“Die Wende” or “The Turning” in German unity was more like a turning process than a single point in time. Things “turned” in 1989 with mass protests for human rights, escapes through Eastern Europe, the Wall tumbling and Berlin checkpoints opening. In 1990 the turn continued with democratic elections in East Germany, negotiated treaties to implement German unity and the joining of East German states with West Germany. For many, the term has come to symbolize German unity itself.

U.S. diplomats, following the lead of President George H. W. Bush and Secretary James Baker III, believed in supporting German unification. New evidence, however, reveals that Britain’s Margaret Thatcher secretly visited Gorbachev and France’s Mitterrand, stating, “We do not want a united Germany.” A primary U.S. concern of German unity, according to diplomat Geoffrey Chapman, was Germany opting out of NATO. In the end, after determined negotiation, Germany remained in NATO.

Robert Zoellick, Counselor under Secretary of State James Baker, III, played a leading role in conducting Two Plus Four negotiations for the U.S. His counterpart, Dieter Kastrup, was Director for Political Affairs under Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, who has offered a German perspective here on the outcome of the negotiations. Other countries participating were East Germany, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union.

In 1990, two U.S. embassies and the Berlin mission consolidated into one diplomatic post. The new U.S. Embassy compound in Berlin, opened in 2008, was built near the historic Brandenburg Gate on the site of the previous embassy (destroyed during the War). Released police (Stasi) files revealed that spies operating in both East and West Berlin focused on U.S. diplomats. In the transition period, Ambassador Richard C. Barkley made sure that Checkpoint Charlie, the U.S. crossing point in a divided Berlin, moved to a fitting new home as a museum, “to make sure that it is not portrayed in a humiliating way for the Russians.”

Twenty years of unity has not completely closed the psychological divide between Eastern and Western Germans, even after West Germany provided billions in financial assistance to aid economic integration. Despite diplomatic efforts, treaties cannot dictate opinions. Growing business ventures in Eastern Germany and the region’s resurging economy, however, are helping to close economic disparity. U.S. diplomats maintain close relations with a united Germany, sharing concerns about the global economy, environment and security.