Today marked our annual celebration of German American Friendship Day as well as the Reunification Day for united Germany. Accordingly, we took a step forward in our coverage of the history and culture of the former East German regime as centralized in East Berlin.
Class time began with a piece of German history in itself, the 80's classic "99 Luftballons" by Nena. We went over the Furcht that was a fact of life for decades after the end of World War 2, when the Nervenkrieg was in full swing and the USA and USSR began their epic nuclear staring contest from opposing sides of the Atlantic. This served as our segue into what will be this month's history lesson: a re-introduction to the formation of the twin Germanys in post-war Europe, and a single, important detail about life in the DDR, namely the role played by the Stasi.
We went over the overall modus operandi of the Staatssicherheitpolizei in the DDR, highlighting the scope of their operations with a few facts and figures: by 1989, there were 91,000 paid employees in the Stasi operating with a network of approximately 300,000 civilian informants (out of a population of 16 million).
My goal is for us to have a total of 7 history lessons over the course of the school year to cover different aspects of life in the DDR. I think we're off to a nice start!
In regard to grammar, we went back over the meaning and uses of Haben and Sein, reviewed numbers 1-1000 (board races!) as well as the three definite articles (nominative): der, die, das.
Now for the moment you've all been waiting for...
As the students should now consider themselves exhorted to do their workbook homework on a separate sheet of paper (or to have it photocopied), the one and only time I will accept late work will be this upcoming weekend. Last week's homework (Page 8, Exercises 8 and 9) will be accepted next week alongside this week's homework:
Nachforschungsarbeit
· Answer 5 Questions (English) over the Division and Reunification of Germany
i. Complete sentences for each answer.
ii. Bonus points if attempted in German.
1. What areas of Germany were controlled by each of the allies after World War 2?
2. What were the two halves of divided Germany called, and when was each half „founded?“
3. Why did the Soviets build a wall in Berlin? When did they build it?
4. What were the „Stasi“ and what did they do?
5. When did the wall come down?
~Mit Vergnügen
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