Day of German Unity reception

There’s a new German ambassador in town, Klaus-Peter Brandes. Together with his wife Ulla, His Excellency circulated and met as many as possible of the 500 or so guests at the embassy’s reception on 3 October, in the garden of Villa Ajkla.

This was held, as every year, to celebrate the day of German Unity.

His Excellency served` his country in the embassies of Senegal, Washington D.C. Zimbabwe,  Brunei and the United Arab Emirates. He had previously worked at the Federal Foreign Office in Bonn.

He presented his credential to President Abela in July. His university studies were in Political Economy and Sociology and at one time he was economic advisor to the city of Frankfurt/Main. He also worked at the German Office for Foreign Trade in Cologne and Cairo.

I have now emerged out of hibernation as the long hot summer is almost over and I went willingly to this reception since it was a beautiful evening.  My food blogger and writer friend, Lea Hogg,  who had spent a good deal of her childhood and teen years in the United Arab Emirates, since her father, a medical man, worked there when the doctors’ debacle erupted in Malta came along.  

In his speech His Excellency referred to the Unification of Germany and the accomplishments which had taken place in the past decades: the economic miracle in the West, the establishment of a stable democracy and a civil society after the havoc wrought by National Socialism and the World War and finally the peaceful revolution that brought freedom to the Germans in the East, ‘the reunification of Germany and with it the reunification of Europe,’ the ambassador said.

He continued: ‘we Germans remain committed to Europe. Europe is the joint response of many different countries to the wars of the 20th century, but it is also a cultural home to a great variety of people. We want to uphold Europe now and nurture its future progress, especially when some are tempted to pull back behind national borders. We want to make Europe a space where peace and freedom are at home.’ It was heartening to hear him say that Germans want Europe and are prepared to take on responsibility. ‘This is expected of us, and that it is expected of us, is a great gift of trust.’

And I said to myself: ‘Where would Europe be without Germany and its strong economy especially when even Britain seems to be half-hearted about Europe and who knows, eventually may even back out?’

His Excellency reminded us of Winston Churchill’s famous speech at the University of Zurich on 19 September 1946 in which the great statesman advocated most strongly the reconciliation between France and Germany as essential for a union of Europe.

In fact Ambassador Brandes also reminded us that this year we celebrated the 50 year anniversary of the French-German friendship, the Traité d’Elysée.

It was an excellent speech with the emphasis on Peace – which we all long for, and more so in the rest of the world.  

President Abela, too, gave a meaningful speech. Among other matters he mentioned the excellent relations between Malta and Germany quoting the novelist and Nobel Laureate Thomas Mann: “People’s behaviour makes sense if you think about it in terms of goals, needs and motives.”

As an aside I recall interviewing all those years ago, for The Sunday Times of Malta,  one of Thomas Mann’s many children, Elizabeth Mann Borghese who was a frequent visitor to Malta.

President Abela said: ‘Indeed if we had to transpose this into what our people managed to achieve and exchange in terms of vision and goals, Mann’s remark makes a perfect reflection for today’s celebration.’

The President, too, mentioned the historic day when the Berlin Wall came down. ‘The sheer force and popular will in East Germany was instrumental in the opening of the border between East and West Berlin, and, as we watched on televison the unfolding of the events, crowds of East Berliners crossed the border to the West without hindrance.’

Dr Abela underlined the fact that Germany is Malta’s second major trading partner and that investment in Malta by German investors has been active since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1964. Germans comprise the third largest group of tourists visitng Malta, while the number of German cruise passengers has nearly doubled over the past two years, He said. Inevitably and quite rightly the President also mentioned the ‘increasingly unsustainable burden on both the island and its people of illegal immigration.’ He said that Malta is determined to put illegal immigration at the top of the Union’s agenda. ‘Malta is also including North African countries as it is from their shores that most irregular immigrants start their perilous journey of hope to Southern Europe.’

Aren’t we all glad that the Prime Minister and also the President are taking a firm stand on this problem. As we keep on emphasizing Malta is simply too small to keep on shouldering such a responsibility.

Dr Abela also commented on the areas of culture and education between Malta and Germany and mentioned the Honours degree in the German language at the University of Malta and the four annual scholarships to Maltese students specializing in the German language which come under the German Academic Exchange.

There were toasts proposed and the convivial evening continued at what seemed to be an endless supply of delicious canapés and drink kept on emerging from the kitchen.

 Concert at Teatru Manoel with pianist Christoph Traxler and clarinetist Godfrey Mifsud

I have to mention this excellent concert which was enjoyed thanks to the Austrian Embassy. It was a refined and first class concert.  My favourite piece was Carl Maria Von Weber’s Grand Duo Concertant Op. 48. Von Weber is a romantic composer and brings emotions to the fore in his music using notes to paint pictures in a very expressive way. He breathed music as his father had set up an opera company and he spent his childhood touring with it.

The award winning Austrian pianist, Christoph Traxler and our own clarinetist Godfrey Mifsud showed prowess and gave us some scintillating music. We also enjoyed compositions by Brahms and Robert Schumann, who died so young. That evening I discovered the music of Antoni Szalowski.  I can’t say I’m mad about it.

This was a gratifying evening of excellent music making.