Germany, eastern Europe mark 30 years since Berlin Wall’s fall

Barrier divided Germany's capital during Cold War

Today's expression: Take for granted
Explore more: Lesson #213
December 5, 2019:

November 9 marked thirty years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the concrete and razor-wire barrier that sliced through the German capital, symbolizing the differences between the liberal West Germany and the communist East Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in East Germany, said that the occasion reminds us that the values of a liberal democracy need to be continually defended. Plus, learn what it means to "take something for granted."

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It’s been thirty years since the fall of the Berlin Wall

Hi there, thanks for joining us once again for Plain English. I’m Jeff; JR is the producer; and you are listening to the best podcast for learning English. Today is Episode number 213 and that means all our resources are available to you at PlainEnglish.com/213. Just as a reminder, the resources include a free word-for-word transcript, and Plain English Plus+ members have access to video lessons, translations, flash cards, and a fast version of this very episode.

Coming up today: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders from central and eastern Europe celebrated the thirty-year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall—the concrete and barbed-wire barrier that sliced through Germany’s capital for 29 years. The expression we’re going to discuss today is “to take something for granted.” And since it’s Thursday, we have a song of the week, selected by JR.

Before we start, I wanted to say thank-you to all of you who have been responding to my emails lately. I’ve gotten hundreds of very thoughtful responses. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I beefed up the free emails that you get when you sign up at PlainEnglish.com/mail . Beef up means, I added to them; I made them more substantive. If you’re on that list, you either are in the middle of getting all the new resources, or you’re going to get them in the next week or two. Some of the early emails in the series ask some questions and I’ve been very impressed with the responses I’ve gotten. So many of you have taken some time to write a very thoughtful reply, and I wanted to take a second to acknowledge that and say thank you.

If you’re not on the list, I would like to ask you to join. Go to PlainEnglish.com/mail and enter your details. And what you’ll get, starting right away, is a series of welcome e-mails that include some study tips and free resources that JR and I have found over the years. You’ll have the opportunity to tell JR and me a little bit about yourself and what you find most difficult about learning English. And of course you’ll get the free resources that come along with each episode on Monday and Thursday mornings. So come join us at PlainEnglish.com/mail and we will be in touch.


Marking the fall of the Berlin Wall

November 9 marked thirty years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the most symbolic moment in the fall of Soviet communism in eastern Europe. Leaders of Germany and other eastern European states marked the occasion with speeches and ceremonies, while others in Berlin celebrated with concerts, fireworks, and art installations.

The fall of the Berlin Wall was the most important step in reunifying Germany, a country that had been split in two in the aftermath of World War II. The wall, which stood for 29 years, was a physical embodiment of the deep divisions between East and West Germany. As of this year’s anniversary, the wall has been down for longer than it stood.

Here’s a brief history lesson on what the Berlin Wall was, and what it meant. After World War II, in which the German Nazi regime was defeated, the four largest allies—the United Kingdom, the United States, France, and the Soviet Union—divided control of Germany into four parts. The capital of Germany, Berlin, was located in the eastern part, which was fully controlled by the Soviet Union. However, the capital itself was divided into four parts, one for each of the allied powers. This was intended to be administrative and temporary, while an independent German state was created.

But the allies that were united in defeating the Nazis were not allied on much else. The fault lines of the Cold War soon opened up. France, the US, the UK were on one side of an ideological divide; the Soviet Union was on the other. Soon, the four-way administrative and temporary split became a two-way permanent split. In 1949, two Germanies were established: the Federal Republic of Germany, what was often called West Germany; and the German Democratic Republic, what we know as East Germany. The part of Berlin controlled by the Soviet Union became part of its own East Germany. West Berlin was part of West Germany. But in a quirk of geography, it was entirely encircled by Soviet-controlled East Germany. It was accessible to the rest of West Germany only by a narrow road and rail connection.

The two countries’ fortunes diverged. West Germany took a market-oriented, democratic future and benefited from the Marshall Plan and post-war reconstruction. East Germany followed the Soviet model of a planned economy, a heavy-handed state police and military presence, and fewer personal liberties. As the years went by, many East Germans wanted to emigrate to West Germany. The Soviet Union soon put up a hard barrier between East and West Germany, restricting movement between the two sides.

That left Berlin as the easiest way for East Germans to move westward. The city was fully inside the Soviet-controlled area, and people found it easier to cross into West Berlin, and then find passage farther west to West Germany.

East Germany wanted to stop that flow of refugees. Taking direction from the Soviet Union, East German troops ripped up the roads connecting the two sides of the city and closed the border, dividing the city. The Berlin Wall, a concrete and razor-wire structure, was erected in August 1961. It was soon supplemented by watch towers, electric fencing, and armed guards. A empty zone between the two sides was cleared so that anyone trying to cross the border could be shot. It was called the “death strip” for good reason.

The Berlin Wall stood as a symbol of the ideological division between eastern and western Europe for 29 years: democracy and freedom on one side, oppression on the other. West Berlin remained physically surrounded by hostile territory, shut in by a 140-kilometer-long barrier.

By the late 1980s, the Soviet Union’s grip on its territory had weakened significantly. In 1987, in possibly the most famous speech of the Cold War, the American president Ronald Reagan went to West Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate and challenged the Soviet Union to tear down the wall.

Movement from Soviet states toward the west had been restricted for many years, but was starting to open up. Massive protests formed in East Germany, with residents demanding the freedom to leave. In a twist of fate, the East German government mistakenly announced people would be able to leave freely. Huge crowds gathered and border guards, in the confusion, opened the gates and started letting people through on November 9, 1989. A group of West Berliners jumped on top of the wall and were joined by counterparts from East Berlin. The Wall had fallen. Germany was officially reunified soon thereafter.

Thirty years later, on November 9 of this year, over 100,000 people celebrated the anniversary of the fall with music and fireworks. The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, who grew up in the oppressed East Germany, marked the occasion with a warning that the values of a liberal democracy have to be “revitalized and defended time and time again” and shouldn’t be taken for granted.

The presidents of Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic marked the occasion by placing flowers on the last remaining sections of the Berlin Wall. At the Olympic stadium in Berlin, fans tore down a symbolic Berlin Wall before a game. An art installation at the Brandenburg Gate had 30,000 ribbons inscribed with memories of Berliners made up a “freedom cloud”. Over 200 other events like concerts, debates, and lectures were planned. Dramatic television news footage from November 9, 1989 was projected onto the face of a huge building in central Berlin.


I want to say hello to a few listeners. This is funny, Alexandra in a small town in Quebec heard the episode about the differences between living in the US and Canada. And Alexandra had seen milk in a bag in grocery stores and just assumed that was an American idea imported into Canada. Au contraire, mon amie! Canadians own that one!

Related: Episode 200: Differences between living in the US and Canada

I also have to say hello to Sally, a high school student from Taiwan. Sally is possibly the most enthusiastic fan that Plain English has. Sally asked if she had to translate all the words in Plain English into Chinese, and I said NO! Don’t do that, or you’ll just get frustrated. Pick a small number of words that you want to study from each episode, and study those. If you try to learn every word in an episode, it would be like trying to boil the ocean. That’s an English expression—to boil the ocean is to try to do too much all at once. So just pick a few words and study those.

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Expression: Take for granted