Communist-Era Television

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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,603
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    DigiRich wrote: »
    That is quite odd, especially the bit about sending 'Foreign exchange musicians' into camps to sing for their supper. I don't know how literally to take that.

    Well, it certainly puts into perspective the claims by some German civilians after the war that they knew nothing about the concentration camps.

    When you had weird-looking comedians like the one on that clip referring to "correction camps", it makes it appear that the concentration camps were more common knowledge than we are led to believe.
  • DBCDBC Posts: 4,002
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    Paul Evans wrote: »
    Well, it certainly puts into perspective the claims by some German civilians after the war that they knew nothing about the concentration camps.

    When you had weird-looking comedians like the one on that clip referring to "correction camps", it makes it appear that the concentration camps were more common knowledge than we are led to believe.

    Concentration camps were around in Nazi Germany from the very early days ( 1933 or 1934) . At first they were just work-camps / prisons , similar to those chain-gang prisons they had in America ( think of Cool Hand Luke). Only gradually did they evolve into the more sinister death camps. So I suppose that although many Germans were aware of these camps, not so many knew of their new and more sinister purpose .
  • DocumentaryFanDocumentaryFan Posts: 3,848
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    Here are three car commercials from communist Yugoslavia, produced in what is now Slovenia (the advertisements, not the car):

    http://www.rtvslo.si/mojvideo/avdiovideo/stare-reklame-zastava-101-brez-voznika/1446/

    http://www.rtvslo.si/mojvideo/avdiovideo/stare-reklame-zastava-101-selitev/1445/

    http://www.rtvslo.si/mojvideo/avdiovideo/stare-reklame-zastava-101-sneg/1444/

    As you can see, the commercials aren't that bad, as Slovenia was fairly Western-oriented.

    The same car factory, BTW, later manufactured the infamous Yugo.

    EDIT: I can't get the clips to work ATM. You may need to try again later.
  • DocumentaryFanDocumentaryFan Posts: 3,848
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    ^^^ The clips are now working again (I hope).
  • Darren LethemDarren Lethem Posts: 61,482
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    There are a few clips of retro news on Hungarian TV on YouTube

    http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vru4h6_apXE&feature=related

    Just look at the other options down the side
  • DocumentaryFanDocumentaryFan Posts: 3,848
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    A TV presentation fan from Serbia has set up a blog with various (recreated) elements of Yugoslav-era television presentation:

    http://jrtnostalgija.blogspot.com/
  • DocumentaryFanDocumentaryFan Posts: 3,848
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    A foreign affairs magazine from Soviet TV, late 1970s?:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eilcqNN9RQU

    National weather forecast from Soviet TV, 1975:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhKPao1ray8

    Soviet TV, end of the day's transmissions, with a note reminding viewers to turn off their TV sets (no sound), 1990:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQcEr4bwo_8
  • howard hhoward h Posts: 23,350
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    Soviet TV, end of the day's transmissions, with a note reminding viewers to turn off their TV sets (no sound), 1990:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQcEr4bwo_8

    John Mundy used to do that on BBC North West. Yup, no sound.
  • KarlHydeKarlHyde Posts: 1,830
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    The first reports about the Chernobyl disaster on East German TV: "There's no dangerous radiation in the GDR, and our nuclear power plants are totally different than those in the Ukraine. Two people have been killed in Chernobyl but the situation is under control now."
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5GPAkHu0mE

    Educational programmes on East German TV: English & Russian language courses
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drBAmq4F-kI

    This version of "English for you" was from the 60s. They also produced another 52-episode version in the late 1970s which was repeated over and over again until the GDR collapsed. The programme was meant to supplement the official schoolbooks that were also named "English for you".

    http://www.amazon.de/English-you-Englisch-Lehrbuch-DDR/dp/B0053AXFWM

    I remember watching these programmes as a child. It was always on at 14:25 CET when our West German channels were off-air. They always managed to flavour the language course with some propaganda, e.g. the exploited English car mechanic had to work long hours, while his boss sat in an armchair beside his swimming pool, sipping a cocktail. ;)
  • KarlHydeKarlHyde Posts: 1,830
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    This clip from an East German crime film shows a trickster selling his manipulated Trabant car without actually selling it. ;)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLBDhJocueQ

    Adverts from East German TV in the 1960s:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1Z0zomERu8

    Ads were banned from television in 1976 because high-quality consumer goods were scarcely available and the government didn't want to increase demand.
  • DocumentaryFanDocumentaryFan Posts: 3,848
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    You'll find various clips from Communist countries (and elsewhere) here:

    Television Presentation From Defunct Countries and Regimes
  • Steveaustin316Steveaustin316 Posts: 15,779
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    How easy was it for people in East Germany to pick up TV signals from West Germany during the cold war?
  • KarlHydeKarlHyde Posts: 1,830
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    This map gives a more or less accurate idea:
    http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westfernsehen#Fernsehempfang

    About 80% of the GDR population could receive ARD & ZDF, thanks to strong transmitters along the border and in West Berlin. The area around Dresden was colloquially known as "Tal der Ahnungslosen" (valley of the clueless) because western TV wasn't available there. I've heard about people from that area who went to the Baltic Sea or the Harz mountains in their summer holidays and sat around in boarding houses all day, just to watch "Westfernsehen". ;)

    Some people made huge efforts to receive Western TV, putting up gigantic aerials etc. There were even private initiatives to set up cable networks for housing blocks.

    This report from a West German news programme shows the situation in the 80s:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbIocNFHnTM
    You'll find various clips from Communist countries (and elsewhere) here:

    Television Presentation From Defunct Countries and Regimes
    Very interesting, thanks for sharing!

    The clips from South African TV with their perfect BBC English are really bizarre. And the ads from Yugoslavian TV look quite "western" to me. Also, I didn't know that western channels could be found in Yugoslav TV listings.

    In the GDR, there was only one listings magazine: FF Dabei. Subscriptions were in high demand, and every new issue was quickly sold out at newsstands. The magazine only published listings of the two East German TV channels (and state radio).

    West German channels had weekly 30-minute previews that were broadcast on Saturdays around noon, with a repeat on Sunday mornings. The weekly schedule was shown on screen, and an announcer would read it out loud. As a child, I always wondered why this was done so very slowly. Much later I learnt that these previews were done for viewers in the East, so that they could actually write down the schedule.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko8DyEtVaN4

    West German listings magazines always published the listings of the Eastern channels. About 30 or 40% of the Western population could receive them, with DDR 1 being more widely available than DDR 2. I grew up in Lower Saxony, about 100 km west of the border, and we could get DDR 1 with a relatively clear picture from a transmitter in the Harz mountains. Back in the days when we only had three terrestrial channels, the fourth channel from the East sometimes was a welcome alternative. My mother used to watch figure skating and variety shows, and I would watch football, consumer information programmes, and the odd movie.

    For example, Sergio Leone's "Once Upon A Time in America" was shown on DDR 1, in the dubbed version that had been produced in West Germany. For some films, there were two separate dubbed versions in the East and West.
  • Darren LethemDarren Lethem Posts: 61,482
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    You'll find various clips from Communist countries (and elsewhere) here:

    Television Presentation From Defunct Countries and Regimes

    Amazing, thank you once again DF :)
  • Steveaustin316Steveaustin316 Posts: 15,779
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    I would imagine there were some pretty severe penalties if someone in East Germany (or another communist nation) was caught watching TV from the west.
  • KarlHydeKarlHyde Posts: 1,830
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    I would imagine there were some pretty severe penalties if someone in East Germany (or another communist nation) was caught watching TV from the west.
    It was never officially forbidden in the GDR, except for soldiers and policemen. In the 60s, the government still tried to stop people from watching western TV but in the 70s and 80s, it was tacitly permitted.
  • ElMarkoElMarko Posts: 5,224
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    Just adding my voice to the recommendations of Goodbye Lenin. It is a brilliant film.
  • DocumentaryFanDocumentaryFan Posts: 3,848
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    Amazing, thank you once again DF :)

    My pleasure, Darren! And thanks to everyone here for their fascinating insights.
  • KarlHydeKarlHyde Posts: 1,830
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    Some road safety education clips from the GDR...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAi4H8532xQ
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzbVrZkBoSU
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L0sW4laDA8

    Note the red & green traffic light figures, wearing hats. With their distinctive shape that looked different than their western counterparts, they became an iconic symbol of Eastern Germany. The "Ost-Ampelmännchen" are still in use in East Germany, and even some western towns have introduced them.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampelm%C3%A4nnchen

    And another GDR icon: The Sandman, a 5-minute bedtime story programme for small children. It ran every day at 17:50 on DDR 2 and again at 18:50 on DDR 1. The Sandman has survived and is still shown on KI.KA, Germany's public children's channel.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulPd0VxhRkQ
    (Original archive footage starts at 1m30s)

    There was also a West German Sandman programme that was discontinued in 1989, before the fall of the wall.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGawBAMVmi8

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandm%C3%A4nnchen
  • KarlHydeKarlHyde Posts: 1,830
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    Tonight at 23:00 GMT, RBB Fernsehen (free to air at 19.2°E) will show two German cooking shows from the 60s, one from the East and one from the West.

    23:00 (GDR, 1963) Der Fernsehkoch empfiehlt (Kurt Drummer prepares Easter meals)
    23:30 (FRG, 1961) Clemens Wilmenrod bittet zu Tisch (Herring salad à la Brittany)

    http://rbb-online.de/fernsehen/programm/23_03_2013/9656210213.html
    http://rbb-online.de/fernsehen/programm/23_03_2013/9656210240.html

    Here is a clip with both chefs:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UHpIjtJkW0

    In reality, Wilmenrod was an actor, not a trained cook. He (in)famously invented Toast Hawaii which became an iconic dish in West Germany in the 50s & 60s. Even in the early 80s, when I was a child, we used to eat it on Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clemens_Wilmenrod
  • Steve9214Steve9214 Posts: 8,402
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    Communist-era Television....Isn't this present day BBC output - according to the Daily Mail?
  • TelevisionUserTelevisionUser Posts: 41,395
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    If I recall correctly, didn't the BBC do a series about life in certain Communist countries that featured bits about film and TV including the GDR's Sandmännchen, subversive films in Czechoslovakia, etc.?
  • KarlHydeKarlHyde Posts: 1,830
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    Yes, it's available on DVD.

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Lost-World-Communism-DVD/dp/B001TUYUA6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364378736&sr=8-1

    The series consists of three episodes: Czechoslovakia, Romania, and the GDR.
  • guiserguiser Posts: 1,452
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    Ah that ad is on page 1 of this thread.

    I have always wanted to have a ride in one. I have seen one close up at the Checkpoint Charlie museum in Berlin but that's the nearest sadly.

    Get yourself to Krakow and take one of these tours -
    http://www.crazyguides.com/

    You get driven in a Trabby to Nowa Huta, which used to be the biggest steelworks village in Poland and can look around a proper Soviet apartment.

    I did another tour in a PolskiFiat minibus too.
    Brilliant and highly recommended!
  • KarlHydeKarlHyde Posts: 1,830
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    Friday 05/04 23:00 BST on RBB Fernsehen:
    Die Trabant-Story

    http://rbb-online.de/fernsehen/programm/06_04_2013/9732380655.html

    RBB and MDR often have documentaries about the GDR era. There are also regular slots on Tuesday evenings.
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