At 7 p.m. local time on Oct. 2, 1990, East Germany’s national anthem was played as the country’s women’s handball team squared off against West Germany. They won 24-20. But at midnight, their country was no more: Germany was reunited. Prior to that event, world leaders had so feared German reunification that it nearly didn’t happen. But 30 years later, it can only be described as a phenomenal success.
Around the same time the two women’s handball teams were squaring off, I arrived in the small East German town of Demmin to visit friends of my family. Located near what would become Chancellor Angela Merkel’s voting district in Germany’s northeast corner, Demmin doesn’t particularly stand out. Like the rest of East Germany, it was about to undergo a fundamental transformation by becoming part of another country. Reunification celebrations there were restrained. Some people hung German flags from their balconies. Others did not.
