Fin vs History - Brazilian Dignitas | The Berlin Wall

Episode Date: July 16, 2026

Sorry Elvis, your hip gyrations are not welcome here. The Berlin Wall (Part Two) The show for people who like history but don't care what actually happened.   For weekly bonus episodes, ad-free listening and early access to series, become a Truther and sign up to the Patreon  ⁠patreon.com/fintaylor    This episode of Fin vs History is brought to you by Surfshark.     Secure your privacy with Surfshark! Enter coupon code FVH for an extra 4 months at https://surfshark.com/fvh  Chapters: 00:00 -  A Horny German 05:24 - Angry Diners 08:40 - He’s A Puddle 14:11 - And That 19:17 - Communist Butlins 29:48 - The communist Car 34:17 - Stasi P*rn  39:05 - Charlie’s Balls 41:25 - State Sanctioned Transitions 47:21 - The Coffee Crisis  51:08 - Rebuild The Wall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In Toronto, every arrival is a statement, and nothing says it better than this. Cadillac Optic was the number one selling luxury EV in Canada for 2025. Find your rhythm across a seamless 33-inch display and an immersive 19-speaker AKG surround audio system. This city demands agility, and Optic delivers with precision to make every drive extraordinary. Let's take the Cadillac. Find out more at Cadillac Canada.ca. Luxury sales claim based on S&P Global Mobility Canadian New Vehicle Total Registrations for calendar year 2025 for the Cadillac definition of luxury. The Hulu original series Furious is coming to Disney Plus.

Starring Emmy Rossum, Furious follows FBI agent Alice Black on the hunt for a mysterious and calculating serial killer. Both walk their own paths toward justice, and as their lives start to intertwine, the line between right and wrong begins to blur. Don't miss the three-episode premiere of the Hulu original series Furious on July 27th, only on Hulu on Disney Plus. Before the next track starts, have you ever wondered, who are the people in my old family photos? Or what brought them to Canada? With Ancestry, you can start finding answers. Start with a name and we'll guide you from there. For just 499, try our new 30-day Beginners Pass and uncover generations of family stories.

No experience necessary. You've got questions? We've got ancestors. Offer ends July 22nd, 2026. Visit Ancestry.ca slash beginners for details. Terms apply. Berlin, the home of beer gardens, bumbing and BDSM. The city with an inescapable past.

Blodd! And throughout it all the shadow of one man looms large. From Nazis to knob-jokies. From fascism to fissism. From pura bunker to sex dungeon. This is Berlin. So much history here in Berlin. That famous gate there was built to celebrate the Prussian victory in the Franco-Pussian War.

Franco-Pussian War. And that balcony there is where Michael Jackson threw a baby out the window for being too old. To have sex with. Berlin is a city of change, but one constant is their love of the tit. That's why they've chosen to make their parliament shape like one giant tit itself. Morty! Morty, Morty, Morty, Morty, Morty, Morty, Morty, Morty, Morty, Morty, Morty, Morty, Morty, we're now on the east side of the wall, where, after the war, it shifted jarringingly from

fascism to communism. It absolutely stinks. It had to move from being super into tits and changing drastically into being into ass. Terrifying. Here's a mural dedicated to the straightest men left in Berlin. I mean, standing here, you can't help feel moved by this monument to loss. I guess it's the scale of it, isn't it?

I mean... Shocking. Ten thousand people. Well, there's a lot more than... Maybe. Who knows? That's a big number. We do know it was at least 250,000. Well, you say that, I mean, one, two, three, four.

I don't think it's not a block for every, is it? If it is, I mean, it's like 2000. Yeah. Well, then... Unless this is for the guard to work to the camps. Right. Oh yeah, because I mean, to be fair, this is Germans, so why they'd be doing? Yeah.

They wouldn't do that, wouldn't be the Jew? Yeah. This is a memorial to the murder, well, the concentration camp guards. Maybe got drunk, fell out of Watchtown. Yeah. You know when we talk about the Holocaust, there's so many other elements that we don't include when we took about that number. And I think that's what this monument's for. Maybe, I don't know.

It's very moving to be called the... I'm hungry. Yeah, me too actually. Car reversed? Yeah. Yeah. The Vindberg's history, I'm joined by Horatio Gould. Explain that noise.

That was, I guess it's a horny German. Okay. I wasn't really, I didn't know you'd start so quickly. I just thought, get on with it. I had to rifle through what I was going to do. what I was going to do. It was going to be something in German and it was a little bit too tender, I think.

I think Fred again would have to go offstage and go back on if he'd press that button. Oh, fuck, sorry. We're talking about the Berlin Wall today. It's part two of our East Germany series. And you're right, I suppose, and there were a lot of horny Germans trapped in East Berlin

and they could not get to Berkheim. Yes. Although I think Burkine's in the East. It is. Just check that, Charlie. Did you check that? Burkine is in the East, I believe. And did it used to be a factory in East Berlin?

I don't know. I believe. Let's do the history of Birkheim. Come on. Quick history of Birkine wall. The Birkine wall have come. We've got... Don't touch the walls.

They've got piss coming down. Do we... Do you want to tell us that? Charlie, tell us... We have a patron who used to work at the door at Bergheim. He says that he can get us all in. I can't believe that. He got Young Lean in last year.

Who's Young Lean? A Norwegian rapper. Yes, but Young Lean is a massive rapper. So I imagine he probably would be loud in any way. I don't think he needs to be gotten in. We're one of the biggest history podcasts in the world. Yes. We do not get in there.

We're the biggest holocaust on our podcast in the world. And you're saying we can't get into bird kind? We'll ask this guy, can you comment now with more details? But I'm up for it, I think. We have to go in the suits, though. Yes, but we have to be given freedom to wear what we want. What we feel comfortable in. Yeah.

Yes. And we have to be able to take photos. Yeah. The one thing we can wear these suits. The only thing that we maybe can compromise on is we can cut out asseless chaps of suits. Yes, I'm happy to compromise. As long as we can wear these suits,

I will meet you in the middle and cut a square out of my... Happy to be chained together. Sorry? Happy to be chained. No, that's too bad. I don't think, no, I don't. So what was the building used for?

Burghine's history is rooted in Berlin's post reunification underground. No, no, no, that's Bergenit. Sorry, the building. Snacks and the Ostgut. Ostgut? It was a form of power plant in the Osbahnhoff. What did it do?

Just make energy. And why was the influential gay techno club Ostgut forced to close in 2003, Phoebe? Was it hygiene? What one hygiene rating? Was it a hygiene? Yeah. Was it like a rural Indian restaurant?

One star. Oh, it's lease expired. Bullocks. That's absolute bollocks. Yeah, I was also doing Indian takeaways. Which I think the dual purpose of it, I think you got to separate church and stay. I can't get food poisoning and AIDS.

Come on. From one night out. Anyway, we left our. in part one with Operation Rose. Now this was the overnight erection, calm down, of the Berlin Wall 13th of August, 1961. Completely secret. These Germans, man, no matter what situation they're in,

after World War I, they then fucking had an economic boom after being destroyed and well. You just, no matter where you put them, they'll find them. They'll do something. Yeah. They'll do something. Yeah. What are they doing now? They're rearming. They're rearming. scary are we doing that

are we letting them do that you're excited though I'm fucking I'm here for it yeah the world gets more exciting when the Germans are armed yeah I'm just gonna say that you know so if you look at the

broad street of human history yes if you take the Germans toys away it gets a bit boring yes you know it's samey cold war war what would you rather yeah it's true

there was only a cold war because Germans weren't allowed weapons I know Give them the toys back and it will fucking kick off again. Anyway, so overnight, 150 kilometres of barrier is erected. Now, initially this is just cement posts and barbed wire. Eventually would be 13 feet high. But 192 streets are cut.

97 roads leading out of Berlin into the East German hinterland are blocked. And they break the fucking S-Barn and the U-Barn, the underground. And they also block the sewers, right? So the Germans... Overnight... I mean, it is extraordinary. They do this in... 12 hours.

Like, I was eating that. Excuse me. Yeah. There were some angry diners in the... What am I going to eat on a weekend now? If I can finish my meal, please. I've just ordered some poopie dessert.

And that... Oh, right, well, fine. We know that when you're not wanted. Bloody hell. Fuck me. I thought it was bad in Chinese restaurants, but the service here is absolutely correct. They're just hurry me out of the door.

Not even my finish Of my plate of German poo So they brought the suit I mean it is extraordinary Just the infrastructural achievement Of building the Berlin War Overnight Ulbricht

And the Soviets know about this Yeah No one else knows about it Until maybe the morning of the day before And then the guards all basically Overnight They like drill holes They put cement posts

no one fucking wakes up to this. They do it in the height of summer when everyone's on holiday and they do it on a Saturday night Sunday morning so a lot of people are out of the city swimming in lakes and all that nonsense so there are lots of people

that are just suddenly they've been like you know having a night out and then they're like oh fuck I can't walk a shame home now because you feel a fucking wall did anyone do you think got stuck one half in East Berlin

one half in Westland they maybe got embedded in the wall I don't know if that happens because maybe after we can't know A big night out if there's just the passed out

guy in the street Well and they build it through And then he wakes up like Oh no Oh no So the Berlin Wall Immediately blocks everyone In East Berlin

So as we were saying It was a very porous border Yeah This is now the hardest Of hard border And so This begins a series Of standoffs

At the height of Cold War tensions September 22nd 1961, an incident takes place at Checkpoint Charlie. Now, there are several checkpoints. There's checkpoint Alpha, which is to get from West to East. There's checkpoint Beta or Bravo to get from East Berlin to West Berlin. And there's Checkpoint Charlie to get from West Berlin back into East Berlin.

And there's a US diplomat who's going to the theatre to watch the state sanctioned play with his wife. And there was a rule that diplomats could just get through the checkpoints without showing any papers. Yes. The privileges of being an American, basically. Some busybody asked for his papers, and he says no. Yeah. And then this leads to a tank standoff where, I mean, you get the photo up,

there's this army of tanks just facing each other, Soviets and Americans. And he's all dressed up for the opera or like, is he, yeah. He's like, do you mind? Yeah. I'm going to miss Madame Butterfly or whatever. Yeah. And then General Lucius Clay, who's the U.S. Head of the U.S. attachment in Berlin, he's trigger happy.

He wants to fight. Yeah. So he gets like the military to escort the car, make a big show of it. Then the East Germans don't back down. Then they get tanks involved. And so they stood facing each other. Eventually, Kennedy calms the situation. I mean, this is around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, maybe just before.

So Kennedy again. I mean, Kennedy's got a pretty cool head until he doesn't. Until famously he doesn't. Care for your skin like you care for the game. Dove Men Plus Care is an official. official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 2026 and has just dropped their new limited edition

deodorant and antipersprint collection for 72 hours sweat and odor protection helping you stay fresh from kickoff to the final whistle visit dove.com slash CA slash EN slash men dash care to shop now the war goes up

now there are lots of escape attempts which I feel like we should go through as they're pretty amazing Yeah. The first victim of the wall is a woman called Ida Seekman. Ida Seekman, who dies on 22nd of August 61. She was, had been living, had a lot of family in West Berlin. She was living in East Berlin and she decides, basically her fourth floor apartment looks out onto West Berlin.

Yeah. But the entrance is in East Berlin. So she's, she just fucking Franz Reichels it, basically. She goes, I can fucking make this. I got badly trousers on. I'll fly it. I got collots on. I'll make me fly.

And she just, yeah, same result. Fucks it. Dies of, I guess, broken head or something. I don't know what the medical term is. There's a man called Gunter Lifton, who's the first person shot dead. Now, he's a tailor who lived in the east, but worked in the west.

And he tried to swim across the elbow, and the guards shot him, and he dies on the western side. there was the last victim was a guy called Winfred Freudenberg him and his wife tried to hot air balloon it over the wall but then the wife and oh god this is a sad story

the wife got flustered got spooked by how fast the balloon she lost her head got spooked by how hot how fast the balloon was filling up so she's like oh no I can't right so he gets in it but then the weight was wrong because it was expected

to load to bear two people so he then shoot up too high and ends up floating 6,000 feet in the air and then slashes the balloon to try and come down but just falls to a death from 6,000 feet but in West Berlin though in West Berlin he makes it he has broken every bone in his body he completely broken fundamentally he is achieved his goal he has escaped but he's a puddle so there's other escape attempts there was an there was an acrobat who climbed over a I think a telephone wire yeah and And basically, like, there were guards,

the guards sort of within reach. And he just kind of like, do, do, do, do, do. He eventually makes it over to the other side, but he breaks both his arms. There's someone made a fucking hollowed out cow. You should read this? Yeah.

A hollowed out cow and tried to, like, sort of, Trojan horse, but a German cow. And they got, um... It worked twice. But it's not, it wasn't, it wasn't a real cow. It was like a pantomime cow. they pretended it was for a display of a cow.

People crossed the river on inflatable air mattresses. Someone shot an arrow across the border and then slid across. Like zip line down. Oh, wow. I think. And it works. In 1989, this guy, Holger, they go and get their brother. The guy Holger who got across with the arrow, he just gets a fucking tiny aircraft,

just lands in an East Berlin park, just picks up his brother and just fucks off again. Oh, really? Yeah. Just see you later. an 81 year old man digs a tunnel and then a dozen senior citizens escape and the tunnel is high enough for them to walk through upright

now is that just because their backs are fucked and they're walking at right angles but mainly lots of people get shot at the wall some people just try and drive into it which doesn't work because there's two... Because there's a no man's land

there's two walls and like a pathway and a lot of people get shot someone drive to drive a tank into it or a digger and stuff people basically just sort of GTAing it trying to break through the wall. A bulldozer. You're excited about the new GTA?

I am excited about the new GTA. Do you see the guy who murdered his girlfriend getting arrested and immediately burst to tears because he says he's going to miss the new GTA? That is awesome. That is awesome and that is so our patron. I bet he's a patron. I bet he's a patron. That's the most insane thing to say.

Yeah. He's being handcuffed and he's in tears. I'm going to miss the new GTA. That's awesome. That's like peak comic book guy. British man, Robert Richen, sentenced to life in prison in February 26. He went viral after police body cam footage

captured him sobbing, expressing he was devastated of a missing the upcoming race of GTA 6. Which GTA? What are you talking about, Robert? Six. Oh, you got ages for that. I'm going to miss GTA in that. You're right.

Which GTA? What are you talking about, Robert? Six. Oh, you got ages for that? Oh, I'm going to get... life. So I've got I, Robert Richards on the 30th of May. I'm going to miss GTA in that.

And that. And that awesome. Robert Richens, friend of the pod. Okay. Give that man a knighthood. I'm going to miss GTA in that. When people say, who listens to your podcast,

it's men like Richens. Yeah, riches and plum. Riches and Plum. Get Richens on Mount Rushmore now, Charlie. Find the Mount Rushmore image of plum and Musk. Okay. And get, Richon's on there. Say his name. A hero. An absolute hero. Kills his girlfriend. And then

it's devastated that he's going to miss the release of GTA 6. Awesome. Talking of a video, I mean, we have talked about this and it will come out a different time. Have you seen the woman who gets thrown off a cliff without a rope? He's from Abingdon. What? What? You're from? Robert Richards is from Abingdon. Mr. Richardson. It's from Abingdon. Say his name. Abingdon Man. two great Aberdonians. I don't know if he's an old Abingdonian. I'm not sure he went to my school.

I'm not sure he's an old Abingdonian. Which school did he go to? I don't know. Can you find out? I'm just saying if it's Larkmead, it makes sense. Okay. I mean, is he in the photo with you and then Watson? That's what I want to know.

No, no, no, no. Right, so explain to me what we watch. So basically, there's a bungee jump in Brazil. This woman's very excited. I mean, it's horrendous. And they chuck her off and they realized they just didn't attach it. I mean, it's horrendous.

Yeah. There's another angle, isn't it? Oh, go on a different one, go on a different one. When we're talking about the greatest not today's in history. His job it was to attach a bungee cord. Not today, it's too what? Have you tied the bungee job? Yeah, he's fine.

It's fine. I'm sure he's fine. Is the company 100% responsible for that? Yeah, all of them are going to go to jail. Yes. All four of them. I mean, that's manslaughter. I mean, that's complete.

The negligence is like, I can't really think of it. Astonishing. You really can't do that. So just in the top. If you run a bunch of a company, that you really cannot. You have one job and it's to tie the bungee boat. It's not, you can't throw people off a bridge like that. That's a different experience.

I mean, I guess it's sort of dignity. As Swiss Is it Brazilian Zygmatas? They do do things a bit more spicy over there don't they? Bungitas. I guess it's not

like this kind of Protestant Calvinist sort It's a bit more for money. Hey, one two, three. You know what?

It's quicker. It's a lot quicker process. Dignitas doesn't have to be gloomy. Also, maybe you could skip the paperwork. Clearly. Clearly. Join the queues next.

I don't think much paperwork's been doing that company. You know what, but what's What I thought when you mentioned it was that her rope was a tie, was tied, but then they saw the rope just like going and it wasn't tied to anything else. He was tied to her.

And then no one thought, oh yeah. There's also a guy watching it from behind. So there's two people carrying out. That's fine. That's fine. Everything's in order. So, in the top gear leaderboard of the greatest not today's in history, we've got the Egyptian team missing the boat for the First World Cup.

And we've got the Brazilian bungee cup operator, who does not attack the punch you rope who just chucked a woman in a bin Oh my god It's so awful It's awful Anyway Whoever runs that company

Friend of the pod Along with Robert Reichens We know your patrons So shout out Shout out To loyal patrons We'll try and send some of these episodes into you guys in prison

Yeah We will film ourselves Playing GTI6 And then send it to you In prison Robert It's if a company was entirely staffed by Charlie's, if it was just multiple. Yeah, yeah, with no oversight. Charlie Wang a bunchy child company.

Anyway, so I suppose with that new context, a lot of these escape attempts are actually more successful than I thought, I guess. Yeah, it really puts into context. It puts into perspective, and at least they tied the ropes of them before they died in West Berlin. Anyway, so the wall goes up, and it's very hard to escape. They've got guard dogs. because they've got people in gun towers, searchlights, barbed wire.

The wall gets taller over the course of the 60s. And so essentially everyone's like, right, well, we've got us to stay here now. So let's make the best of it. And this is where we get into life in the GDR, which is a fascinating topic, because as you say, it's probably the most successful... It's like a terrarium.

Do you know what I mean by that? Or a lizard house. No, where you build like... You get a glass and you build like a well. You build like a well. a little ecosystem in a big jar but it's like that but instead it's like German communists. But what's amazing about it is that they they build a very literate society very educated society. Very employed society. So everyone has like accommodation. I think

they spend maybe 5% of their income on rent to compare that with today's system. These days, 60%. They have universal. free higher education. There's free child care. So there are women who are going to like university, dropping their kids off at the pool. Women can shit. Women can shit.

It's a very progressive society. They're open about women shitting. It's extraordinary. And they're still employed after they, you come out as women who shit. You know how like Irish women would go to England for abortions? Yes.

West German women are going to East Germany. For ablutions. Yeah, exactly. Ablution tourism. Western Germany. Germans would flood East Berlin. We can openly poo here without prejudice. 57% of East German households had a fridge.

Astonishing. Compared to the West, they only had 28%. That's the key stat. That's the key stat. Yeah, you're right. It does need that. It does need that. Amazing.

More than half the country got a fridge. There's like gardens. Everyone has a garden. Yeah. In many ways, it's... It's the selling point of communism. Here's the key point. There's less rich people, but everyone's got the same.

Here's the key point. Everyone is comfortably middle class, and they have a lot of disposable income. They've got like a buttling. There's a communist butlins. The issue is, everyone's middle class. The issue is no one has anything to spend their disposable income on. Yes. And they build a rod for their own backs because they make an incredibly politically, politically

aware, literate, educated society, but then there's nowhere for that energy to go. and so it obviously goes into the Starzzie into the Starzzi exactly the only thing to do the only thing you can do is to spy on your wife

so yeah so you were saying they have a communist Buttland yeah so they've got like they're quite those sort of like cheap holidays for working people

they're quite advanced and that they'd have like these cruise ships in the Baltic that you'd like have like which I don't know what like

what a communist butlins look I don't know what the aesthetic is butlins is very capitalist Yeah, it does feel like... But they're achieving the same thing. It's failed capitalism as buttons. Because they didn't have Peter Andra.

I went to Bognor Regis Butlins quite recently. And there was Peter Andre who was really popping his pussy out for everyone there in a very good way. Still in a good, Nate? He's 53 years old looks phenomenal. Well, you know, that's because he's been wrestling, wrestling Harvey is. He's ripped because he had to be fighting off Harvey. Yeah. I had a mental health article about how he stays in such a good show.

Yeah. Yeah. I've sort of got a personal trainer, yeah. Also, culturally, they kind of lost the youth battle of the cool culture, right? There's no good music because it's once again state sanctioned music. Yes. There's so much like censorship and what can and can't be said. It's all decided by boring old guys.

Yes. It's Theresa May deciding what the charts are, basically. It's that, isn't it? Yeah, it's that. Running through a field of we. And this is some of the problems you find when you have such a top-down paternal society. Yes. But they, because they obviously are hearing what's going on in the West, Beatles, the 60s.

Yes. And young people all want to be involved in that. Jeans become this big symbol of capitalism. Yes. And they're all desperate to get genes. And at first, East Germany says, they're a capital symbol. Then they say, fuck, we're going to make our own ones. But they were, like, really cheap.

And, like, you'd wear East German jeans. And then the blue would, like, soak into your legs. and like, you end up like a smurf, basically. Yeah. So they basically, in many ways, they nailed it. Now, women, and I enjoyed this, this speaks to me in my current situation in life, women are encouraged to work. Some workforces are 90% female.

However, men were not expected to take up equal responsibility at home. Yeah, I mean, that's perfect. Awesome. Oh, you've got your war you wanted. No, I'm not doing that. Yeah, you can work. You just also got to do everything else you're doing. That's great.

Awesome. There's two incomes for you as well. And then you don't do the housework. Double income. Yeah. Less work. Condoms start to run out in the 80s and also bananas are very rare. So sex education is tough.

What are you putting on what? What are you doing? You're having to show the pull-out method with it. What fruit did they have? Oranges? Just chucking an orange on a wall? What is an East German sex education? What does that look like?

If you don't have bananas or condoms. Maybe it's, sorry, because it's Germany, maybe the teacher just gets his knob out. You're right. Maybe he goes, well, it's what you do? And he's just got a massive lob on, chose him to put a condom on. He's got a nappy on.

Everyone have a go. Just, yeah. So kids are Sweden. Pairs, yeah. I guess maybe you could put a bin bag over a pair. Yeah. It's not a consumer society. No, it's not.

they also have you know the electricity is a bit unreliable so East Berlin frequently has blackouts well that's used a lot

to compare and contrast as photos from above communism versus capitalism and this is the great problem is that everyone gets Western TV and Western radio and so East Germany again

that in many ways in isolation you could say a lot of this is a success if you can sort of if you can distance yourself from the whole Stars he's available to

the mental insane state gas lighting that goes on if you can take that out of the equation which you can't then you could say oh maybe it succeeds in its own terms but it's always been compared to a direct

like twin competitor where people have jeans and they have condoms and they have bananas so you know they can take their jeans off shove a banana at their ass and fuck who they want in many ways that's freedom

they lose the battle of like making sick shit basically that's the problem and communism probably could work in a science like this if they had nothing to compare itself to. But if you have FOMO with, because you can hear all the shagging going on over the wall.

And the music. The rock music. The Beatles are in Hamburg at this point. Yeah. You know. And so there's a dance called the Lipsy, which is, is that a specific move? So this is youth culture in East Germany.

Mm. Yeah. And so to compare this, this is in 59. So in the West, you've got Chuck Berry, you've got Elvis. Yeah. You've got women throwing their panties

men who are doing the splits. Yeah, I imagine fingering wasn't allowed. Hip gyrations are forbidden. So Elvis clout down on hip gyrations. Because what starts as hip gyrations. It corrupt the youth.

It does corrupt the youth. It becomes twerking. So, is Charlie not a product of Western decadence, could you say? 100%. 100%. Because it is interesting now

that we've lived in capitalists for so long, there are definitely pros and cons to the system. You know, and they're definitely sometimes you're like maybe we have gone too far with indulgence. Yes. Look at Only fans.

You look at Bonnie Blue. You look at, you know, Charlie has a job. This is your Islamist streak coming out. It does come out sometimes. It does. You start talking about capitalism. You do get quite. I mean, weirder you say that.

My TikTok's gone straight back on to like edits of Hajj again. It's getting me fired up again. Yeah. Yeah. I'm ready. But yeah, I think if an East German list to this podcast, they would view this as some of the moral failings at the West. Yes.

Oh, 100%. You know, listen to Charlie tell his stories about putting a poor ball. up a bully's bum and then sucking on it. I didn't want to do that. But, you know, I don't think that's... Still did, though. Yeah. Well, yeah, because I have to...

But that's the pressure. No, I didn't. There's no consent. Capitalism. You know, ethics are eroded, but... Is it? You know, it's... Or is it communism?

It... Is it communism? Well, you're sharing a pool ball. I don't... Yeah, but it's a bum pool ball. That's... It doesn't have, like, a practical use. I'm not sharing it.

I'm the only one that to put it in his fucking... You said that, like... You said that like, you had... you had... no choice in the matter. I didn't have any choice. I'd have been outcast. I'd rather have the pooey ball in my house. This is Stasi stuff. This is Stasi stuff.

Sort of. I'd love to see the Stasi documents on you. I'd love to see the Lys Vothers, but they're all listening to Charlie's like No. Fuck, it. Is he throwing poo into the I don't think that could be right? I'm trying to throw us off to send. I don't know if I could write this in the document. This is crazy. You're throwing poo into the toilet

from six feet away? Just reading that kind of dry German document just explaining blow by blow you're so open no one can inform on you so you're kind of untouchable from a starzzy perspective yeah because you're openly saying I am a pedophile to a to an audience of 300,000 people an episode just saying I am a pedophile so how can you be blackmailed because they're like

oh you're a pedo yeah yeah what else and then do you know in the office since he said that he keeps going up to me and goes I really can't be a pedophile now I'm like no no you can't be one anyway you can't be one anyway not just because you've said you are for a joke I mean there was never the plan but I definitely can't now but you couldn't anyway I think you're more

you can now more than before he's angry if anything because you can now more than before because if you were a Pido it would be like to be fair he did say it why are we getting angry at him sorry

what's the most Charlie moment of the podcast you're talking at him you huh What the fuck's going on? Anyway, David Byrne describes the Lipsy as a weird, sexist, popular dance. There you go. Concerts start happening in the West, you know.

Increasingly, that obviously the Beatles are coming over. I don't think they ever play in West Berlin, but a radio DJ joked that the Rolling Stones could play on the roof by the wall so that the East Berliners could hear them. Yeah. And then thousands of East Germans show up at the wall thinking it's going to happen. They've got nothing to do. They do have nothing to do it.

That's the problem. Yeah. Well, they have allocated leisure. Yeah. But it's like, it's compulsory buttons. Yeah. And you could earn a lot of money.

But without Peter Andre. Yeah. There's, you're not watching any. But that's it. Like, at least you got Peter Andre. Who are they showing up to see?

Yeah. Who's, who's red Elvis? There's a guy called Red Elvis. Yeah. It's like state approved Elvis. It's impossible for anything to be cool if it's a ripoff. It's a, it's not even just that.

It's more. It's your dad. It's your, your dad has choking. and everything that you consume. Yes. The whole point of being cool is going against for your parents.

It's the opposite of that. Thank you, Mum. Thank you, Mum, for that incredible music that me and my friends enjoy. Thank you, mum, for dinner. Thank you. I'm going to go to my room now. Thank you, Mom.

Dean Reid, who was an American singer, who was a communist sympathiser, and he sort of settled in East Germany, I think. Oh, from West. Because basically people thought Beatlemania, Ulbricht says that Beatlemania is the work of the devil. Yes.

And it's like the capitalist devil. Yeah. To be fair, at the time, I do think it's an extraordinary cultural phenomenon that they've never had anything like this. The audience, the journey of the audiences take from, you know, cabaret of the 20s, they're still sat around table smoking,

you know, jazz, there's frantic dancing. Girls to be screaming and throwing pants. Yeah. To an audience that have lived through the war and have been like, I mean, in Germany, hundreds of years before there was the witch trials where a guy was concentration camping

women he found attractive. Yes. Because he accused in them of witchcraft. Now they're literally all throwing their pants at, you know, men. Yeah. It's already, you know, his prophecy has come true. My name is Peter Parker, but I'm also Spider-Man. This July, we're faced with a threat.

That can be anyone. The world may have forgotten Peter Parker. I'm just a neighbor. Friendly neighbor. But he hasn't forgotten them. Sometimes Spider-Man has to do the hard thing. That's my responsibility. Talk to Banner? I didn't know you could get that big.

Spider-Man, brand new day. In theaters, July 31st. Hey, y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder, what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what-if.

Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair.ca. Wayfair, every style, every home. Now, Bowie, obviously, West Berlin becomes a big cultural moment. in the 70s. Bowie and Brian Eno go there. A lot of Bowie's most famous songs come from the Berlin trilogy.

And then eventually Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen performing East Berlin in 1988 and a lot of people think this is the start of the end for the GDR. Yeah. They've just lost the culture war basically. Yeah, exactly.

This is the actual cultural war. Yeah. Because there's actually culture in it. Yes. The problem with this culture war is it's not really, there's no culture, is it? It's more, you know It's pronouns and fucking

Racism What is culture? What would you define culture? Well, I mean, it's more like an artistic movement Or a way of seeing the world or, you know Anything that's not work? What? Or sex.

Sex is not culture? I think sex is culture. There's a sex culture. It's part of culture. Yeah, but I think the word culture Like, people say there's like a, there's rape culture. Do you know what I mean? Is that culture?

Yeah. What cultures do we? There's live cultures in Kherfeeer yogurt. Yeah. So culture does get used a lot. What about yogurt rape culture? What's that?

For live yogurt rape culture. Yeah. What's that? Kim here. Kaffir? No, Kim here. Kavir, love. Oh, good stuff.

Now, but there was a complaint system in all this. To be fair, to the East German state. There was a system called Ein-Garbon where people, basically there's like a complaints board where people could complain saying, can we have some more

some nicer state-approved dresses? Yeah. Because obviously all the clothes are descriptive. There's one car, the Trebant, a trabbie, which... And you have to be on a waiting list for years to even get that.

I have a Rolex, but for a shit car. Yeah. But this car is maybe fairly good in 1961, but they never improve it. Update it, yeah. So by the 80s, it's like a sort of 10-C car.

But the train tickets are very cheap and they've got great public transport so it's the sort of the two sides of it. So let's get in. Now, one of the best things about East Germany is they have state-run pornography. Talking about the difference between East Germany and West Germany when it comes to homosexuality, the Nazis had introduced quite a strict version of an anti-homosexual law where anything... What do you mean by strict?

Anything homosexual in nature, not just sex between men, was criminalised. So kissing and holding hands between men, punished. I didn't realize they had to wear a pink triangle in concentration camps I didn't know that. Where's their story? Where's the queer concentration camp film? Where is it? I mean that's surely that's got an Oscar written

or over at double whammy. Bels. Balswet. That was pretty good. I was going to say Belsen Mountain, but Oh, that's nice. Yeah. Book and Wild Mountain. Anyway. Arswitz is good to be fair. I wonder what that did because you're in a concentration camp,

do you think there's any homophobic Jewish guys in there who are like, well, they can't stand the next day. I want to share a room with him. He's going to front me. It's a good point, actually.

Just because the Jews are victims here doesn't mean they're blameless. Yeah, because the Jews, they all have to wear the star of David's, they've been ostracized. But then if you've got another star, I wonder if you get ostracized by the ostracized. Then do you feel like, oh, I want another badge?

I'm doing well. I don't know. Do I get a swimming badge? I don't think so. I don't know. What have you had a star of David and a pink triangle. Yeah, and the Frosty Swimming Badge. Yeah, hang on, what's that doing?

That's relevant. So East Germany got rid of this Nazi law. West Germany retains it until the 70s. So 50,000 convictions under the Nazi homosexual law in West Germany. Interesting. But in the East, this is very funny, in the East, they don't, they liberate sexuality, but they also think that homosexuality is a symptom of Western decadence.

Yeah, it's capitalism. What is it? bourgeois perversion. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love the idea that being gay is a bourgeois. Yeah. It's like, oh, real people aren't gay.

Salt the earth, I isn't gay. That's the only time you do if you're, like, born into money. Yeah. It's saying it's a lifestyle for Marxist.

But that's what I mean. It's saying it's, it's homophobia from a Marxist's perspective. Right, yeah. Where it's, you're folding it into a class narrative. Yeah. Rather than, like, a religious thing

of like, brother, uh, it's like, how dare you betray your roots and suck that man off? Yeah, yeah, yeah. brother are. Exactly.

So, the Stasi starts to try and counter what it deems as perversions and decadence by producing its own porn films. Yes. Can we have a look at... This is the number one problem. It's just, it's all... Theresa May is making the porn. Shouldn't be making porn.

Theresa May should not be working on. Now, this trust... I've watched anything trust makes. Charlie, can you try and find some posters for some of this East German porn? One of them was... One film, a topless... female recruit in a helmet leaves for attention at the command breasts out. It's not bad.

I mean, there's another scene where a male worker in a medical room is waiting to be seen by a female doctor. She enters and orders the man to strip to the waist. But I am your med mechanic, insist the male worker. The doctor immediately unbuttoned her white coat and offers the worker instant sex because she's so grateful to have found somebody to repair her car in a country almost devoid of mechanics. And that's made by the state.

Now, is that like a political... There's a department of pornography which employs 160 people. 12 amateur enthusiasts, which is great, because it's clearly like, no matter where you are in Germany, no matter the system, there are people who want to be amateur enthusiasts. The gentleman's photographers. Yeah, I'll help.

I'm more on a volunteer basis. Yeah, I'm doing it for honour. I'm doing it for honour. So they make 12 films between 82 and 89, and the party elite and military officers attend premieres with attendance logged for possible blackmail. It's just folding in on itself. It's crazy. So they're making porn

and then they're making a log of who's watching the porn just in case they're still out of it. Have a look at this. You're watching that? I'm making an hour now. Yeah, I'm watching it. Now, and interestingly, I listen to a podcast where they're talking about the after effects and today there's still a massive cultural divide between East and West Germany in the East Germans,

they make more sex tapes than their Western German counterparts. They also have kids younger because it was subsidised and childcare is much better in East Germany. Still? still and they

so they have she's great in Berlin isn't it oh fuck me it's insane I've got a mate who lives in Berlin and they had a kid and the wife she doesn't have to our mate she doesn't have to go back to work

for three years if she doesn't want to and the child care is free she goes to fucking holiday it's crazy it's madness and nurseries are free yeah until school

I mean I guess you know I guess they're in indoctrinating them with some pretty fruity ideas and that's the... Sure. Anyway, movies with titles like Glass Dreams, Private Werner's Big Surprise and Fucking for the Fatherland were made by a secret unit set up within a barracks of the army in Beesdorf and East Berlin.

Right. Wow. And also there's a huge nudist culture. Yes. Because... But they love that shit anyway. You go to like a sauna in the Baltics or Germany. Barli. We should go to Vibali, which is a sauna outside Berlin.

It's a fully nude sauna. and you can have crumble and be naked. Yeah. I don't think I want crumbled in sauna, personally. You have crumble after sauna. Yeah. But interestingly, so there's a massive nudism culture, which they think, well, it says here, public nudity is seen by the state as egalitarian and secular and that people appear as equals

with their clothes off. That's not true. A new hierarchy emerges. Exactly. A different hierarchy. have you seen embarrassing bodies? My God. Yeah, some people are not born equal.

People are not born equal. Let's just say that now. Some people's bodies are uglier to look at. For some people, some people really like clothes. Okay? I really like clothes. Clothes are brilliant. Clothes saved me from a lot of hassle.

Clothes bring, I think, are very egalitarian. Yes, they are. They leave a lot to the imagination. There is, listen, there's a point where it's, everyone's naked and unequal and then everyone puts clothes on and they're equal and then some people have better clothes I heard the airdrop

did it because I knew you're transferring something Why are you doing this? Why are you just showing? We won't be able to show that in the episode so why have you done that? There we will, we will. And if not, at least you've seen it. We've already seen your cock.

You've showed to us in a live stream. You've also shown this video before. I just want to make sure it's definitely in one of the episodes. Producer wants to get his ball. and it's fucking crazy. He's an amateur enthusiast. I thought you guys had found something,

some German porn thing, because you were scurrying about that there, but you were just trying to air drop a photo of your balls. Jesus Christ. Anyway, I was making an important point about how clothes are actually critical for equality. Yeah. But the state thing,

the nudity is good because it's sort of secular and frees you from God in a way and it's like removing all trappings of capitalism. Why is it free you from God, do you think? Is it because it's how tight-liped the Lutheran Christian churches? Because I guess in Christianity, it's Adam and Eve, right? But that's what I mean is that the whole notion of shame and covering up, our notions of it come from the Bible theology.

And communism is trying to rid people of trying to destroy religion. And so nudism is an attempt to try and reorder life away from Christian reality towards a secular one. But they also think, weirdly, they think that, East Germans took to it more because it's like they feel freer. Yeah, because they have no freedom in other parts of their lives.

Well, like, you know, in a world where one in six people might be having might have like a little camera in their tie. No one's got a fucking camera up their ass. You'd hope. Or it's much easier to spot. East German Stasi member when you're naked. There's a fucking...

Well, every time he clenches, a flashbulb goes off. He pulls a little cord. But yeah, I do, I would like to counter that I do think clothes. Clothes are brilliant. I fucking love clothes. Yeah,

great invention. Terrific. Do you ever kind of like making tea naked or anything like that? I walk around in little slutty house shorts in my house when it's this hot. Little shorts. Yeah, denim cutoffs.

They're called duck dick shorts is what we call them at uni. Shorts wear any moment. And they're just flop out. And you, yeah, they wear a big bonnet. Yeah. It's hot. Mesh vest.

Oh, it's so hot. I do, this is the worst time to be straight at the summer. Yes. It's the gay season. It is good. They're the most powerful. The straits should retreat.

We should, we should hybridate. Until winter. Until winter. Until winter. When the darkness descends. Yeah. And the strength.

I mean, it's Pride month as well. It's the most powerful. They are. They take energy from the sun, gays. They photo synthesize. I believe. I believe that's where they get their energy.

They don't sleep, gay people. They recharge in the sun. They spend all night sucking each other off in toilets. I think. I'm an amateur homologist. Asshole sunning. Yeah. Exactly.

This is a tough time to be straight for summer, but we're ploughing through to give you the listeners crucial information about East Germany. Oh, we need to get into sport, though, because East Germany from the beginning is obsessed with... Oh, hello, a bit of rabbit for the dog to see there, naked woman on the beach. Nice.

A lovely bit of 70s growler on show as well. What's the GDR state line on growlers, please, Charlie, could you find that out? Charlie, Charlie, Charlie, Charlie, Charlie, I'm just making it a balance. Charlie, what did you type in? German car. Charlie, could you, a little job for you,

because I think I've noticed that the episode is a lot easier when you're given a task, right? Could you find out what the state line on pubic hair in the GDR was, please? Keep you busy for a bit, right? Now, there's a massive culture of sport in East Germany from the beginning. So the exercise is like sort of mandatory.

there's footage of Walter Ubrich like leading hundreds of people in kind of public exercise. But of course, you know, they subsidise athletes and sports clubs, but they also use systematic doping. Yes. Particularly on women. And so steroids are administered pre-puberty to promising female athletes. And there's a woman called, or rather, should I say, there's a person called Andrius Krieger Oh, you've become so woke

I'm reading this for the first time And I don't know what the end of the story is There's a bloke called Andreas Krieger Oh no, no, there's not There's a, oh, you've got me Brilliant, brilliant, put me in jail Yeah Fucking hog-tieme in, tell me to jail

You got me I did it I misgendered whatever she is You're a mouse going For some cheese And then you're in a mouse trap Yeah a trans trap.

So there's a woman called Heidi who's a woman who wins gold for shot put Okay, okay, so she's right Come on, she's already, So she's already halfway there. You should have started this part of the script with there's a shot put. There's a woman competing a shot put

Right, which means she's a bloke. Yeah. Okay. In the 1986 European Championships, a woman called Heidi wins gold in shot put. Yeah. But from the age of 16, she had been dope with steroids

that had an androgenic effect, androgenic effect on the body. So she undergoes, gender affirming surgery in 1997. Yeah. And now known as Andreas, say his name, testifies in 2000 at the trial of East German sports officials

and it said that the state-sponsored drugs contributed to his transsexuality, depriving him of the right to find out for myself which sex I wanted to be. I'll just interrupt you there to say that you were doing shot put.

Yeah. So I reckon it was pretty obviously from early on. Yeah? They just spotted something in you that, you know, you didn't know and yourself. You think you should be grateful?

Yeah. Any woman who does shot put. Yeah. Come on. State sanctioned transitions. Stop lines yourself. All right. Is it because the doping was pumping her full of testosterone?

I think so. Or steroids and stuff. Now was there a formal state policy of... What was Charlie? What have you found? There was no formal state policy. On pubs? On pubs now.

Okay. But the Stasi did make a note of people's pubic headlands. Yeah. And they kept it in jars as well. just to make sure. So football's obviously East Germany at some point beat West Germany

and stuff. So they have some muffs in the wall of smells. Muffuffin in the wall of smells. For the good of the state. What do you do? I'm a civil servant. Oh yeah,

what department? Oh, I'm huff huffer at the moment. I'm a muff huffer at a moment, but probably to move into foreign policy. At some point. You've got to start somewhere. I'm huffing muffing muffs in the year. Anyway,

so we haven't even fucking talked about Honica who comes in in 71 he replaces Albrecht and his reign is increasingly defined by dependence on West Germany Does he have a sort of Cruzev moderniser effect

after Albrecht? Does he I think he's more hamstrung by like there's a big coffee crisis in 1977 That's kind of quite emblematic of all their problems They love coffee the Germans They're obsessed with it It's like British tea In the coffee crisis which is where

There's a bad harvest in Brazil or something Right And blah blah blah Anyway. Well, they just chucked all the bags off the cliff. Yeah, they chucked a bunch of coffee trees off a cliff without actually planting them.

And you can still see the effects of that today, actually. We're living through the great bungee crisis of 2006. So they consume around three and a half kilos of coffee per person each year. Coffee basically doesn't arrive in the late 70s, which means they have to make state branded coffee, which is cut with like

fucking pea protein and stuff. And it clogs the machines. Anyway, they hate it. So there's a policy... They got shit instant coffee basically, really shit. There's a thing called Ostpolitik, which is Willie Brandt in the West, who decides to try and detente ease relations

between the two. And let's just get to, I think, the collapse of the GDR, which... This is a very, very funny moment, actually. The way the Berlin Wall collapses is... I didn't know it was over... Yeah.

I didn't know that the moment was so funny. It's so, yeah, it's so funny. It's so un-German as well. Yeah. So who's the man called? Is he called Schlaubowski or something? Because this is like, this is, when you're going through like a time span of history, the full of the Berlin Wall is like modern history, 9-11, full of the Berlin Wall.

It's like a bookmark at the end of the 12th century. Yeah. Gunter Schabowski, okay, who is a senior official. I don't know, this is sort of the moment. Yeah. The whole of communism collapses is here. I don't know. He fucks it.

Now obviously there's loads of, there's loads of trends. It's all moving towards this. But the sort of the starting gun is this, right? So there's been a lot of pressure in the late 80s, a lot of student pressure. Chernobyl's happened recently. Chinable has happened. Younger people are starting to revolt more generally. People are on the streets.

There's like student demonstrations because, as I said, there's a very literate educated population with nowhere to put that energy. Yeah. So a man called Gunter Shabowski has been told by the higher-ups that they're going to start easing travel restrictions slowly from east to west Berlin. However, by this point, there's already a new escape route opening up. The Hungarian border has opened with Austria, which means it's easy to get out, easy to get out of the east. So the officials are like, okay, we're going to start slowly phasing out the strictness of the, Berlin Wall, blah, blah, blah, travel restrictions.

But it's meant to be slow and over like months and years, requiring official permission. Now, Shabowski is an official who's basically gets back from a plane journey, is in a car, has all his papers. There's a handwritten note about this policy that he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then he gets, is a press conference on the 9th November, 1989, which we should probably place. 1989.

So. It's before Berkine becomes a sex club. Yes. And it's after whatever Burkheim was before. Yes.

Power plant. So it's between it's between it being a power plant and a poo plant. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. So Shabowski is told

Shabowski is asked at a press conference when do these new travel restrictions take place? And he says, as far as I know private individuals

can now apply to travel abroad without the previous existing requirements permanent exit is possible via all border crossings and is he sort of free balling that is that true that's not it wouldn't be gradual no that's not true

and then he said I'm expressing myself carefully because I'm not up to date on the question I was only told this just before then they're asked when does this take effect and he goes as far as I know immediately without delay so he fuck

it. He completely fucks it. And so that then, thousands of people start swarling towards the wall and the guards on the ground haven't been told any of this. They then don't know what to do, but their face with swelling crowds so they open the gates and this then means that...

Now is this when people start actually hammering the wall down as well? Does it on this day? Does that just spring out of naturally? Yeah. I think so. I think people then start climbing the wall. I think my dad got on a plane just went to the Berlin Wall.

To see it. Just to see it. Because it seemed like everyone wanted to see what was going on. It felt like a historic moment.

November the 10th, 89, the Maurer Specter, the wall woodpeckers, people hacked off chunks of souvenirs. And then on the 31st of 88,

David Hasselhoff performs looking for freedom on a crane about, hanging from a crane above the wall. And they're like, can you rebuild the wall actually?

I know, that's awful. That's absolutely awful. I don't want what the West is offering. That is decadence impersonified. Haselhoff in a winch above the Berlin Wall. No, no thank you.

Mr. Gorbachev, rebuild that wall. They realised they weren't missing out. We weren't, no, we had it pretty good actually. You know, you were keeping stuff from us, and we didn't know that. So basically, Germany reunifies very quickly after that. The West German Chancellor Helmut Cole

presents a 10-point plan like two weeks later to reunify, and then the only free East German election on the 8th of March 1990 produces a Parliament committee, the unification and they unify properly in 1990. At midnight on 3rd of October

the GDR ceases to exist. All elections prior to that had been called paper folding because they were given a piece of paper with who won the election and they put that in a box. They'd throw it off a cliff with no fucking... Exactly, with no thing for it. And so Germany is reunified in October 1990 and now

the wall is a magnet for graffiti artists and perverts. How the Easter's how the Easter's fallen. It's a sad day in East Germany now where it's basically just one big graffiti graffiti canvas

for perverts and hippies to scroll on. But a kind of quite a fascinating history, a unique history, a very strange one. What have you learned over this series, Charlie? Tonga does not have a secret police. Yeah, that's true. That's true. So you can go and do what you want in Tonga, I guess.

And we're going to Bergheim as a three. We're going to be chained together at Bergheim and whatever happens. Happens. Happens. And we'll keep doing the podcast afterwards. No matter what. No matter what.

So on the patron this week, we're talking about the lives of others. A brilliant film, the documents of Starzy. Just watch it anyway. It's an absolute bang. Three pounds a month. You get access to a bonus episode every week

as well as early access to series. This has been the Berlin Wall and East Germany. Thank you for your time. And we'll see you next week for a brand new topic. Oh, Fiedison. Cheers.