This house once stood in another country

Last night, I was honored to attend the German Unity Day celebration in New York with our friends and colleagues. Every year on October 3rd, the German people commemorate the anniversary of German Unity — the reunification of the German people.

Wim Wenders, the German filmmaker, was recently asked if Berlin today is the same Berlin he portrayed in his film “Wings of Desire”, which was shot only two years before the Wall fell.

He told this remarkable story: There is a nice old building in my neighborhood, on Brunnenstrasse (former East Berlin), on which it is written, in huge letters:

“This house once stood in another country!”

Which is great, he went on to say, because it reminds us that we now live in a new country, since East Germany does not exist anymore, and West Germany does not exist anymore either.

We often hear about the reunification of East and West Germany. But in reality, a new country was born thirty-two years ago, and it took a long time for the German people to understand this — they do now, and we can learn from it.

Einen schönen Tag der Deutschen Einheit!