25 German years, part 2
1997 to 2004 – from the Love Parade in Berlin to EU enlargement.
1997 – Berlin is jumping. The Love Parade on 12 July attracts over a million participants for the first time. Techno music fans from all over the world dance in the streets to the electronic beat.
1998 – Wall memorial. A monument to Germany’s partition and the victims of the Berlin Wall is opened on 13 August as the first part of the Berlin Wall Memorial. Two steel structures enclose a section of the Wall. A documentation centre is added to the memorial in 1999, the Chapel of Reconciliation in 2000.
1999 – Capital of Culture. Weimar, city of those princes among poets Goethe and Schiller, is the European Capital of Culture. Its visitors are fascinated by this centre of German classicism and Bauhaus art. Seven million day tourists visit the city in 1999.
2000 – Expo in Germany. Germany’s first world exhibition is held from 1 June to 31 October: EXPO 2000. The venue is Hanover, the motto: “People – Nature – Technology”. Some 18 million people visit the exhibition.
2001 – Bayern are number one. Bayern Munich, Germany’s internationally best known soccer club, wins the Champions League on 23 May. Six months after winning the crown of European club football, they also take home the Intercontinental Cup.
2002 – Solidarity. Germany suffers serious floods following torrential rains. The eastern states along the River Elbe are particularly hard hit. The whole of the country helps: volunteers from all over Germany support fire services, the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), the German Red Cross and the Bundeswehr. People also make donations totalling 500 million euros.
2003 – Summer of the century. A heat wave produces the hottest August since weather records began. The water level in the Rhine falls to a record low.
2004 – Building European bridges. EU enlargement comes into effect on 1 May and adds ten new member states, mainly central and eastern European countries. At the Frankfurt/Oder–Slubice border crossing, Germany celebrates with Poland, its neighbour and new EU partner. The German and Polish foreign ministers shake hands on the bridge between the two cities.
