Post by sparklingblue on Oct 3, 2003 17:56:56 GMT -5
...maybe some of you are interested. Thank you, CG, for sending me this. 
Two Germanys Unite After 45 Years With Jubilation and a Vow of Peace
A Million in Berlin
Flag at Reichstag Marks Start of a New Era at Center of Europe
By SERGE SCHMEMANN
Special to The New York Times
www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1003.html#article
Berlin, Wednesday, Oct. 3 -- Forty-five years after it was carved up in defeat and disgrace, Germany was reunited today in a midnight celebration of pealing bells, national hymns and the jubilant blare of good old German oom-pah-pah.
At the stroke of midnight Tuesday, a copy of the American Liberty Bell, a gift from the United States at the height of the cold war, tolled from the Town Hall, and the black, red and gold banner of the Federal Republic of Germany rose slowly before the Reichstag, the scarred seat of past German Parliaments.
Then the President, Richard von Weizsacker, drawing on the words of the West German Constitution, proclaimed from the steps of the Reichstag: ''In free self-determination, we want to achieve the unity in freedom of Germany. We are aware of our responsibility for these tasks before God and the people. We want to serve peace in the world in a united Europe.''
Singing of Anthem
With that, a throng estimated at one million joined in the West German national anthem, now the anthem for united Germany: ''Unity and justice and freedom for the German fatherland . . .'' The words are from the third stanza of the prewar anthem, whose opening verses, now banned, began, ''Deutschland, Deutschland uber Alles.''
The moment marked the return of a nation severed along the front line between East and West to the center stage of Europe, this time as an economic powerhouse vowing never again to bring grief to a continent it had so terribly ravaged in the past century.
It is the smallest unified German state to rise in the 119 years since Otto von Bismarck first gathered the Germans under the Prussian crown.
Beer and Revelry
Hundreds of German flags waved and firecrackers snapped in the chilly autumn night. Beer and sparkling wine flowed freely and the strains of divergent bands mingled in a rowdy cacophony. Soon bottles began smashing on the pavement and celebration turned to intoxication, and by early morning the center of the new capital was deep in smashed bottles and weaving revelers.
A force of about 5,000 police officers had been massed in case radicals tried to disrupt the festivities, and the police reported seven arrests. But what protests there were passed with no major incidents.
Unity essentially meant that the German Democratic Republic with its 16 million citizens acceded to the Federal Republic of Germany, which expanded to become a state of 78 million souls and 137,900 square miles. The accession meant that the name, anthem, Constitution and Government of the Federal Republic became those of all Germany, that Chancellor Helmut Kohl became the first Chancellor of the reunited state and Mr. von Weizsacker the first President.
Berlin Is Capital
Berlin, a city divided by the infamous wall into a gray Communist capital and a glittering capitalist enclave, became once again the political and spiritual capital of Germany.
''Everybody should know: Germany will not go it alone, there will be no unilateral nationalism and no 'restless Reich,' '' vowed Mr. Kohl in an article written for the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper.
It was also a moment of poignant lasts. The German Democratic Republic, founded by Soviet occupiers as the ''first state of workers and peasants on German soil,'' expired bankrupt but not entirely unmourned.
At the final session of Parliament, Jens Reich, a leader of the citizens' movements that led demonstrations a year earlier to bring down the Communists, assailed the first and only democratic legislature of East Germany for having done nothing but surrender the state to the West. ''Unity must not become a memory of a stab in the back,'' he said.
'Farewell Without Tears'
But a more prevalent note was struck by the East German Prime Minister, Lothar de Maiziere, at the final ''state act'' of the East German Government in the grand Schauspielhaus concert hall, attended by the political and cultural elite of the nation.
There, the first and last democratically elected leader of East Germany committed his state to history with the words: ''In a few moments the German Democratic Republic accedes to the Federal Republic of Germany. With that, we Germans achieve unity in freedom. It is an hour of great joy. It is the end of many illusions. It is a farewell without tears.''
Then Kurt Mazur, the conductor from Leipzig and a hero of the peaceful revolution last fall, rose to conduct Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with the grand ''Ode to Joy'' in the final movement that for Germans stands as a spiritual hymn to hope.
Address by Kohl
Mr. Kohl, capping a year of political successes, addressed the nation on television several hours before unity.
''In a few hours a dream will become reality,'' Mr. Kohl said, his eyes turning misty. ''After 40 bitter years of division, Germany, our fatherland, will be reunited. This is one of the happiest moments of my life. From the many letters and conversations I have had, I know the great joy also felt by the vast majority of you.''
Many Germans, in fact, had spent the last several weeks complaining of the cost and dislocation of unity. But at the moment of unity, Mr. Kohl seemed correct in finding that it was a moment to celebrate.
'It Is Really Moving'
The Chancellor also made a point of thanking and reassuring Germany's allies and neighbors. ''In particular,'' he said, ''we thank the United States of America and above all President George Bush.'' Mr. shsh was among the first world leaders to abandon reservations about German unity and endorse Mr. Kohl's efforts.
In recent weeks, the process of unity had drawn growing grumbles from both East and West as Germans came to realize the huge cost of the undertaking. But for the hundreds of thousands who had gathered from across Germany and abroad, this was a night not to moan, but simply to celebrate.
''It is really moving,'' said Heinz Schober, a Berlin shopkeeper who had come with his wife. ''We were here when the wall went up and we were here when it came down, and now we see something children will read about in history books.''
Hundreds of stands along the Unter den Linden peddled everything from bratwurst and beer to ''Day of Unity'' T-shirts and chunks of the Berlin wall. Musicians ranging from rock bands to a Soviet military band to Wolf Biermann, a onetime East German dissident, blared from 16 stages set up among the beer and sausage stands, and all along the mile-long avenue the mood was festive and joyous.
At one point, revelers before the Reichstag pressed hard against the steps, where Chancellor Kohl and other political leaders were gathered, but no problems developed.
The most serious trouble was reported in Gottingen, a West German city near the former border, where about 1,000 radical youths went on a rampage, smashing windows and denouncing unity.
Year of Rapid Change
Unity came to the Germans barely a year after streams of East Germans began pouring out through newly porous borders in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, forcing the East German leader, Erich Honecker, to confront a crisis just as he prepared to preside over the celebrations of his state's 40th anniversary.
A year before unity came, on Oct. 3, 1989, a flood of East German refugees had all but overwhelmed the West German Embassy in Czechoslovakia, and the East German Government finally gave permission for the refugees to go west. It also closed its borders, touching off new discontent and disorders.
The celebration of East Germany's anniversary four days later marked the beginning of the state's undoing. The Soviet leader, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, gave the first indications that he was not prepared to prop up the East German Government, and waves of demonstrators clashed with the police in East Berlin and other cities.
The demonstrations rapidly grew, driving the Government into disarray until it took the fateful action on Nov. 9 of opening the Berlin wall a crack, touching off a rush to unity. By March 18 East Germany held its first democratic elections, and by July 1 its economy was merged into West Germany's. The pace accelerated through the summer, bringing formal unity up to Oct. 3 and setting the scene for the celebration.
The pace of events also required a rapid termination of the vestigial occupation under which both the Germanys and the Berlins existed, and the moment of unity was preceded by a flurry of final arrangements and actions to end the Allied controls.
The commanders of the Western Allied forces, the United States, Britain and France, which merged their occupation zones of the city after the war to form West Berlin and defended it against Communist encirclement in ensuing years, met for the last time and ceded authority over the city.
''I now close this final meeting of the Allied Kommandatura with a good, solid bang,'' said the British commander, Maj. Gen. Robert Corbert, pounding the gavel at the Allied headquarters with a solid thump.
Two Germanys Unite After 45 Years With Jubilation and a Vow of Peace
A Million in Berlin
Flag at Reichstag Marks Start of a New Era at Center of Europe
By SERGE SCHMEMANN
Special to The New York Times
www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1003.html#article
Berlin, Wednesday, Oct. 3 -- Forty-five years after it was carved up in defeat and disgrace, Germany was reunited today in a midnight celebration of pealing bells, national hymns and the jubilant blare of good old German oom-pah-pah.
At the stroke of midnight Tuesday, a copy of the American Liberty Bell, a gift from the United States at the height of the cold war, tolled from the Town Hall, and the black, red and gold banner of the Federal Republic of Germany rose slowly before the Reichstag, the scarred seat of past German Parliaments.
Then the President, Richard von Weizsacker, drawing on the words of the West German Constitution, proclaimed from the steps of the Reichstag: ''In free self-determination, we want to achieve the unity in freedom of Germany. We are aware of our responsibility for these tasks before God and the people. We want to serve peace in the world in a united Europe.''
Singing of Anthem
With that, a throng estimated at one million joined in the West German national anthem, now the anthem for united Germany: ''Unity and justice and freedom for the German fatherland . . .'' The words are from the third stanza of the prewar anthem, whose opening verses, now banned, began, ''Deutschland, Deutschland uber Alles.''
The moment marked the return of a nation severed along the front line between East and West to the center stage of Europe, this time as an economic powerhouse vowing never again to bring grief to a continent it had so terribly ravaged in the past century.
It is the smallest unified German state to rise in the 119 years since Otto von Bismarck first gathered the Germans under the Prussian crown.
Beer and Revelry
Hundreds of German flags waved and firecrackers snapped in the chilly autumn night. Beer and sparkling wine flowed freely and the strains of divergent bands mingled in a rowdy cacophony. Soon bottles began smashing on the pavement and celebration turned to intoxication, and by early morning the center of the new capital was deep in smashed bottles and weaving revelers.
A force of about 5,000 police officers had been massed in case radicals tried to disrupt the festivities, and the police reported seven arrests. But what protests there were passed with no major incidents.
Unity essentially meant that the German Democratic Republic with its 16 million citizens acceded to the Federal Republic of Germany, which expanded to become a state of 78 million souls and 137,900 square miles. The accession meant that the name, anthem, Constitution and Government of the Federal Republic became those of all Germany, that Chancellor Helmut Kohl became the first Chancellor of the reunited state and Mr. von Weizsacker the first President.
Berlin Is Capital
Berlin, a city divided by the infamous wall into a gray Communist capital and a glittering capitalist enclave, became once again the political and spiritual capital of Germany.
''Everybody should know: Germany will not go it alone, there will be no unilateral nationalism and no 'restless Reich,' '' vowed Mr. Kohl in an article written for the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper.
It was also a moment of poignant lasts. The German Democratic Republic, founded by Soviet occupiers as the ''first state of workers and peasants on German soil,'' expired bankrupt but not entirely unmourned.
At the final session of Parliament, Jens Reich, a leader of the citizens' movements that led demonstrations a year earlier to bring down the Communists, assailed the first and only democratic legislature of East Germany for having done nothing but surrender the state to the West. ''Unity must not become a memory of a stab in the back,'' he said.
'Farewell Without Tears'
But a more prevalent note was struck by the East German Prime Minister, Lothar de Maiziere, at the final ''state act'' of the East German Government in the grand Schauspielhaus concert hall, attended by the political and cultural elite of the nation.
There, the first and last democratically elected leader of East Germany committed his state to history with the words: ''In a few moments the German Democratic Republic accedes to the Federal Republic of Germany. With that, we Germans achieve unity in freedom. It is an hour of great joy. It is the end of many illusions. It is a farewell without tears.''
Then Kurt Mazur, the conductor from Leipzig and a hero of the peaceful revolution last fall, rose to conduct Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with the grand ''Ode to Joy'' in the final movement that for Germans stands as a spiritual hymn to hope.
Address by Kohl
Mr. Kohl, capping a year of political successes, addressed the nation on television several hours before unity.
''In a few hours a dream will become reality,'' Mr. Kohl said, his eyes turning misty. ''After 40 bitter years of division, Germany, our fatherland, will be reunited. This is one of the happiest moments of my life. From the many letters and conversations I have had, I know the great joy also felt by the vast majority of you.''
Many Germans, in fact, had spent the last several weeks complaining of the cost and dislocation of unity. But at the moment of unity, Mr. Kohl seemed correct in finding that it was a moment to celebrate.
'It Is Really Moving'
The Chancellor also made a point of thanking and reassuring Germany's allies and neighbors. ''In particular,'' he said, ''we thank the United States of America and above all President George Bush.'' Mr. shsh was among the first world leaders to abandon reservations about German unity and endorse Mr. Kohl's efforts.
In recent weeks, the process of unity had drawn growing grumbles from both East and West as Germans came to realize the huge cost of the undertaking. But for the hundreds of thousands who had gathered from across Germany and abroad, this was a night not to moan, but simply to celebrate.
''It is really moving,'' said Heinz Schober, a Berlin shopkeeper who had come with his wife. ''We were here when the wall went up and we were here when it came down, and now we see something children will read about in history books.''
Hundreds of stands along the Unter den Linden peddled everything from bratwurst and beer to ''Day of Unity'' T-shirts and chunks of the Berlin wall. Musicians ranging from rock bands to a Soviet military band to Wolf Biermann, a onetime East German dissident, blared from 16 stages set up among the beer and sausage stands, and all along the mile-long avenue the mood was festive and joyous.
At one point, revelers before the Reichstag pressed hard against the steps, where Chancellor Kohl and other political leaders were gathered, but no problems developed.
The most serious trouble was reported in Gottingen, a West German city near the former border, where about 1,000 radical youths went on a rampage, smashing windows and denouncing unity.
Year of Rapid Change
Unity came to the Germans barely a year after streams of East Germans began pouring out through newly porous borders in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, forcing the East German leader, Erich Honecker, to confront a crisis just as he prepared to preside over the celebrations of his state's 40th anniversary.
A year before unity came, on Oct. 3, 1989, a flood of East German refugees had all but overwhelmed the West German Embassy in Czechoslovakia, and the East German Government finally gave permission for the refugees to go west. It also closed its borders, touching off new discontent and disorders.
The celebration of East Germany's anniversary four days later marked the beginning of the state's undoing. The Soviet leader, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, gave the first indications that he was not prepared to prop up the East German Government, and waves of demonstrators clashed with the police in East Berlin and other cities.
The demonstrations rapidly grew, driving the Government into disarray until it took the fateful action on Nov. 9 of opening the Berlin wall a crack, touching off a rush to unity. By March 18 East Germany held its first democratic elections, and by July 1 its economy was merged into West Germany's. The pace accelerated through the summer, bringing formal unity up to Oct. 3 and setting the scene for the celebration.
The pace of events also required a rapid termination of the vestigial occupation under which both the Germanys and the Berlins existed, and the moment of unity was preceded by a flurry of final arrangements and actions to end the Allied controls.
The commanders of the Western Allied forces, the United States, Britain and France, which merged their occupation zones of the city after the war to form West Berlin and defended it against Communist encirclement in ensuing years, met for the last time and ceded authority over the city.
''I now close this final meeting of the Allied Kommandatura with a good, solid bang,'' said the British commander, Maj. Gen. Robert Corbert, pounding the gavel at the Allied headquarters with a solid thump.