart. 634 00:54:36,380 --> 00:54:43,020 This is one of the actual DC3s that flew during the Berlin Airlift, and they called them the Candy Bombers, 635 00:54:43,020 --> 00:54:45,980 or the Raisin Bombers, from the habit of one American pilot 636 00:54:45,980 --> 00:54:48,820 who would open his cockpit window and throw candy out 637 00:54:48,820 --> 00:54:52,220 to the kids down below as he flew over the city. 638 00:55:15,540 --> 00:55:19,060 I'm heading towards Rugen Island on Germany's Baltic Coast. 639 00:55:21,860 --> 00:55:27,900 Here amid the sand dunes and the pine trees stands one of the more bizarre relics of the Third Reich. 640 00:55:32,140 --> 00:55:33,420 It's a holiday camp. 641 00:55:33,420 --> 00:55:39,140 Three miles long, with 10,000 rooms and accommodation for 20,000 people. 642 00:55:41,740 --> 00:55:44,700 Built here at Prora between 1936 and 1939, 643 00:55:44,700 --> 00:55:50,460 it was intended as a place where the good workers of Nazi Germany could build up their strength 644 00:55:50,460 --> 00:55:54,100 and their collective will for the great struggle that lay ahead - 645 00:55:54,100 --> 00:55:55,700 the conquest of Europe! 646 00:56:14,620 --> 00:56:19,260 HE SPEAKS GERMAN 647 00:56:20,620 --> 00:56:24,180 Overseen by Hitler's favourite architect, Albert Speer, 648 00:56:24,180 --> 00:56:28,820 the camp at Prora was to be the embodiment of the Nazi policy of Kraft Durch Freude - 649 00:56:28,820 --> 00:56:30,660 Strength Through Joy. 650 00:56:32,740 --> 00:56:36,140 HE SPEAKS GERMAN 651 00:56:54,020 --> 00:56:57,300 Instead of housing happy holidaymakers, Prora was filled 652 00:56:57,300 --> 00:57:03,100 with evacuees from bombed cities and forced labour squads brought here from Nazi-occupied Europe. 653 00:57:09,100 --> 00:57:12,140 Now, as then, no-one quite knows what to do with the place. 654 00:57:12,140 --> 00:57:17,020 There's a museum, a few workshops, but the scale of this Nazi folly 655 00:57:17,020 --> 00:57:20,660 has defied even the most ambitious development plans. 656 00:57:20,660 --> 00:57:26,380 So it survives - neglected, empty and useless. 657 00:57:34,740 --> 00:57:37,260 Well, I've finally reached the end of my journey 658 00:57:37,260 --> 00:57:40,980 here on the shores of the Baltic, surrounded by the broken dreams 659 00:57:40,980 --> 00:57:46,660 of the last attempt to unite Europe by force, but now, for the first time in history, 660 00:57:46,660 --> 00:57:51,420 there's a real chance to create a Europe out of co-operation rather than conflict... 661 00:57:51,420 --> 00:57:54,980 and that would be a mighty achievement - a new Europe indeed!