BERLIN WALL ANNIVERSARY: FALL OF THE WALL 35 YEARS ON. WIND OF CHANGE - SCORPIONS

 On 9 November 2024, the world is remembering 35 years since an important moment in history - the day when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989.

The Berlin Wall was built in 1961, at a time when Europe was divided in two. The wall itself divided the German capital city of Berlin for almost 30 years.

It appeared overnight, much to the surprise of people on either side of it, and stopped people moving from one part of the city to the other.

On 9 November 1989, it was torn down and people could finally move freely.

Read on to find out more about why it was built, what life was like with the wall, and how it was brought down after almost 35 years.

Why was the Berlin Wall built?

At the end of World War Two in September 1945, Germany surrendered to the Allies - a group of Western countries including Britain, America, France and the Soviet Union (a collection of Eastern European countries run by Russia).

The Allies decided to divide control of Germany between themselves. Each took responsibility for a different part of the country. Britain, America and France took over the areas in the west of Germany and the Soviet Union controlled the east.

Berlin was in the Soviet zone, but as it was the capital of Germany, it was decided that it would also be divided into four areas - one controlled by each of the four countries.

The American, British and French areas became West Berlin and the Soviet area became East Berlin.

By 1949, Germany had become two separate countries - The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) - run by Britain, America and France - and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) run by the Soviet Union.

After the division of Germany, it quickly became clear that the Soviet Union had very different ideas to the Allies about how their section should be run.

West Germany was run in a similar way to how Britain and America is today with people free to move around, listen to whatever music they like and express their opinions.

East Germany was much stricter with tight rules on how people should behave and a police force that monitored what they did.

As the years went on, thousands of people were escaping from East Germany to the West every single day - even though the main reason that the wall was built around West Berlin was to avoid this happening.

Berlin Wall timeline

 

• 1949: Germany is formally split into two independent nations - the Federal Republic of Germany (FDR or West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany).
• 1952: East Germany closes the border with West Germany, but the border between East and West Berlin remained open.
• 13 August 1961: The border between East and West Berlin is closed too, and the wall starts to be built overnight.
• 1987: US President Ronald Reagan visits Berlin and urges Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to bring the wall down.
• 4 November 1989: One million people attend a protest in East Berlin's main square Alexanderplatz. Within days of the demonstration, the East German government resigns.
• 9 November 1989: Thousands of people in East Germany go to crossing points and demand to be let through. The border guards stand back as thousands of people flood into West Berlin and start to tear down the wall.
• 3 October 1990: East and West Germany are officially reunited.

How was the Berlin Wall built?

In 1961, the leader of the Soviet Union at the time - Nikita Khrushchev - ordered a wall to be built between East and West Berlin, to stop people leaving East Germany.

It was constructed really quickly, appearing overnight on the 13 August.

Many people woke up to find they were trapped on one side, often separated from their friends and family in the West.

The wall started as barbed wire and fencing.

But over the years, it became a series of walls, strengthened fences, gun positions and watchtowers, which were heavily guarded and patrolled to make sure that people did not cross from one side to the other.

Ho

w big was the Berlin Wall?

The Berlin Wall was 155km (96 miles) long, four metres tall and - by 1989 - had 302 watchtowers.

It was in fact made up of two walls which ran parallel to each other, with an empty strip of land running in between them. This was guarded by soldiers and filled with mines to stop people from crossing the border.

It became a symbol of the division in Europe between the West and the East, and became known as the 'iron curtain'.

Soviet Union leaders said it was a protective shell, but Britain, America and France saw it as a prison which stopped people leaving the East.

What was life like with the Berlin Wall?

Around 5,000 people tried to escape over the wall, but it was very difficult and dangerous.

More than 100 people were killed trying to make this journey in the 28 years between 1961 and 1989. (Hundreds more were killed trying to flee from East Germany across other parts of the border between the East and the West.)

Life for people in East Berlin was difficult. Everything they did was heavily controlled by the authorities and rules about how they could live were very strict.

People in East Berlin who had previously worked in West Berlin lost their jobs.

Those with friends and family living on the other side to them became separated from their loved ones. For many, they wouldn't see them again until the wall came down.

What happened to the Berlin Wall?

In the 1980s, protests began against the way the Soviet Union controlled lots of countries in Eastern Europe.

People in the East wanted more freedom to go where they wanted, listen to the music they liked and voice their opinions freely - all things that they were not able to do under Soviet rule. They began demanding that they be allowed to leave.

After hundreds of East Germans escaped via neighbouring countries like Hungary and Czechoslovakia, the government in East Berlin found it increasingly hard to stop the calls for people to be allowed to cross into West Germany.

On 9 November, the leader of East Germany gave a TV speech in which he said that the border between the East and West would be opened.

Thousands of people from East Germany went to the wall and demanded that the guards open the gates.

The border guards could not control the rush of people so they had no choice but to step back, and thousands of people crossed over to West Germany.

What was it like when the Berlin Wall came down?

Crowds of people on the western side of the wall were waiting for them.

The celebrations started immediately, with family and friends embracing each other after many years apart. Some even climbed to the top of the wall and danced on it.

The date on which the wall 'fell' is considered to have been 9 November 1989, but the whole wall was not torn down immediately.

Over the following weeks, many people started to smash it down with sledge hammers and took pieces of the wall to keep because it had become so symbolic.

The government finally destroyed the wall in 1990, although many parts of it have been left for people to see today.

The following year, East and West Germany began to have conversations about reuniting the country.

On 3 October 1990 - 11 months after the fall of the Berlin Wall - East and West Germany were formally reunited as the country of Germany that we know today.

La información de este documento se ha obtenido de la siguiente dirección web

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/29913833

VOCABULARY

chip [sth]⇒ vtr	(ice, wood, etc.: break)		picar //cortar
Chip the ice before you put it in the glasses. Pica el hielo antes de meterlo en los vasos.
run [sth] by [sb], run [sth] past [sb] vtr phrasal sep		(check [sth] with [sb])		chequear algo con alguien loc verb + prep
				hacer que alguien revise algo loc verb
Be run		''managed/directed by''		manejado/dirigido por.
even though conj		(although, despite the fact that)		aunque conj
				a pesar de que loc conj
overnight adv		(during the night)		por la noche loc adv
				durante la noche loc adv
barbed adj		(having sharp points)		con púas loc adj
wire n		(metal strand)		alambre
fence n		(enclosure around property)		valla
strengthened adj		(made stronger)		fortalecido adj
		(estructura)		reforzado/a adj
shell n		(hard covering)		carcasa nf
				estuche nm
				protector nm
flee⇒ vtr		(run away from)		huir⇒ vi
rush n		(onslaught)		avalancha nf
step back vi phrasal		(retreat, move backwards)		alejarse de loc verb
				retroceder⇒ vi
flood [sth] vtr		figurative (overwhelm) (figurado)		inundar⇒ vtr
				abrumar⇒ vtr
embrace [sb]⇒ vtr		(hug)		abrazar⇒ vtr
sledgehammer n		(blunt-ended hitting tool)		almádena nf
				mazo nm

WIND OF CHANGE

Texto de la página: https://tn.com.ar/musica/hoy/scorpions-un-himno-la-caida-del-muro-de-berlin-y-el-deseo-de-vientos-de-cambio_1008622

Scorpions: un himno a la caída del Muro de Berlín y el deseo de vientos de cambio

La banda alemana compuso "Wind of Change", una canción que se relaciona con la caída del Muro de Berlín.

Cada vez que se habla sobre la caída del Muro, aparece "Wind of Change", del grupo alemán Scorpions. Un clásico que luego de casi 40 años mantiene fiel su idea original: la unión de los pueblos.

"Wind of Change" fue compuesta por el cantante de la banda, Klaus Meine, y formó parte del undécimo disco de estudio Crazy World, publicado en noviembre de 1990.

"Llevame a la magia del momento, en una noche de gloria. Donde los niños del mañana sueñan con el viento de cambio", canta Klaus en el estribillo del hit.

Esta canción tuvo un tremendo éxito y superó al que tuvo unos años antes "Still Loving You". "Teníamos la sensación de que el mundo estaba cambiando delante de nuestros ojos", describió el cantante a la agencia EFE.

Pese a ser la canción por excelencia de la caída del muro, "Wind of Change" (Viento de Cambio) no habla del histórico acontecimiento que tuvo lugar en la noche del 9 de noviembre de 1989. Fue concebida antes de que se abrieran los pasos entre las dos mitades de Berlín y solo se convirtió en un himno después de su caída.

La canción expresa lo que en el verano de 1989 sentían muchos cuando los Scorpions estaban en el Festival por la Paz de Moscú: "la esperanza de que el mundo cambie y podamos vivir juntos en un mundo pacífico", describió Maine en una reciente entrevista con EFE.

"Se podía sentir que el mundo estaba transformándose y en cierto sentido todo lo que ocurrió pocos meses después en Berlín, es decir la caída del muro, era palpable en agosto en Moscú: que las cosas estaban cambiando y que los tiempos de la Guerra Fría quedarían pronto atrás", explicó el músico de 71 años.

Era difícil tocar en la Unión Soviética. En 1988 las autoridades rusas no quería al grupo en Moscú, donde iban a dar cinco conciertos y les propusieron a cambio diez en Leningrado. El KGB los seguía a cada paso, contó el cantante. En aquel tiempo, a fines de los '80, Scorpions tenía varios éxitos en las listas como como "Blackout", "Still Loving You" o "Rock You Like A Hurricane".

Triunfaron en Leningrado y abrieron la puerta para que otros artistas occidentales como Ozzy Osbourne, Bon Jovi y Mötley Crüe, tocarían un año más tarde junto a los Scorpions.

Scorpions - Wind of change I follow the Moskva Down to Gorky Park Listening to the wind of change An August summer night Soldiers passing by Listening to the wind of change The world closing in Did you ever think That we could be so close like brothers? The future's in the air I can feel it everywhere Blowing with the wind of change Take me to the magic of the moment On a glory night Where the children of tomorrow dream away In the wind of change Walking down the street Distant memories Are buried in the past forever I follow the Moskva Down to Gorky Park Listening to the wind of change Take me to the magic of the moment On a glory night Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams With you and me Take me to the magic of the moment On a glory night Where the children of tomorrow dream away In the wind of change The wind of change blows straight Into the face of time Like a stormwind that will ring The freedom bell for peace of mind Let your balalaika sing What my guitar wants to say Take me to the magic of the moment On a glory night Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams With you and me Take me to the magic of the moment On a glory night Where the children of tomorrow dream away In the wind of change

Scorpions - Viento de cambio Sigo el Moskva (río de Moscú) hacia el Parque Gorky. Escuchando el viento de cambio, una noche de verano en agosto. Soldados que pasan de largo, escuchando el viento de cambio El mundo acercándose, ¿pensaste alguna vez que podríamos estar tan juntos, como hermanos? El futuro está en el aire, puedo sentirlo en todas partes, soplando con el viento de cambio. Llévame a la magia del momento, en una noche de gloria. Donde los niños del mañana sueñan con el viento de cambio. Caminando calle abajo, recuerdos distantes están enterrados para siempre en el pasado. Yo sigo el Moskva hacia el Parque Gorky. Escuchando el viento de cambio. Llévame a la magia del momento, en una noche de gloria. Donde los niños del mañana comparten sus sueños contigo y conmigo. Llévame a la magia del momento, en una noche de gloria. Donde los niños del mañana sueñan con el viento de cambio. El viento de cambio sopla directo hacia la cara de tiempo. Como una tormenta que hará sonar la campana de la libertad para la paz del espíritu. Deja que tu balalaika (guitarra rusa) cante, lo que mi guitarra quiere decir. Llévame a la magia del momento, en una noche de gloria. Donde los niños del mañana comparten sus sueños contigo y conmigo. Llévame a la magia del momento, en una noche de gloria. Donde los niños del mañana sueñan con el viento de cambio.

 

También hay una versión del grupo de rock andaluz Medina Azahara.

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medina_Azahara_(banda) 

... En 2003 es editado un nuevo trabajo titulado Aixa, con el que les darían dos premios de la música, al mejor álbum de rock y a la mejor canción con "Córdoba" (canción que contó con la colaboración de la Orquesta Sinfónica de Córdoba). También incluye una versión en castellano del mega hit Wind of Change de Scorpions