No other city reflects German history as graphically as Berlin. In the period of the Cold War confrontation between East and West, the divided city with its Four-Power status was a guarantee of the reunification of Germany. The German question remained open as long as the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin was closed. Today, anyone can stroll through the Brandenburg Gate, across Pariser Platz and along Unter den Linden.

After reunification, Berlin was a workshop of German unity in which East and West grew together again in a small geographical area – as a model for Germany as a whole. Today, ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, we are on the threshold of the new Berlin. Where foundation stones were once laid, there are now topping-out and opening ceremonies. Fifty years after its foundation, the Federal Republic of Germany now has a new home. Berlin has prepared itself for its new tasks. Especially the eastern parts of the city have been modernised, the transport system has been brought up to date and the administrative and decision-making structures have been streamlined in an exemplary manner. Science and culture, services and industry are joining to form a genuine metropolis.

Nowhere is the new Berlin more clearly visible than between the new Federal Chancellery and Potsdamer Platz. Here, a completely new urban district has arisen on both sides of the former death strip, a successful mixture of work and leisure, culture and commerce, politics and private life. Even outside the city centre there is a new spirit in Berlin; restored historical buildings and ultra-modern architecture bear witness to the successful synthesis of fine traditions and progressive innovation.

Eberhard Diepgen
Governing Mayor of Berlin