Former US president George German citizen in Afghanistan held by US released ...
Firefighters Fight Blaze at Berlin Philharmonic Concert Hall ... Bush Sr.
and ambassador to Germany, William Timken, together cut a red ribbon to symbolically open the $130-million embassy in Berlin on Friday, July 4 in a ceremony coinciding with US Independence Day. Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Former US President George Bush, left, took part in the opening ceremony The United States invited 4,500 people, including Chancellor Angela Merkel and pilots who flew missions in the 1948-49 Berlin airlift, to the opening party which spilled out into cordoned-off areas outside the pale sandstone building.
There will also be a traditional July 4 fireworks display and concerts. A large outdoor festival near the Brandenburg Gate will be open to the public on Saturday.
Diplomats had moved several weeks ago into the building, which has had a turbulent history.
By the time US diplomats moved into the embassy in April 1939, Washington had already recalled its chief envoy to protest the Nazis' anti-Semitic pogrom the previous year.
The remaining diplomats left in 1941 after Germany declared war on the United States.
During the Cold War, the land was part of the desolate no-man's land along the Berlin Wall.
A new beginning Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: The Pariser Platz and the area around Brandeburg was a sea of stars and stripes Some diplomats have said the new embassy symbolizes US support for Germany during the Cold War and improved transatlantic relations following the rift that opened up between the two sides over the US-led invasion of Iraq.
In a speech on the eve of the inauguration, Bush Sr. said he believed US-German ties were stronger than ever.
"My son is under a lot of pressure as president of the United States," he said at the American Academy in Berlin after receiving the Henry Kissinger Prize. "One of the things I draw great comfort from is the truly excellent ties with your chancellor for whom I have a lot of respect," he said of German leader Angela Merkel.
Merkel on Friday said she wanted to use the occasion to express her "sincere, heartfelt thanks" to the United States for its support of Germany, which she believed altered the course of history.
A special moment for Germany Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: The entrance to the somewhat bland, tan stone facade of the embassy Speaking before the opening ceremony, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier too drew on the past and the fact that the opening marked a special moment for Germany.
"The United States played a decisive role in the fact that the Brandenburg Gate is open today and the German issue has been settled," Steinmeier said.
Steinmeier called for the United States and Europe to unite on new issues.
"A solid new agenda" in the transatlantic relationship was needed, he told a conference organized by a German newspaper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The purpose should be to cope with 21st-century challenges.
Key issues were how to manage resource shortages, arms control and a policy of international responsibilities shared with rising powers such as China, India and Brazil, Steinmeier said.
Embassy panned by architecture critics The embassy, designed by California firm Moore Ruble Yudell, took four years to build and ran into a string of problems and bitter wrangling between the Berlin city government and American diplomats.
It has also been heavily criticized by German architecture critics. An article in respected German daily
described the embassy building as "Fort Knox at the Brandenburg Gate" earlier this year.
(Deutsche Welle)
more info >>
<< Back