Im going to have our 1st welcome to this special edition of the news as we cover the festivities commemorating 30 years of german reunification on this Germanys National holiday it was on this day 30 years ago that east and west germany reunited to become one country again for the 1st time since the 2nd world war this years event is being held in potsdam the capital state of brandon book state near berlin that german president from father steinmeyer will be speaking shortly well bring you his speech live its a splendid occasion but this years festivities are scaled down in compliance with social distancing measures and other restrictions put in place due to the coronavirus kind. Of help me guide us through the events today and shine a light on its significance im joined in the studio but it of you cross part. Common ration venue in potsdam nina hoss is standing by at the iconic Brandenburg Gate in berlin we welcome. Thomas sparrow and lets start with you the german president is speaking soon what kind of speech can we expect. We can expect this speech by the time i is going to try and track the joy in the cage in the same time talk about all the implication and unity has had on the current generation and also about the fact that yes there are quite a few challenges that still need to be overcome and yet the devaney said look at it and still celebrate on this very special day great everything in. 30 years. Has been a lot of taking stock about germany and its place in the world. Yes indeed that for me 30 years means there were people who were born. 30 years old that have had a whole life in this period and if you look at the life that germany has have in those 30 years as germany has changed the world has changed in those 30 years we have to remember that that form of the war the unification of germany was mark the end of the cold war and a whole new historic period for the world is not just about germany just about germany so you know the position that germany has and europe had to position that germany has in the world today the position the European Union has in the world today all of those things were almost inconceivable 30 years ago so its really historic were talking about lets go to thomas. Most iconic landmark the Brandenburg Gate its traditionally the scene of crowded festivities every year but the very different scene this time around thomas. And that is because of the coronavirus pandemic because obviously german officials had hoped to have a big party to celebrate those 30 years of german reunification but because of the pandemic those festivities have been scaled down those not there those are still it is normally take place right here at the Brandenburg Gate it is one of the most important symbols of German Division but its also one of the most important symbols of german reunification and that is something that people are aware when they come to this place this is a very important place here in berlin despite the fact that this year unlike other years were not celebrating the reunification festivities as as german officials would have hoped for. But thomas nina and hans will go back to all of you in a moment but 1st lets go back to those momentous days 30 years ago when east germany and west germany became just germany. There was no master plan no example worldwide for this is turning event german reunification. Not even a year before the berlin wall had come down after months of peaceful protest in the far east germany. Leave us u. K. France and the soviet union gave the green light paving the way to unify the 2 journeys. Those from the east had to adapt to many things new money and your Economic System and a new lifestyle soon the disillusionment kicked in. What were missing. Because you know. It can only financial cost also the social medical costs. Are not. Blind they can only. Miss unemployment. We mentioned before in east germany as many as 4000000 workers in the east saw their jobs disappear countless others had to take on the work that was below their qualifications many young and educated people left to look for a better life some areas feel didnt like to this day. There are rural areas where theres a lot of poverty and rip people feel left behind churning towards what they have which is often their National Identity or even their racial identity and the last National Elections the center right and center left parties were more popular in the west and germany the far left and extreme right in eastern germany. A celebration nevertheless takes place every here with good reason we have had 30 years of peace and prosperity for a lot of people we think of germany as such a stable and secure country i think its amazing when you look back at german history over 100 years germany went through from a monarchy to a failed democracy to a dictatorship who were communists. System to a successful democracy inventor unifications a reinvention is the real headwind for german history regardless of the differences really unified germany is often seen as an example of a stable and democratic country. A quite a run through to the past 30 years reunification 30 years and this man in our report just talked about reinvention i think thats a thats a pretty good pretty good example of what what stands out in these 30 years isnt it has indeed i mean you know obviously the division between the 2 parts of germany was and i do logical division a division between a communist east and capitalist liberal democracy on in the west and bringing these 2 parts together is something that even today has not being completed its not something that maybe you can say will ever be completed because its a process that has to go on and on as the 2 sides continue to integrate as people move from one side to the other obviously i think time does heal a lot of wounds and the kinds of humiliations that certain people in the east still feel today mostly older people i presume that as people will die and younger generations go ahead this feeling will be reduced to some extent but one can see that even amongst the people that were born after this event if they come from that kind of tradition theres still the feeling that someone from the east to some extent is not quite as valuable as somebody from the from the west so these kinds of psychological differences that also referred to in the report will remain i think and will remain as a challenge to the whole of germany. Coming back to you there in. The ceremony you are 10 years old i think you told me when this all happened so youre kind of part of that generation that grew up. Reunited germany so whats whats a good good year for germany. I was 10 when the wall fell and i was 11 when germany was really unified and i think it is perfectly fair to talk about our very own personal stories on a day like today because it is important to stress that when i was 11 i was in west germany and i had grown up in west germany and frankly it was just not a topic that mattered to me to anybody who was a few years older than me we were not affected by it at all nothing changed at the time now my parents my family they were all very interested in politics so they try to explain to me and my sister what was going on and i can remember that it was all very emotional for them and they tried to explain to us all the differences and it was indeed a massive achievement to have this peaceful revolution that led to the fact that these people could come back together again and that that this was a very interesting time for anybody living in germany but my generation just wasnt affected in west germany and frankly i find this is a big shame because you can still tell that lots of people from west germany just have never been to the east even today even 30 years on there are still people in west germany who have no idea whats going on in the east and of course everybody in the east at the time was affected personally and this is something that is leading to this difficulty in communication between the 2 parts of germany because of course one side of the country was extremely affected everybody personally the biography the job their career all of everything they believed and was dramatically changed basically in one years time and in the west just nothing changed. A person. From. I think. Remember i was very passionate when when this all happened i was born into to germanys if you will and i wasnt very keen on reunification to be perfectly honest do you remember how you felt about it well i was not in germany at the time i was a correspondent for newspapers or various newspapers in Southern Africa and at that time. Changes that were happening worldwide because of the end of the cold war were affecting Southern Africa very very dramatically its a time when Nelson Mandela was released from prison its a time when the former colony of namibia became independent a lot of changes like this happened throughout africa so from that perspective looking at germany and what was happening in germany was just one of many events in those years that changed the world for me as a german person of course that was something that was still of significance that was fascinating and when i came back to germany at that time i would try to spend time in east germany and in fact studied in berlin at the time when the war was still up on you in the east of burden to some extent from short term visits then about coming back afterwards ive always been fascinated by how these 2 different parts of germany developed and how theyre growing together now and being here in berlin obviously one does spend quite a lot of time in the former east germany even simply by going to eastern and eastern parts of berlin itself. Lets go to Thomas Sparrow at the front of front of the gate said events that change the world one of the things that change the world right now is of course the cove it pandemic the absence of celebrations where you are is a testament to that the country is currently facing a critical test as. It is indeed facing a critical test our numbers have been rising here in germany as in many other parts of the world as well although its important to stress that it hasnt risen as much as in other parts of europe nevertheless German Authorities have introduced new restrictions in particular to prevent big gatherings from people and thats why these celebrations have been certainly overshadowed or will be overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic but id like to add something seems everyone else was also mentioning the experiences of reunification i was actually far away when this happened i was i grew up in south america in a country marked by conflict and by division and back then i went to a German School where we learnt a lot about german reunification and having that experience was actually showed me why the german reunification process is so important abroad internationally germany still today tries to show the example of what it means to bridge differences to have different people come together and thats something that they still try to do for example in the country were where i grew up in south america colombia which as i say is facing or has been facing an Armed Conflict for a very long time so this just gives you an idea that german reunification is not something that was only important for germany it wasnt something i was only important for europe it was some that germany and german officials have also tried to export in many ways to try and show how 2 countries with 2 different interests with 2 different ideologies can also come together and how those differences can be actually bridge thats something that german officials are still very aware today 30 years after reunification and something that they want to present to other parts of the world. Thomas thank you for that so far but how united still people in the germany really feel the w. Report on the whole jory took a bike rides a very long one that stretched all the way from the very west of germany to the east to find out shes traveled along the german unity cycle route starting in on the former capital of west germany castle near the old german border over to market a book in the east and finishing on the eastern side of the capital berlin and she asked the people she met how successful do you think reunification has been discovered and even if it depends on how you look at it on the one hand many are happy that germany has been reunified and is a big piece of country again. But on the other hand you can see that was still a very strong internal divide between east and west of us with this. I mean this is something my own family experienced lived in the west but had relatives in east berlin and those were hard times for us weve grown back together as a family again thanks to reunification and we did see them go back. And its now its a success after so many years both east and west it moved closer together were more fruits if we still have far too much unemployment in the east far too much poverty and far too little industry and political unity has worked but economically its not certain good and so surely not a tool. We moved from the west to the east id say thats quite a success for. A lot of people were unlucky and never found their feet others got off to a good start the older generation had it worst they were all sent into early retirement i were transitioning into old age and couldnt find new jobs again of it. To my son was younger p. To reunification or just there are hardly any differences between east and west maybe for old people but for young people its been very successful. Still not unified. When it comes to wages. And thats something that still bothers us about the unification. Of. Voices. Tell us about germany today. I think it clearly shows that were still struggling to find. Out what it is that actually happened 30 years ago and everybody has a personal story attached to this event even if they were not born at the time their parents will have passed. Memories off the time and this is why its so important to look at it in a multifaceted way and when you talk to Research Just for example its interesting that they say when you look at the people who were all affected by what happened in 1998 there are huge differences among the generations so the people who were about to retire. In the former communist east germany they were massive benefited from the what happened from the events because of course their pensions were. The Health Care System got better they had to travel opportunities that suddenly their life improved dramatically and then after them came a generation that massive biographical. When they able to find a job maybe their university degree. They had to learn every. Thing again from scratch they had to find their own position and it took a bit of time and then when you talk about the younger people of course they grew up in a time where they have the same opportunities but if theyre still in the east of course you dont get as much money for the same job in the east as you do in the west theres a tremendous weight scott still of course runs the cheaper in the east too in my city but you have to look at individual stories to really assess what was going on and frankly my own personal opinion as somebody from the west is that in the west back to bait about what happened to the east german was not had enough. Maybe thats one of the reasons why germany celebrates quite modestly other countries celebrate their National Holidays with big parades and. All that germany not so much the thing that has to do with the richest sense in germany to present a militaristic nationalist image of itself which is part of its rejection of the militarist and the nationalist the nazi past of germany obviously as in the 1st world war but also in the 2nd world war theres a periods in which presented to solve with a very militaristic image to the world it costs 2 wars it caused a lot of suffering 6000000 jews were killed and millions of people in in the wars especially in Eastern Europe in russia and for instance were killed during the war a war that cold that was caused by germany so its this tradition of trying to reject the militarists to germany to present a peaceful a unified and internationalist. Image of germany that causes or that that is the reason for these kinds of more. National celebrations you might even find that the. And flag is not that present if you compare it to a national day. In france for instance or Something Like that there are no military parades all of this is to try and present germany as a country of peace a country of friendship towards its neighbors and a country that is integrated in the International Community the germans also have a problem with National Pride dont they and but isnt this occasion celebrating 30 years of that peaceful revolution that led to german. German unity it would that not be a reason to be proud especially for those people who went on to the streets set things in motion got things going oh absolutely i think it is a reason to be proud as you say especially for people in is germany who went in there thousands risking their lives against a or authoritarian communist dictatorship to try and get their freedom and eventually succeeded and thats certainly its something to be proud of and its certainly something that germany as a whole is proud of but i think its trying to turn it as thomas was saying earlier into something that could set an example for others in the world not something that should be threatening to other countries to other people because you have to remember even within germany when german unification happened 30 years ago there were very serious concerns about this really unified very strong state within europe that was being recreated in a sense that was the economically strongest country in the europe and people in poland who had suffered in the 2nd world war were worried about that the Great Britain was worried about that Margaret Thatcher at the time even the french were not at ease about that so coming out of these misgivings was also very successful aspect of this unification you just mentioned the international. Of ations against german reunification because in 1900 germanys reunification was an occasion for joy in the country at the time as hans mentioned people in many other states serious doubts for many Different Reasons whether establishing a