JFK+50: Volume 7, No. 2460
Berlin, Germany (JFK+50) Twenty-seven years ago today, October 3, 1990, East Germany and West Germany ended forty-five years of post World War II division by declaring the creation of a reunified country.
At midnight Berlin time, the black, red and gold flag of Germany was raised above the Brandenburg Gate. It was a moment that President John F. Kennedy predicted when he visited the divided city in June 1963.
In his famous 'Ich Bin ein Berliner' speech, the President said...
"Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe."
How has reunification impacted the lives of German citizens with the passage of a quarter of a century? According to Kate Connolly of The Guardian, half of Germans today believe there are still more differences than commonalities between those who live in the East vs. those in the West.
One point is that many West Germans "have never even been to the East," and another is that of the 500 richest companies, only 21 are located in the East. Wages are, on average, higher by a third in the West.
The one area where the East shines is in education. Eastern German school children perform best in mathematics, science, biology, chemistry and physics.
SOURCES
"Germany reunified 25 years on: how different are east and west really," by Kate Connolly, The Guardian, www.theguardian.com/
"John F. Kennedy, Ich bin ein Berliner Speech", June 26, 1963, American History From Revolution to Reconstruction and beyond, www.let.rug.nl/
Bundesarchiv Bild
THE REUNIFICATION OF GERMANY
Berlin, Germany (JFK+50) Twenty-seven years ago today, October 3, 1990, East Germany and West Germany ended forty-five years of post World War II division by declaring the creation of a reunified country.
At midnight Berlin time, the black, red and gold flag of Germany was raised above the Brandenburg Gate. It was a moment that President John F. Kennedy predicted when he visited the divided city in June 1963.
In his famous 'Ich Bin ein Berliner' speech, the President said...
"Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe."
How has reunification impacted the lives of German citizens with the passage of a quarter of a century? According to Kate Connolly of The Guardian, half of Germans today believe there are still more differences than commonalities between those who live in the East vs. those in the West.
One point is that many West Germans "have never even been to the East," and another is that of the 500 richest companies, only 21 are located in the East. Wages are, on average, higher by a third in the West.
The one area where the East shines is in education. Eastern German school children perform best in mathematics, science, biology, chemistry and physics.
SOURCES
"Germany reunified 25 years on: how different are east and west really," by Kate Connolly, The Guardian, www.theguardian.com/
"John F. Kennedy, Ich bin ein Berliner Speech", June 26, 1963, American History From Revolution to Reconstruction and beyond, www.let.rug.nl/
Bundesarchiv Bild
Berlin, Germany
3 October 1990
Photo by Peer Grimm
German Federal Archives
