U.S. Begins Building New Berlin Embassy
By Geir Moulson, The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 6, 2004; 1:15 PM
washingtonpost.com
BERLIN - The United States broke ground for its new Berlin embassy Wednesday on the site where the old one stood before World War II.
With its entrance set on a bustling square dominated by the Brandenburg Gate, the embassy will complete the revival of an historical downtown plaza rebuilt from scratch since the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.
The embassy opening is set for November 2007, 15 years after Washington announced its return to a site bought by the United States in 1930 before the Nazis rose to power.
U.S. Ambassador Daniel Coats joined German officials Wednesday in turning the first few shovelfuls of soil on the site where the modern, four-story embassy will be built.
U.S., German and Berlin flags fluttered in the background.
World War II allies France and Britain have already built their embassies within a block of the U.S. site. Germany's planned national Holocaust memorial, scheduled for completion next year, is across the street.
"I still think it was the right decision to build the embassy here," Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit said. "I'm sure that this embassy will be an open house - a place where people from across the world can meet and America can present itself."
No U.S. ambassador ever lived at the old embassy. Fire damaged the building in 1931 and, by the time U.S. diplomats moved in April 1939, Washington had recalled its chief envoy following the Night of Broken Glass pogrom against German Jews.
Remaining diplomats left when Washington declared war on the Third Reich in 1941.
The embassy was ruined during World War II and later razed by communist East Germany. For nearly three decades, the site stood in the heavily fortified no man's land between East and West Berlin.
In 1987, then-President Reagan stood just a few yards away on the western side as he urged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall."
[Rendering: story.news.yahoo.com
Architects: John Ruble, Buzz Yudell, Cecily Young; Gruen Associates, Los Angeles
gruenassociates.com
usembassy.de ] |
