east meets west

Everyone loves a holiday, and no one more so than the tens of thousands of people that poured into the Wies’n and my backyard to celebrate yesterday’s national holiday.  For readers in my homeland, picture Disneyland on 4th of July weekend and add approximately 1 million liters of beer.  We opted for a 3 mile walk to dinner, rather than face public transportation.  Although the first mile of that walk was just as congested.

Anyways, in honor of German Reunification Day, Unity Day, October 3, or whatever the cool kids are calling it, let’s review some of Eastern Germany’s great contributions.  Forget those naysayers who moan about the cost of reunification and continued taxation of the west to bring the east up to par.  This isn’t a rap war, can’t we all just get along?

1. Angie.  Not just the chancellor, but Forbes 2007 Most Powerful Woman of the Year.  And anyone who can take on Condi (4) Oprah (21), and Hillary (25) deserves to be number one on my list as well.  Especially Oprah.

2. Bertolt Brecht.  Granted, born in Bavaria, but established himself in the east.  And a devotee of Marxism, so that in itself is enough.

3.  Resorts on the Baltic Coast.  Germans cannot survive on tanning booths alone.  Nor Italy, for our northern neighbors.

4.  Institutionalized steroid use.  Where would Barry and Lance be today without the efforts of these pioneers?

5.  Johann Bach.  Gotta love that Well-Tempered Clavier.

6.  Russian.  Which of course, did not originate in Eastern Europe, but the learning of which certainly spread under communism and continues today.  After all, mastery of German, English, and French just isn’t good enough.