Nothing is impossible. 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is an update of a piece I wrote five years ago.

 

25 years ago, in the morning of 9 November 1989, most of the following (in no particular order) would have been quite unimaginable for me:

I have returned to Berlin five years ago after nearly 20 years living in 4 Western European countries (Belgium, UK, Italy and Switzerland).

The country where I lived for 26 years does not exist anymore and was absorbed by its former enemy.

I am married to a British woman and have two kids whose mother tongue is English. Our language at home is English and German. I found it easier to write in English for some time, but I am now quite compfortable again in German, with a Berlin accent. I am even writing a whole book in German now.

West and East Europe are united, almost border and visa free. But people start to take this for granted and question the value of open borders into Europe but also inside Europe.

 

Europe is a peaceful global power. But the world around it has become  dangerous and Europe seems too self absorbed to act.

I travel freely, with ease and totally naturally between countries. I have travelled through most of Europe, as well as to the US, China, Africa, Australia.

China is a Super Power. Europe feels old fashioned in comparison.

Europe has been in crisis for the last five years, first econonic now also of identity.

The Soviet Union has fallen apart. Russia has had a rollercoaster ride through poverty and then rapid economic development. A former KGB man from Dresden is Russia’s  current, former and possibly future president. The Russia of today resembles the Soviet Union of Breshnev. And for strange reasons this new Russia has supporters in Europe and even in Germany.

I lived in seven currency systems (DDR Mark, D Mark, Belgian Franc, British Pound, Italian Lira, Euro, Swiss Franc, Euro).

The DDR government building is now housing the leading German  Business School. Opposite from there the Schloss is being rebuilt in its original place where temorarily the Palast der Republik stood.

George Orwell's book 1984 is being rediscovered, not because of what happens in Russia but because the USA has invented a Big Data Brother called the NSA.

I have my old friends in Berlin and many new friends in Berlin. And very good friends in Brussels, Copenhagen, Reykjavik, London, LA, Geneva and elsewhere.

I have worked for the EU, the UN, a global communications company, a Hungarian American billionaire philanthropist, and a German philanthropist.

There are doubts about Capitalism. A remake of Marx's Capital by a French economist is a best seller worldwide.

I am a natural user of technology. But I wonder whether technology will take over and run us.

Twin brothers ran an EU country as President and Prime Minister (Poland). The richest man and owner of most media was the longest serving Prime Minister of Italy. And they are gone and replaced by liberal leaders. But in Hungary a new autocratic leader has appeared and a neofashist leader is having a small chance to become next French President.

I have a car but hardly use it. The Trabant is a cult car.

An East German natural scientist is the first female Chancellor of Germany. She is considered the most powerful woman in the world and is compared to Adenauer, Kohl and Bismarck.

I studied at the LSE in London and lived in Hamstead. I celerbrated almost all Christmases of the last 25 years in London. London is my second home.

Berlin is the most interesting place in Europe. Some call it the cultural capital of the World. Berlin even became beautiful. I live in the centre in the only street still divided by the Berlin Wall, because there is now the Wall Museum.

I was a house owner in Brussels, now in Berlin. My favorite holiday place is still Piemonte in Italy, but Dorset in the UK is catching up.

FC Union Berlin plays second division well above BFC Dynamo Berlin, neither play in the German top division.

One of the biggest global companies is called Google which makes billions of dollars in all sorts of  things people did not know 25 years ago and now can't live without. To my own surprise I find myself writing a book about this stuff.

I am a co-founder of a pan European organization, The European Council on Foreign Relations to promote a united European foreign policy. The Vice Chair is a former German Foreign Minister who used to be a green radical wearing sneakers.

A bunch of terrorists crashed two airliners into the World Trade Center in New York. The Twin Towers collapsed and this marked the beginning of the decline of the USA .

My favorite daily newspaper is the Financial Times. My favorite weekly is Die Zeit. Most young people do not read newspapers and instead scan online news and play online games.

Die Mauer ist weg. NVA and Stasi are gone. But some of the Stasi attitudes live on, in East and West.

Along the former Berlin Wall there is a line of white balloons which will fly away this evening to celebrate the fall of the Berlin wall.  Peter Gabriel will sing together with Udo Lindenberg. Daniel Barenboim will conduct the Berlin Philarmonics at the Brandenburg Gate. A million tourists are in town, including my relatives from the UK.

Since 9 November 1989 I know that nothing is impossible. And the last 25 years have not disappointed.

Andre Wilkens
Berlin, 9 November 2014