How Did This Village Become Its Own Country?

What’s halfway between capitalism and communism? That’s not the set-up for a joke, I’m being quite literal here. I’m so tired, it’s 4am and I’m dying trying to finish this godforsaken video. What am I talking about? Either way, the answer is that it’s either one of the made-up concepts I just created known as capunism or commitalism, or it’s Rüterberg, the tiny village on the border of East and West Germany which in 1989 declared itself independent from East Berlin to become a so-called “village republic”... until the East German state effectively collapsed the following day. What a 24 hours that was for these lads. What happened? Why did this town declare independence? Why did East Germany collapse? [One more question that would make this video description seem a bit more fleshed out]? Well come with me to Mecklenberg-Vorpommern to find out. ------------ Welcome to What On Earth Is This?, a YouTube channel featuring strange and quirky things from around the world that you may not have heard of. Think abandoned engineering marvels, weird funiculars, transit oddities and other bits of history you never wanted to know about... until now. Like and subscribe and all that. Follow me on IG at @WhatOnEarthIsThis CHAPTERS: 00:00 Intro 01:10 Rüterberg 02:54 The Cold War begins 05:02 The ol' double border 07:55 Flan in a cupboard 10:50 East German oopsie 12:35 What have we learned? Not much Credits: News footage - ITN Memorial stone photo - ChrisO/Wikimedia Commons