Block 7

The Warsaw Genuflection of 7 December 1970 at the ghetto uprising memorial was a silent plea for forgiveness for German crimes against Poland and Polish Jews. The gesture became a worldwide symbol of German responsibility, and Brandt received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971.

The Jewish house of prayer is called a synagogue. A church is the Christian equivalent and a mosque the Islamic one, while a basilica is a particular architectural form of Christian church. Germany's largest synagogue is on Rykestraße in Berlin.

The "economic miracle" describes West Germany's rapid upswing in the 1950s: full employment, high growth, and rising prosperity after the currency reform and the Marshall Plan. Ludwig Erhard is regarded as its political face.

The State of Israel was founded on the basis of a United Nations resolution. The UN General Assembly adopted the partition plan for Palestine in 1947, and Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948. The Zionist Congress was a political movement, not a legal basis.

The "Iron Curtain" was the name for the heavily guarded border with which the Soviet-led Eastern bloc sealed itself off from Western Europe. The phrase was popularised by a speech of Winston Churchill's in 1946.

On 17 June 1953 hundreds of thousands rose up against the SED regime in East Germany; Soviet tanks crushed the revolt. In West Germany, 17 June was the national holiday until 1990, when 3 October took over that role.

From 1959 the GDR flew the black-red-gold flag with the state emblem in the centre: a hammer for the workers, a compass for the intelligentsia, and a wreath of grain for the farmers. West Germany used the same colours without any emblem.

Construction of the Wall began on 13 August 1961. The East German leadership wanted to stop the flow of refugees to West Berlin, through which the country was losing tens of thousands of people a year, often young and well qualified.

The GDR built the Wall in 1961. It stood for 28 years, until the border was opened on 9 November 1989.

DDR stands for Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German Democratic Republic). Despite the word "democratic" in its name, the state was in fact a one-party dictatorship led by the SED, without free elections.

The Wall was opened on the evening of 9 November 1989, after a confused press conference sent thousands streaming to the crossing points. Just under eleven months later, on 3 October 1990, reunification followed.

Brandenburg was part of GDR territory. The five new federal states are Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. Bavaria, Saarland, and Hesse lay in the western zones.

From 1961 to 1989 Berlin was divided by the Wall. West Berlin still had a Governing Mayor and was reachable by transit routes and air corridors: it was never a state of its own.

3 October is the Day of German Unity, the only public holiday fixed by federal law nationwide. It commemorates the GDR's accession to the Federal Republic on 3 October 1990.

Saxony-Anhalt was part of the GDR and is one of the five new federal states. Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saarland lay in the western occupation zones.

"Die Wende" refers to the upheaval of autumn 1989: mass protests, the resignation of the SED leadership, the opening of the border, and finally the first free Volkskammer elections in March 1990. Within months, the SED dictatorship became a democracy.

Thuringia was part of the GDR and is one of the five new federal states. Hesse, Bavaria, and Bremen lay in the western occupation zones.

Saxony was part of the GDR and is one of the five new federal states. Bavaria, Lower Saxony, and Baden-Württemberg lay in the western occupation zones.

"Stasi" was short for the Ministry for State Security, East Germany's secret service. It monitored its own population with around 90,000 full-time staff and a dense network of unofficial informers.

Five of today's federal states were part of the GDR (East Germany, 1949-1990): Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony, and Thuringia. Together called the 'new federal states'. Until 1990, Berlin was divided into East and West Berlin.

The five states on the territory of the former GDR are Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. Any list containing Hesse, Lower Saxony, Bavaria, or North Rhine-Westphalia is therefore wrong.

The GDR belonged to the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet-led military alliance founded in 1955. West Germany had joined NATO in the same year, placing the two German states in opposing blocs.

The GDR had a planned economy: the state set out in five-year plans what should be produced, in what quantity, and at what price. Enterprises were state-owned. This led to chronic shortages of consumer goods and long waiting times.

Reunification took place by accession: on 3 October 1990 the five re-established eastern states joined the Federal Republic under Article 23 of the Basic Law. It was therefore neither an occupation nor the founding of a new state.

With accession, the new federal states automatically became part of the European Community, from which the EU grew: without any separate accession procedure. The Warsaw Pact dissolved in 1991.

Stolpersteine commemorate the victims of National Socialism. They are small brass plaques set into the pavement outside the last freely chosen home of people who were persecuted and murdered. The artist Gunter Demnig has been laying them since 1992, and there are now more than 100,000 across Europe.

The GDR was a member of the Warsaw Pact, the Eastern bloc's military alliance from 1955 to 1991. The Confederation of the Rhine was an association of German states under Napoleon.

The Stasi was the GDR's secret service. It kept files on millions of people; since 1990 those affected have been able to inspect them. The secret police of the "Third Reich", by contrast, was the Gestapo.

The GDR's emblem showed a hammer and compass within a wreath of grain: the hammer for the workers, the compass for the intelligentsia, and the grain for the farmers. The Federal Republic's arms, by contrast, are the black eagle on a gold field.

On 17 June 1953 construction workers in East Berlin began a strike against raised work quotas, which grew into a nationwide popular uprising. Soviet troops put it down, and dozens were killed.