Bristol Hannover Council

** Around 90 people gathered at Bristol University on Thursday, October 2, to celebrate 35 years of German Unification. The event was jointly organised by the Bristol Hannover Council, Bristol Anglo German Society and the German Department of the University of Bristol.

An inspiring message of support from the new German ambassador Susanne Baumann was read out by Mark Allison, the chair of BAGS who orchestrated the whole event.

A series of reflections on recent history followed.

Contributions included a piece on changing UK perceptions of the German economic model over the years by BHC chairman Ian Turner, Jon Darch from BAGS pointing out that the once successful football clubs of East Germany had not fared well following reunification and Angela Greenwood reading out the recollections of BAGS member Susan Hibberd’s visits to Germany over the years starting in the bitter winter of 1947.

Mark shared his memories from his year spent in East Berlin in 1988, whilst Eva Gossner from the German Department recalled how she was taken by surprise by the events of November 1989 and the speed of reunification-a common refrain amongst the speakers.

Ruth Winter from the German department compèred a panel of students who had just returned from spending a year abroad. They shared their experiences from living in Berlin, Cologne, Heidelberg, Leipzig and Jena, with reflections on the identity of German youth today, their feelings about the past and hopes for the future.

Mark conducted a challenging quiz on German unity, reminding us for example, that there were in fact 2 Sandmann programmes for kids on TV in the 1980s: one from East Germany which turned out to be more popular than its counterpart in the West which was consequently discontinued.

The event was topped and tailed with refreshments provided by BAGS and BHC.

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