One Berlin,

One Germany,
One Europe,
One World

The New Quadriga atop the Brandenburg Gate:

What if Victoria were Aurora?

Not a week goes by when I do not think of things about Germany. In those
moments, my mind focused on the days of the late summer of 1988. For me,
those were days of endless wonders for at a young age I made my first trip to a
faraway great country. I visited the “Heart of Europe” and it left a lasting legacy
in me. Germany simply became my home away from home for six straight
weeks. My Lufthansa plane left Manila in an early Saturday evening. It got me
so excited since it was a trip of many firsts in my life! It was my first international
trip, my first flight in a 747 jet plane, and my first twenty-hour intercontinental
journey! The plane made a brief stopover in the old Hong Kong International
Airport and then flew all the long way to Frankfurt am Main. My plane arrived at
dawn in Frankfurt just as when a bright new day was about to begin for me.
After going awestruck by the sheer modernity and opulent size of the airport, I
excitedly went outside to see what Germany was liked in reality. Outside the
airport’s main door, I inhaled deeply the cool fresh air, exhaled a thick misty
breath and viewed with admiration an impressive city of sparkling skyscrapers.
My German visit was truly a breathtaking first time experience of a lifetime.
From Frankfurt, I made a connecting flight to Hannover and finally travelled in a
van to Braunschweig after being fetched by a GBF representative.

All of these began with a very memorable letter of acceptance informing me of

my participation in the 2nd International Training Program in Biotechnology (ITP).
The letter came from the Gesellschaft für Biotechnologische Forschung (GBF),
Germany’s National Research Center for Biotechnology. GBF is now renamed
as the Helmholtz - Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI), translated in English
as the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research. GBF and the state of Lower
Saxony generously funded my trip and stay in Germany. It brought me to the
charming cities of Braunschweig, where GBF was located, as well as to
Hannover, and Berlin. I considered this unforgettable six-week sojourn in
Germany as the best thing that ever happened to me. It was a cool beautiful
Sunday noontime when I arrived in Braunschweig, a venerable city crisscrossed
by clean streets of cobbled stones, orderly traffic flow, bronze historical statues,
and wide green parks. The city’s almost absence of people and vehicles was
quite noticeable since, I came from Manila a densely populated city, the
difference was starkly conspicuous. The ITP training course included
attendance in Biotechnica 88, an international trade fair and symposia in
Biotechnology held in Hannover and a cultural trip to Berlin. The training course
enriched me not only scientifically but culturally as well. I learned so much from
my interaction with a diverse and superb group of 19 other individuals coming
from Asia, Africa and South America, which like me were chosen by GBF to
participate in the 1988 ITP course.

My visit also gave me a profound standpoint as to Germany’s identity, culture,

and role in the modern world. History tells us that it was just in the last century
when Germany went through periods of revolutions, redemption, and
resurrection. The mighty German Empire ruled militarily by Prussia disintegrated
after the First World War. A fleetingly bright moment followed the collapse of the
empire with the birth of the “Weimar Republic”. This beautiful republic, bearing
the promise of equality and liberty for all Germans and Europeans, unfortunately
died in its infancy. What followed was the darkest and most chilling period in
world history: the rise to power of Hiltler’s National Socialist Party. Because of
the NAZI, millions lose their lives, Germany suffered widespread destruction
and utter defeat at the end of the Second World War. World War II left mainland
Europe and the Far East including the Philippines in total shambles. Though it
seemed that everything was lost, Germany made acts of contrition and sought
absolution for his mortal misgivings. The “Heart of Europe” underwent a
remarkable transformation marked by sincere reconciliation toward his
neighbors and rapid socio-economic development. In just a few years, the
Fatherland rebuilt himself from the smoldering cauldron of the last world war to
rise meteorically into today’s proud global economic power standing as a free,
united, and flourishing German nation. Germany and France through the “Treaty
of Rome” literally became the engines of an economic cooperation, which
brought about the birth of the successful European Union.

Berlin, the “City of the World”, once separated by two rival ways of life, has
assumed a truly cosmopolitan personality breathing a sophisticated culture and
a cheerful urbanity uniquely its own. When Pres. John F. Kennedy bravely
visited Berlin and spoke the famous words “Ich bin ein Berliner”, a city instantly
captured the hearts and minds of people all over the world. Suddenly everyone
including myself was a Berliner who knew fully well to which side of the divided
city he belongs. It highlighted the great divide of “Us against Them”; of a world
partitioned by the “Iron Curtain” living precariously on Détente. When I visited
Berlin for the first time in 1988, I cannot help but ponder and marvel at the
character of an occupied city; a city torn between west and east, democracy
and communism, freedom and tyranny, heaven and hell. A venerable city
sanctified by the Nordic gods with beauty, power, and nobility. I experienced
what it was like to cross into East Germany and then to enter into West Berlin.
As I and the other ITP participants toured the city striding together along the
wide sidewalks of the famous KuDam and visiting the partly destroyed Kaiser
Wilhelm Memorial Church, we saw American, British, French and Russian
soldiers and an imposing dreaded wall dividing the city. This wall of shame
stood arrogantly between the famed “Gate of Brandenburg” and me. All I can do
was to stare at the Brandenburg Gate protruding behind the wall from my place
of security within West Berlin.

In 1990, I made my second brief stay in Germany to visit GBF and attend
Biotechnica 90. Funding for this trip came through the kindness of the Carl
Duisberg Gesellschaft (CDG). After attending Biotechnica 90, I went straight to
Berlin on my own initiative for it was something that I would not miss for the
world. Something historical happened in Berlin and I simply had to be a part of
it. So I took the train from Braunschweig to Berlin in the morning of my last
weekend in Germany. As I stared outside the window of the train, I saw flashing
scenes of the great northern German plains coated in green and bathed in
sunshine. Then I remembered seeing the signpost of Magdeburg, it made me
stopped thinking and wished that I’d get to visit this city in the future for it was
where my esteemed German composer: Johann Sebastian Bach lived and died.
It was shortly before noon when I arrived in Berlin. The day was warm and
sunny with clear azure skies above. After visiting the famous Reichtag with its
famous slogan “Dem Deutschen Völke” translated as “To the German People”, I
immediately made a beeline to the Brandenburg Gate. Excitement was seething
deep in me in anticipation of what awaited me. From afar, lo and behold, I saw
the Brandenburg Gate standing majestically FREE! It was a sight that I will
never forget for as long as I live. The wall of shame that laid us asunder in 1988
was nowhere to be found in front of the gate. The Berlin Wall was finally torn
down, gone with the wind, and relegated to the dustbin of history.

I was able to enter without hindrance through the monumental colonnades

bearing aloft the triumphant Quadriga of Victoria, the goddess of Victory. For me
she could very well be Aurora, the goddess of Dawn, striding in her chariot high
above the sky from the east at the break of light. As the morning goddess, her
chariot faces West Berlin for the radiant Sun follows behind her across the sky
as a new day unfolds. She is depicted below in my imaginary picture with open
wings carrying the “Torch of Daybreak” with which she heralds the dawn of a
new age of peace and prosperity for Berlin, Germany, Europe, and the World.
For indeed, a new way of living, a new world free of tyranny, slavery, and the
threat of a nuclear war, has dawned on all of us in 9 November 1989. It brought
about the end of communism through the nonviolent peoplepower initiated re-
unification of Berlin, Germany, and Europe! Gone were the specter of a third
world war and an all too powerful militaristic Germany. It was a Germany of the
past governed by a Prussian Berlin symbolized by a dominant Victoria.
Victoria’s long staff bore a wreath with an iron cross and a bird depicting her
victory in wars. However, Victoria’s symbols of the spoils of war could be
replaced by Aurora’s torch symbolizing the light of the dawning age of peace,
enlightenment and prosperity for the world. Perhaps, it could be a wonderful
new beginning for Berlin and Germany if Aurora replaces Victoria atop the
Quadriga on the Brandenburg Gate.
With trepidation, I began my slow entry through the central pathway of the six-
colonnade gate. I was overwhelmed with sentiments of joy and thanksgiving as I
emerged on the other side of the gate. It was so unbelievable that I even had to
ask a German woman standing close to me if we were really in the former East
Berlin. She was so delighted to assure me that we were indeed in the territory of
the former communist Berlin. So thankful was I in prayers that the great events
of 1989 did not cost lives nor brought us all into a Third World War. As someone
who was born into a democratic way of life in the Philippines, I was beaming
with pride that the great “Westerly Winds of Freedom” knocked down decisively
like tumbling dominoes the Wall of Berlin followed by the Iron Curtain of Eastern
Europe and lastly the fortress of the powerful Union of Soviet Socialist Republic
(USSR). What was once thought to be impossible, the unification of two
German nations divided by conflicting global powers, happened overnight so
miraculously? Not since the fall of the walls of Jericho has another wall in
history received the ire of the free world to be torn down as the Berlin Wall. “Mr.
Gorbachev, tear down this wall” were the words of Pres. Ronald Reagan that
reverberated like the loud trumpet sounds of Joshua’s priests that soon brought
down the Berlin Wall. In its wake, not only was a nation unified but the
European continent and the whole world as well. Demarcation of East and West
in Europe became outdated as the European Union now stands and upholds
unity, justice, and equality for all Europeans.

I strode happily far behind the Brandenburg Gate along the famous and
spacious boulevard called “Unter den Linden Strasse” extending into the very
heart of East Berlin. My triumphant march, full of fervor, took me all the way to
the imposing monumental bronze statue of Emperor Frederick the Great. I was
in East Berlin till evening as I enjoyed and treasured every moment of that
historical day in September of 1990 as a year had not even passed since the
dreaded wall still stood and divided the city. Indeed, it was fortunate and
privileged of me to have experienced the rare chance of being in divided Berlin
in 1988 and in unified Berlin in 1990, the years between the great historical
events of 1989. If Tony Bennet left his heart in San Francisco, in Berlin I left not
only my heart but my soul as well. I will surely never forget my Berlin
experiences of 1988 and 1990 for it was indeed so great to be young then in
Germany and to be caught up at a turning point in world history. In addition, let
us not forget the major role played by our beloved Pope John Paul II in ending
communism that actually started in his home country of Poland. In closing, on
the occasion of the 20th year anniversary of the Fall of the Wall of Berlin, I am
one with the free world in celebrating a great event marking the dawn of a new
age of peace and prosperity for Berlin, Germany, Europe, and the World.

BIOLUMIN: BLUE LIGHT GREEN WORLD