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.
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.
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.
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.
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'.
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.
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.
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.
La información de este documento se ha obtenido de la siguiente dirección web
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/29913833VOCABULARY
|
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], |
(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".
|
Scorpions - Wind of change I follow the Moskva The world closing in Take me to the magic of the moment Walking down the street I follow the Moskva Take me to the magic of the moment Take me to the magic of the moment The wind of change blows straight Take me to the magic of the moment Take me to the magic of the moment |
Scorpions - Viento de cambio Sigo el Moskva (río de
Moscú) El mundo acercándose, Llévame a la magia del momento, Caminando calle abajo, Yo sigo el Moskva Llévame a la magia del momento, Llévame a la magia del momento, El viento de cambio sopla directo
hacia Llévame a la magia del momento, Llévame a la magia del momento, |
%20Doris%20Day%20interpretando%20la%20canci%C3%B3n%20en%20la%20pel%C3%ADcula%20El%20hombre%20que%20sab%C3%ADa%20demasiado.jpg)
