Quote · Fin vs History
What You Do In Your Own Home Is All Of My Business | East Germany & The Stasi
Where this was said
The Original Rose Garden
At 2:11 · chapter starts 0:00
Before a single shot of the Cold War had been fired, the fate of Germany was already being decided in a Crimean resort. Fin walks through the Yalta Conference of February 1945, where the Big Three — Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin — carved up post-war Germany into spheres of influence before the war was even won. Horatio notes the almost coalition-government energy of the summit ('the original rose garden'), with Stalin charming the room by importing an entire lemon tree for Roosevelt's martinis. The mood sours considerably by the time Potsdam arrives: the war is over, power vacuums have opened, and the split of Germany into four occupation zones — USSR taking the East, US the South, Britain the industrial Northwest, France a slice — is now being carved up with 'Splitwise'. Britain's fleeting control of Northwest Germany's industrial heartland gets a wistful mention, as does the continued presence of British troops in Germany 'just in case'.
The GDR lasted longer than Nazi Germany, the Weimar Republic, and the German Empire — and yet it feels like a historical glitch. Fin and Horatio set up why East Germany is simultaneously the most improbable and fascinating state in modern European history.
As a distinct historical period, the GDR lasted longer than Nazi Germany, the Weimar Republic, and the German Empire combined.
At Yalta in February 1945, the Big Three carved up post-war Germany into zones of influence while the war was still ongoing. Stalin charmed everyone by bringing in an entire lemon tree for Roosevelt's martinis — the high watermark of American-Russian relations.
