Tag der Deutschen Einheit
A relatively young country is celebrating its coming of age
When I was in elementary school, there was no certainty when or if the two Germanys would ever reunite. Every time I visited the United States then, I was met with great interest by many trying to figure out which Germany I was from. … “Are you from West Germany?”, ” Have you ever been to the East?”, and so on …
Nowadays it’s almost unthinkable that Germany, as it looks and feels today, has not always been like that. It had to go through a lot of growing pains!
From its birth as a united country in 1871, to forcefully being separated after WW II, to miraculously being reunited in 1989.
Germany’s reawakening
Germany has gone through quite some changes during my lifetime. I would have never anticipated seeing the German people cheering on the streets with cars happily sporting the German flag. Young people proudly singing the German national anthem and having the colors of the German flag painted onto their faces.
This was 2006. And we happened to be visiting Germany while the country was hosting the Soccer World Cup. We witnessed first hand this newly found self-confidence of a ‘new’ Germany. It still gives me the shivers!
It’s good to see Germans being proud of their country again. May the past, however, not wane as a reminder of the darker times that Germany lived through but encourage the German people to stand up for the ideals of humanity, social justice, freedom and equality, and keep its doors open to a world that is moving closer and closer together.
My best wishes to a beautiful young country! I am glad you have been finding your way.
Much luck for the future.
Now let’s celebrate!
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Credits: © Arne Müseler / www.arne-mueseler.de / CC-BY-SA-3.0