Stanislaw Tillich was speaking at the event where the topic of discussion was “Saxony: From Hotbed of East Germany’s Non-Violent Revolution to Crossroads of United Europe” organised by the Konrad Adenauer foundation in cooperation with the Israel Council on Foreign Relations. The event was held to remember the peaceful revolution and the German reunification 20 years ago. Over 250 guests were present; among them Israeli politicians, representatives from the economy and academics as well as the delegation from Saxony that accompanied the minister-president on his trip to Israel. Other guests that attended this event were Jews of German origin, some of them formerly from Leipzig and young politicians from the Kadima party and Likud, who had already taken part in dialogue programmes of the KAS in previous years and who had been to Germany and Saxony before.

Dr Lars Hänsel started the evening on a personal note by telling the audience that, growing up in the GDR, he had never imagined that one day he would work in Jerusalem for an organisation that represents freedom and democracy worldwide. He went on to say that it had never occurred to him that it would be possible to hold an event in remembrance of the German unification and to welcome the head of the state of Saxony, his own home state.

The German ambassador to Israel, Dr. Dr. Kindermann, emphasised in his introduction that the GDR had not originally played a role in German-Israeli relations, however this had changed since the unification and also the new ‘Länder’ (states) were now an active part of the good relations between both countries. The former ambassador of Israel to Germany and current head of the Israel Council of Foreign Relations, Avi Primor, reminded the audience that internationally, but also in Israel, people were uneasy when they heard about the unification of Germany. He mentioned that the GDR used to be the most hostile country towards Israel of all the former communist states in Eastern Europe. At the time this caused many Israelis to be concerned that this might affect the future relations between the two countries. However, he continued, this had not been the case. Quite the contrary, he had met very open-minded and curious people in the new Länder when he became ambassador in Germany. There was an obvious gap between the official propaganda of the GDR and what the people really thought. “Relations have developed very positively since the reunification”, said Primor.

Minister-president Tillich, who had already been called “The Friend” by the big Israeli newspaper Jedioth Aharonot on his first ever visit to Israel, mentioned the good relations between Saxony and Israel at the beginning of his speech, especially the economic relations as well as cultural and scientific relations. Tillich also referred to the support of Yad Vashem and the linked project for teachers. Furthermore he also expressed his hopes for further cooperation between Saxon and Israeli towns and highlighted the very successful association “Sächsischer Israelverein” (Saxon Israel Club) which has been a role model for similar clubs in other parts of Germany since its foundation.

Tillich then traced the developments from the peaceful revolution to the unification and stressed that the idea of a unified Germany had not been new. Already in 1766 Friedrich Karl Moser described his hope for one united German nation. However, Tillich reminded everyone that by 1990 it had still not been clear that the unification process would be irreversible. It was Helmut Kohl who saw the historical dimensions of the time and convinced the leaders of the allied powers of the reunification process. Tillich, who had been a member of the first freely elected parliament in the GDR in 1990 (Volkskammer), said he was part of the process himself that eventually led to the reunification and proudly stated “The 3rd of October 1990 turned out to be the happiest day for the Germans in the 20th century.”

The difficulties that people in Saxony had to face did not stop with the reunification, but continued after this. Ordinary people’s lives in Saxony were deeply affected by the reunification and the transformation process that followed, but the people of East Germany dealt well with the opportunities that reunification presented them, said Tillich.

Many old town centres have been preserved, as for example in Bautzen, as well as many important companies which used to be in the past closely connected to Saxony came back or were established anew.

Tillich gave special emphasis to the new life of Jewish communities in Saxony and the Simon-Dubnov-Institute that undertakes research in Jewish history at the University of Leipzig. The synagogue of Dresden was the first one where Rabbis were ordained in Germany after the Shoa. Tillich pointed out that the GDR had not taken responsibility for the German past, however now German people in the East and in the West have started to remember together the crimes and injustices of the past. Tillich said that today Germans are committed to responsible freedom and against intolerance, racism, anti-Semitism.

Tillich further described the new regional role of Saxony in Europe. He put special emphasis here on economic and educational relations especially with its neighbouring countries Poland and the Czech Republic. Nevertheless there were still many challenges Saxony would have to face in the future, according to Tillich. Tillich identified the demographical challenges caused by the insecurity of the people due to the reunification as a particular problem. However, he felt that now there was also an opportunity to make Saxony more attractive particularly with the help of better learning opportunities and innovative companies. Tillich concluded that Saxony had managed to face its recent challenges head-on.

The discussion that followed Tillich’s speech showed that the developments in Saxony have been followed closely by the people in Israel and the efforts to fight anti-Semitism in Saxony have been acknowledged. The minister-president made clear that less people support right-wing extremist parties in his state and that the education in this area had to-date been effective. In addition to that, Tillich stressed the importance of personal visits to Israel in order to understand Israel’s current situation. He referred to the many different programmes in Saxony that support these visits.

The KAS succeeded with this event, which was held in front of a diverse audience, to remember the peaceful revolution and the hard-fought freedom and to show Germany’s, especially East Germany’s, contribution to the present German-Israeli relations.