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On 9 November 1989, the demolition of the Berlin Wall began. Within a year, Germany was unified. East Germany dissolved and was incorporated into the Federal Republic of Germany, took on its currency and its rules - and its lexicon. Both West and East Germany had already been speaking German, of course; but there were differences, from the years of very concerted separation, the attempts at isolating East Germany from what was considered Western culture and capitalism, and the specifically East German concepts that had their own vocabulary. What was that vocabulary, and where did it go?
There’s a transcript of this episode at theallusionist.org/transcripts/eastwest.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Stasiland is a very interesting book about people who worked in or under or against the East German regime.
The Valley of the Clueless, and reworked West German programmes on The Black Channel.
I’m really up for a rewatch of Good Bye, Lenin! after this episode.
In the 99% Invisible episode 'Tunnel 57', a student recounts digging an escape tunnel under the Wall.
Ostalgie is a commercial force.
“The end of communism and the dismantling of a dictatorship wasn’t such a clearcut victory. Something was also lost.”
If you lived in East Germany before reunification and remember any specific terms or words, I’d be really interested to hear about them.
The Allusionist live show No Title is on tour in North America right now! Coming up: shows in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Portland, St Louis, Salt Lake City and Seattle. Check theallusionist.org/events for listings. And bring some small change if you want some Allusionist pins, totes and pencils!*
*These items aren’t on sale online yet, but you can get your Winterval-wear and some new singular they merch at theallusionist.org/merch.
YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
tatpurusha
CREDITS:
In order of appearance, you heard from Étienne Roeder, Esther-Miriam Wagner, Matthias Einhoff, Ulrike Hana Meinhof, and Elke Schönhardt with translation from Marta Medvešek.
This episode was produced by Marta Medvešek and me, Helen Zaltzman, with assistance from Martin Austwick. Thanks to Rachele De Felice, Lynne Murphy and Eleanor McDowall, as well as Adele, Lutz and Thomas for their help.
Hear some more of Marta’s work on Radio Atlas and the BBC’s Outlook.
Martin Austwick makes the music that you hear in every episode. Download his songs at palebirdmusic.com and listen to his new podcast Year of the Bird about the songs he writes.
Find the show on the socials at twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/helenzaltzman and instagram.com/allusionistshow.
