612 - Happy German Unity Day

I will never forget this day.

The Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989.

The orchestra I was in Hong Kong with the Gürzenichorchester of the city of Cologne. We had just completed a concert tour to open the new Culture Center in Hong Kong.

While waiting for buses to take us to the airport, I passed the newsstand in our hotel lobby.

The German Newspaper, Das Bild, caught my eye. The title story read, Die Mauer Ist Gefallen, The Wall has Fallen.

Mind you, I was standing in Hong Kong, on the border of China and I wondered how a wall as big as the Great Wall could fall. (It was early and I hadn't had much coffee)

I rejoined my colleagues in the lobby and asked if any of them had seen the newspaper about the wall falling.

About 15 of them got up and ran to the newsstand. Screaming, crying, and celebrating echoed through the lobby.

Meanwhile, I sat there slowly taking it in.

The wall that had fallen was the Berlin Wall. I was glad there was no one to see my embarrassment.

We boarded our return flight to Germany and the party continued. It was one big celebration all the way back home. If I recall correctly, the hostesses ran out of alcohol about an hour after taking off.

This is the day the healing process began for Germany, 45 years after the atrocities of WWII had destroyed all sense of national pride.

I remember many Germans not understanding why we Americans were always waving our flag.

They didn't understand national pride, even though most of them had been born during or years after the war.

I would like to mention that I learned more about the horrors of WWII while in Germany than I ever learned in school in the US.

Germany has recovered and now has a sense of national pride.

I wish all my German friends, Frohen Tag Der Deutschen Einheit!!

Do you have an unexpected day of celebration that you can recall?