German media are buzzing on the eve of the 25 year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
A bunch of people have been credited over and over with the momentous events leading up to this and all the great things afterwards, and all of them have their claque, their TV documentaries and their cheerleaders. Our favorite continues to be Mikhail Sergeyevich G. He had the toughest and most dangerous job of any leader and somehow managed to survive.
One of the funnier sides of integrating two countries was the appearance of the German recycling symbol "Green Dot" on name plates next to government office doors.
The Green Dot symbolized in part self-deprecation, in part self-assertion by East German officials who were taken over into the government structure of the new old country.
For average East German government workers, a process of vetting was meant to keep Stasi informants and/or Russian spies out of the united government workplace.
If they passed, they were green lighted, hence the Green Dot symbol some appropriated in the transition.
We do not know if politicians proudly co-opted the Green Dot, but one scientist and local socialist youth organization official later made it to the most powerful job in German politics, that of Chancellor of Germany. A job she still holds today.
If you feel like movie night, we recommend the drama The Lives of Others and the comedy Good Bye, Lenin!
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