The American Embassy and the Neuvermessung der Welt
By John C. Kornblum

Nearly sixty-eight years after Nazi Germany's declaration of war on the United States, the American Embassy has reopened on Pariserplatz at the very center of Berlin. This event is a cause for joy and satisfaction by Germans and Americans alike. Not so much because of the completion of a new building, but because its opening validates the vision and hope which survived during the often difficult decades it took to get here.

It is not an exaggeration to say that this building has in one way or another been under construction for sixty-eight years. The road from those dark days of December, 1941 to the bright sunshine of July 2008 was long and arduous. The new embassy not only fills the last gap on Pariserplatz, it also closes a chapter of one of the most painful periods in human history. This final event of the twentieth century comes just in time to open the way for a dramatic new story of the twenty-first.

A coincidence of history places the long delayed completion of this embassy in the midst of an American election campaign, the major theme of which is "change." The past eight years have not been bright ones for the Atlantic community, and to many, the future looks equally murky. Old ways of life have disappeared rapidly in the face of globalization. New threats such as terrorism, global warming, and energy shortages have upset our sense of balance. Both Europe and America entered the new millennium confused about how to react to these new challenges. There was often a temptation to blame one's own frustrations on closest friends and allies.

We all sense that we must change - rapidly and dramatically. The question is how? Here, dedication of a new embassy gives us an opportunity to draw lessons from successes of the past. The new building stands almost exactly at the site of the Berlin Wall. It is next to the Brandenburg Gate, which was one of the symbols of a divided Europe. To me, one of the greatest hopes for the future of the Atlantic world is the fact that this dangerous confrontation could be overcome without one shot being fired. Despite a frightening military stand-off, it was the attraction of Western values, Western determination, and Western openness which ultimately prevailed peacefully and above all in a spirit of reconciliation with former adversaries.

As recently as twenty years ago most people doubted that this success could ever be achieved. A unified, democratic Europe seemed to be only a dream. Now Germany finds itself at the center of an enlarged European Union within an even larger community of Atlantic democracies.

Germans have often disliked their role at the center of Europe, believing that it forced them into an unsteady position between East and West. But Germany's "central function" in a globalized world will be dramatically different from that of the past. The old geography of Europe is no longer the defining framework for economic and political security. Germany need no longer be a bridge between two parts of an already unified continent.

In order to understand this dramatic development, we need new maps. To paraphrase Daniel Kehlmann, we need "eine Neuvermessung der Welt." Germany is no longer a border state. East of Germany lie Poland, Estonia, Romania, and Bulgaria; all are members of the European Union. To the East are the great new markets of Russia, Ukraine, and Asia. Old trade routes a thousand and more years old are being rebuilt. Helsinki is the most important seaport for Central Asia. Deutsche Bahn is planning multiple rail lines to China. Instead of acting as a balancer between East-West strategic interests, Germany is now an integrator of global economic, technological, and intellectual commerce between Europe, Asia, and North and South America. With that will come new tasks, new responsibilities and above all a much changed mentality.

And what about Germany as a transportation hub? This is a function well understood by logisticians, but it is virtually unknown to politicians and the public at large. We are still using old maps based on outdated political highways. But anyone who travels on the German Autobahn can grasp the new situation immediately. Truck traffic from everywhere clogs the roadways. A recent decision by the Transportation Ministry to open the break-down lane to truck traffic is dramatic illustration of the point.

Which brings us back to the new American Embassy. German-American relations stretch back almost 400 years. There have been many high points and several dramatic low points in our ties to each other. For most of the past 125 years, German-American relations have been defined by a single factor: the need to balance Germany's uncertain position at the center of Europe. Now that Germany is the focal point of a new global center, the content of German-American relations will also change rapidly. A "Neuvermessung" of the Atlantic world is urgently needed. The next U.S. president will be the first American leader with the responsibility to draw up these new maps. They will be very different from the ones we now use.

Ambassador John Kornblum is a former U.S. Ambassador to Germany, an AICGS Trustee, and Senior Counselor at Noerr Stiefenhofer Lutz Rechtsanwälte.

A German version of this essay originally appeared in the July 5, 2008, edition of Die Welt, and in the July 11, 2008, AICGS Advisor.

To read this essay in German, please click here.