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**iannima** · 10-12-2012, 11:17 AM

Thank you for sharing!

I always like to see these from a different angle

**ehrentitle** · 10-12-2012, 11:22 AM

No problem. Unfortunately I didn't transfer it from the original VHS tape to DVD until recent years so I'm sure there is some loss of quality to the tape because of age. Here is a screen capture of me after the parade on the way back to the car. Recognize any of the buildings in the background?

**JW5303** · 10-12-2012, 11:29 AM

Thank's for sharing! Brings back a lot of Memories!

**iannima** · 10-12-2012, 11:35 AM

Well there is obviously the Berliner Dom, and I would say the back of the Palast der Republik. Beyond the railings to the left of you, there should be the river/canal separating the Museum Island from where you are standing...

**ehrentitle** · 10-12-2012, 11:52 AM

Originally posted by iannima View Post

Well there is obviously the Berliner Dom, and I would say the back of the Palast der Republik. Beyond the railings to the left of you, there should be the river/canal separating the Museum Island from where you are standing...

Good, you have ID'd the buildings in the background, but my location is more South-East near the St.-Nicolai-Kirche in the Nikolai Viertel. The St. George and the dragon statue is in front of me and I'm standing on the Spreeufer right next to the Spree River.

The grey building on the far left background is the Neuer Marstall or the stables for the royal palace that was torn down by the East German to build the Palast der Republik. In DDR times it was used as an exhibition space for the Berlin Academy of Arts.

**Gene T** · 10-12-2012, 12:35 PM

Great videos as usual, Kevin. Thanks for continuing to share them with us! Funny how the image stabilizer effectively reversed the relationship between the date stamp and the images, so now it's the date stamp that is doing the chicken dance across the screen.

One thing I've always meant to ask you: Here you are again in full reactionary regalia

, happily shooting away with your cameras at anything that moves, right in the middle of a progressive military parade, and no one seems to bother you or be bothered by you. How does that jibe with the many photos we have seen of sentries and border patrols wearily eyeing each other across the fences, taking pictures of one another with less than friendly expressions on their face? Is detente limited to public plazas in Berlin? Did you wear anything on you that identified you as a privileged guest? What about the reciprocal, was it common to see Soviet soldiers wandering freely around West Berlin, in full uniform, taking photos and videos of anything that was of interest to them?

Maybe I am too dense to see the obvious, but I feel like I am missing something in all this.

Gene T

**ehrentitle** · 10-12-2012, 12:50 PM

Originally posted by Gene T View Post

Great videos as usual, Kevin. Thanks for continuing to share them with us! Funny how the image stabilizer effectively reversed the relationship between the date stamp and the images, so now it's the date stamp that is doing the chicken dance across the screen.

One thing I've always meant to ask you: Here you are again in full reactionary regalia

, happily shooting away with your cameras at anything that moves, right in the middle of a progressive military parade, and no one seems to bother you or be bothered by you. How does that jibe with the many photos we have seen of sentries and border patrols wearily eyeing each other across the fences, taking pictures of one another with less than friendly expressions on their face? Is detente limited to public plazas in Berlin? Did you wear anything on you that identified you as a privileged guest? What about the reciprocal, was it common to see Soviet soldiers wandering freely around West Berlin, in full uniform, taking photos and videos of anything that was of interest to them?

Maybe I am too dense to see the obvious, but I feel like I am missing something in all this.

Gene T

Gene T, A similar question was posed to me in a German NVA forum earlier in the week.

Technically I was still part of the occupation forces in Berlin. Berlin was governed by the Four Power agreement that was made at the end of WW II between the four occupying powers, the US, UK, France and the Soviet Union. This agreement authorized free access by allied occupation soldiers anywhere in Berlin. After the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961 the Soviets and East Germans tried to end this access, but the western allies continued to insist on this right to free access to all of Berlin for their soldiers.

So when I crossed into East Berlin through Checkpoint Charlie by car or on foot I didn't have to show any identification to East German authorities, my uniform was my identification.

This Four Power agreement also made it illegal for any German troops to enter Berlin. Something that the West Germans adhered to but the East Germans and Soviets ignored. Here is a short description on that in a Guide Books on East Berlin that was given while serving in West Berlin:

"Adhering strictly to the rule, weapon-bearing institutions of the GDR are not allowed to make their appearance in East Berlin at all because in the opinion of the Western Allies the whole of Berlin still retains its universal Four-Power Status. And this Status maintains that the entire city is demilitarized and forbids the presence of German troops. For example, no soldiers from the Bundeswehr (German Federal Armed Forces) can appear in uniform in West Berlin, even when they are on vacation. And no male resident of West Berlin can be drafted. All laws dealing with the military Service are not accepted for West Berlin, as is the usual case for Federal Law. The GDR, by contrast, maintains that East Berlin is a component of its nation. Therefore soldiers, parades and the military draft are also permitted there. The GDR leadership has, however, done away with the military parade on May 1 for a number of years now. Yet because of this there is now military parade on October 7, the anniversary of the GDR. The Western powers regularly protest such violations of Berlin's demilitarized status and submit their protest to the Soviets who are responsible for the incidents in the East Sector."

**Gene T** · 10-12-2012, 01:11 PM

I see. That makes sense. I had a friend from Hannover who relocated to Berlin right after he finished Gymnasium. Now I know why on several different levels!

So the Soviets 'could' have allowed their soldiers to wander around West Berlin if they had chosen to do so, but instead they lived by a different reality than the one insisted upon by the Western Allies. What an interesting and strange set of circumstances that was...

Then again, if they hadn't violated the rules, you wouldn't have had all these cool stories and videos to share with us today.

Thanks for clearing it all up for me!

Gene T

**ehrentitle** · 10-12-2012, 01:12 PM

I should also mention that the Soviets exercised their right to free access to West Berlin by sending over offical cars with a driver and 3 officers to monitor our military facilities and exercises in West Berlin. Every year they also brought in busloads with hundreds of military and family members from their Potsdam garrison to the Soviet War Memorial in the Tiergarten on the West Berlin side of the wall to celebrate their victory over German on 8 May.

**ehrentitle** · 10-12-2012, 01:44 PM

On our East German Collector's Facebook page I've included some additional photos of the parades from over the years given to me by a friend that was in the British Army. He was a collector friend who had been a member of the 7th Intelligence Company stationed in West Germany:

http://www.facebook.com/EastGermanCollect

**B. Jones** · 10-13-2012, 02:31 PM

Berlin Then And Now

Kevin,

Do you own Tony Le Tissier's Berlin Then And Now published by After the Battle?

I keep a modern-day Berlin City Street Map laminated and mounted on foamcore and use the book to figure out where Monuments, former street names, ect. were located.

—Brian

**ehrentitle** · 10-13-2012, 03:27 PM

Originally posted by B. Jones View Post

Kevin,

Do you own Tony Le Tissier's Berlin Then And Now published by After the Battle?

I keep a modern-day Berlin City Street Map laminated and mounted on foamcore and use the book to figure out where Monuments, former street names, ect. were located.

—Brian

Brian, I have it somewhere. But I also have East German maps of East Berlin and know the Mitte district of East Berlin because I spent quite a bit of time exploring it when I was stationed in Berlin.

**DaveM** · 10-13-2012, 03:52 PM

Kevin .... Nice video...
Makes the NVA / DDR come to life!
I think the 4 guys to the left of the truck are re-enactors

**ehrentitle** · 10-13-2012, 05:14 PM

Originally posted by DaveM View Post

Kevin .... Nice video...
Makes the NVA / DDR come to life!
I think the 4 guys to the left of the truck are re-enactors

Dave, Good to hear from you, it's be a while. What are you up to nowadays?

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Video from the DDR Tag der Republik Ehrenparade 7 Oktober 1988, Berlin

Video from the DDR Tag der Republik Ehrenparade 7 Oktober 1988, Berlin

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