Merkel offers thanks to the U.S. for freedom

“This basis of values was what ended the Cold War.” Less than a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the East German regime disintegrated and formal German unity followed in October 1990.

On contemporary political challenges, Chancellor Merkel expressed “zero tolerance” for the Iranian nuclear weapons p rogram, stood clearly “Israel's security will never be open to negotiation.”

Merkel reaffirmed her government commitment to Afghanistan; Germany is the third-largest troop contributor, but added that there must be a “transfer strategy” on which the Afghans shoulder wider security responsibilities for themselves.

Merkel's moving tribute returned to the symbolism and the Freedom Bell in the Berlin Town Hall, donated by Americans in 1950.

“The Freedom Bell in Berlin, like the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, a symbol which reminds us that freedom does not come about of itself. It must be struggled for and then defended anew every day of out lives.”

She concluded memorably, “in this endeavor Germany and Europe will also in the future remain strong and dependable partners for America. That I can promise you.”

Having visited Berlin on many occasions, both during the Wall and after its collapse, there is still an undeniable surrealistic feeling one has in seeing a prosperous and dynamic united city, yet somehow shadowed by the ghosts of the past, be they the National Socialist regime, the East German communists or the clarion call to freedom by President Ronald Reagan whose words still echo through this city which so symbolized the East/ West divide.

Returning to the heady memories of that seminal year 1989, the epiphany of these extraordinary events where freedom vanquished tyranny, where the multitudes of people separated by the barbaric gash of the wall through their city became one overnight, and where JFK's exhortation “Ich bin ein Berliner,” is etched in stone for those who love freedom.

On that day the 9th November 1989, when the Joshua Trumpet sounded and the wall came tumbling down, we were all Berliners.

John J. Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. Contact jjmcolumn@att.net.

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