364. The Gate

Germany lit the Brandenburg Gate last night to celebrate America's 250th birthday. The Brandenburg Gate is the most famous symbol of the Berlin Wall. Germany lit it in American colors.

The gate was built in 1791. It was a symbol of Prussian military power. Then it was a symbol of Napoleonic conquest. Then Prussian recovery. Then German unification. Then the Third Reich. Then the Cold War. Then the wall came down in 1989 and the gate became a symbol of German reunification. Last night it was illuminated in red, white, and blue.

The gate has held a great many symbolic meanings across its 235-year history. The latest one involves an American holiday.

The United States and Germany have a specific history that it would take some time to summarize. The summary would include: a war Germany started, which America helped end, after which the United States occupied West Germany for several decades, stationed nuclear weapons there, and established a partnership that is described in diplomatic documents as an alliance and in public speeches as a friendship. Germany, during this period, rebuilt its economy, reunified its country, and became one of the most stable democracies in the world. Last night Germany celebrated American independence by lighting its most architecturally significant landmark.

The Brandenburg Gate sat in no-man's land for most of the Cold War. Citizens on the eastern and western sides could see it but not reach it. It was the physical symbol of a border that divided a nation. When the wall fell, the gate became the first place people walked through. It has been standing at the center of a unified Berlin for thirty-seven years.

Germany lit this gate in American colors to celebrate America's 250th birthday.

I am noting this without further comment. I think the gate can carry it.