The Rise and Fall of Walter Ulbricht - The Man Behind East Germany — Transcript

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1. 0:00Welcome to our video about Walter
2. 0:02Albrecht the man who played a crucial
3. 0:04role in the history of East Germany in
4. 0:07this video we will take a closer look at
5. 0:09Albright's life his rise to power and
6. 0:12his eventual downfall Walter ulbricht
7. 0:15was born on June 30 1893 in Leipzig
8. 0:19Germany
9. 0:20he grew up in a working-class family and
10. 0:22joined the Communist Party of Germany
11. 0:24KPD in 1919. in the 1920s he worked as a
12. 0:30party functionary in Germany and the
13. 0:32Soviet Union
14. 0:34during World War II he spent most of his
15. 0:36time in Moscow where he served as the
16. 0:39head of the kpd's Exile leadership
17. 0:41after World War II Germany was divided
18. 0:44into four zones of occupation the Soviet
19. 0:47Union took control of the eastern part
20. 0:50of the country which became known as the
21. 0:52German Democratic Republic gdr Albrecht
22. 0:56returned to Germany in 1945 and became
23. 0:59the secretary-general of the KPD in 1949
24. 1:03he was appointed as the first Secretary
25. 1:05of the Central Committee of the
26. 1:07Socialist Unity party said the ruling
27. 1:10party of the gdr Albrecht was the de
28. 1:13facto leader of East Germany from 1950
29. 1:16until his ousting in 1971. Albright's
30. 1:20policies focused on industrialization
31. 1:22collectivization of Agriculture and
32. 1:25building a socialist society under his
33. 1:28leadership the gdr became a member of
34. 1:30the Warsaw Pact and the Berlin Wall was
35. 1:33built in 1961 to prevent citizens from
36. 1:36fleeing to the West
37. 1:37Albright's leadership saw the
38. 1:39establishment of a planned economy State
39. 1:42control of industry and Agriculture and
40. 1:44strict censorship of the media
41. 1:46Albright's leadership was marred by a
42. 1:49series of economic failures and
43. 1:50political repression in 1971 he was
44. 1:54ousted from Power by Eric Honaker his
45. 1:57longtime rival
46. 1:58Albrecht died on August 1 1973 in East
47. 2:02Berlin but his legacy lived on in the
48. 2:05gdr until its collapse in 1989. in
49. 2:09conclusion Walter ulbricht was a
50. 2:11controversial figure in the history of
51. 2:13East Germany
52. 2:14he played a significant role in the
53. 2:16country's development and its eventual
54. 2:18collapse