A relationship on the rocks im calm assman in berlin and this is the day. Your body continues to be an enormously important partner for us put germany is still a troll russia all of this that is why we are still on the rise in public this in dedicate ourselves to the times 6 and move on to the did i say. Get a play on the least. Thats what were going to great friend of the United States does define it well never forget that the un this interim president george bush helped to send a no mistake on the way to germany unification and to be focused. Also on the day a man known for building walls will be getting one in the mail a group of germans is sending President Trump an Original Section of the berlin wall along with a message from those who experienced the barrier 1st hand today on the 30th anniversary of the fall of the wall the citizens of berlin are sending that Original Section of the berlin wall to the United States with an important message. Letter to the president since reminding us of our historical commitment to building a World Without walls. To our viewers on p. B. S. And all around the world welcome to the program we start the day with a transatlantic relationship on life support close allies for some 70 years now germany and the United States are on the rocks there is Little Common ground now on nato china russia not to mention the rhetoric of the current occupant of the white house in fact a recent survey showed around 85 percent of germans say their countrys relationship with the u. S. Is either bad or very bad and a majority here say that theyd like to further distance themselves from america but that as a backdrop u. S. Secretary of state mike pompei o has been in germany for the past 2 days his visit is of course time to coincide with celebrations to mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall but disagreements about how to safeguard current political and military alliances have overshadowed his visit. But a great friend of the United States germany is continues to be an enormously important partner for us i saw the defense minister statement about increasing germanys contribution today to over time we think thats powerful because we think that relationship with nato matters and we need everyone working together to make sure that it remains a potent force for good in the just in the north for once today we have other tasks before us and again we are addressing them as partners and friends we have to face up to these tasks in the world. God knows well be talking among other things about the conflict in afghanistan and the conflict between ukraine and russia well be talking about the future of syria about peace in libya these are some of the issues on our agenda today that let me assure you and we intend to continue to play an active part in helping solve these constant for more im joined now by thomas kline a brawl coffees the Vice President of the German Marshall Fund of the United States thats a Public Policy think tank 1st of all thank you so much for coming in really just heard some of those statements from transamerica. And from secretary of state mike how surprised were you at what seems to be a rather conciliatory tone things havent been going so well between the 2 countries likely i wasnt because everybody here is basking in the afterglow of 30 years of for the fall of the wall and this was a kiss and make up type and i heard the secretary of state speak in a way that any american secretary of state in the past could have delivered could have delivered a speech i think the word trump did not it wasnt even mentioned maybe only once and he even left that alter ego ego of his at home that previously had criticized the multilateral order its already on itself in criticizing you pump a 0 himself a different point peo showed up in berlin today lets talk more though about that relationship between germany and the u. S. As you mentioned the word trump may not have come up but the president has been speaking about in particular nato since he took office we want to listen to a clip this was from last summers nato summit in brussels trying blasting a planned gas pipeline between russia and germany take a listen. Ive been complaining about this all the time i got a nature that never been allowed to happen but germany is totally controlled by russia and of course that surrounded by his own nato allies there thats just one example he also asked germany to give more money to nato now what effect do you think the president has had on this relationship not only between the us and germany but more broadly nato itself well if germany is controlled by russia wonder what the president s controlled by but the effect of all of that hammering it onto piling on to germany as i as i see it has had a profound effect on the public the public finds the the german american relationship to be in crisis while the American Public doesnt see it that way we have a profound gap in the perception of where we stand by you think that is because of that because of that critique of that what i find to be a very stark and some say unreasonable critique of the country the countries have always had some policy differences Gas Pipelines was an issue between germany and the. The United States in the 1970 s. At that time reserve you the soviet union so those those issues and those frictions dont go away but they are now in a different context the philosophy embed it theyre embedded in a larger picture and thats i think what concerns people. The u. S. Secretary of state is making this visit with this big anniversary notch the president himself is there anything we can read into there no i dont think so. He said he will be coming to germany and so i dont think you can read anything into im happy that hes here in im im satisfied that there was such a kiss and make up session this is how it should be just not convinced. I just hope mr trump hears about it as well now so much focus of course with this 30th anniversary the berlin wall falling i mean taking the lessons maybe from that moment and one thing that might bump aoe said today was interesting he said quote the west lost its way in the afterglow of that proud moment what do you make of that do you think that the west has lost its way i think that the west has overreached and that it has it has had the belief set that under western and especially american hegemony most of the rest of the world would join the Democratic Peace and become a capitalist and democratic countries that certainly hasnt happened and therefore i think one has to have a much more constrained realist approach. To the world today. Part of that approach the world at least from the United States has been america 1st recently thats the motto from the president thats potentially leaving a void in this power balance is germany do you think preparing to step into that void are you seeing the country taking on perhaps more of a responsibility on the International Stage thats been the debate in this country for years germany is not only a late nation state in the 19th century its also late internationalist in understanding that the liberal International Order is to the benefit of germany and that he it has lived in peace and well with it and that it needs to invest more into it that its not enough to be part of the west it also has to produce the west we have seen some surprising steps recently weve seen the secretary defense here saying the proposing a safety zone thats patrolled internationally thats something you would have heard from germany in the past year and she has delivered a speech just 2 days ago in which she prepared presented a plan for a more robust and more more far reaching German Security policy and that will be a debate in this country what that means and what the goals of the show be and. It is an unusual step for a defense minister to take such a broad and bold view thomas kline a broke off Vice President of the German Marshall Fund of the United States thank you so much thank you. This weekend in germany is marking the most significant event that led to its reunification it was 30 years ago this weekend that the berlin wall fell as part of special coverage of the 30th anniversary well take a look now at one of the citys most Significant Locations the Brandenburg Gate on the 9th of november 1989 thousands of germans gathered right there on the western side of the wall you for crowds clambered. On top of the wall as you can see which until then had been completely off limits for decades. And our Political Correspondent simon young is at the Brandenburg Gate simon this is the site of festivities of course tonight and tomorrow but you know the berlin wall as we saw it once cut right through the area where youre standing so how did the Brandenburg Gate become a symbol of unity rather than one of division well call of course the Brandenburg Gate is one of the most iconic symbols of the german nation it was built by the prussians later it was misused by the nazis as a backdrop for their parades and marches and the east german communist regime closed it off because just on the other side of the Brandenburg Gate on the western side. Was the berlin wall for 28 years into where im standing was a complete no go zone you could come from here you couldnt cross from the east where i am to the west or the other way and that in that way it was a symbol of division but on the noise of the 9th of november 1909 of course people were able to come here and. Within a few hours of the unexpected announcement that people would be allowed to leave east germany they were dancing on the berkeley and wall just near here and you know of course as we say the rest is history people now of course come here to celebrate and just to tell each other the stories from that time look at some of the art installations of it here but to really get that feeling once again the 989 feeling of freedom. Well and we remember those emotional times in particular with some of the video that was that was broadcast back then in particular weve dugouts a lady who came down in the east german lady came down arguing with the is jim Border Guards and she she managed to to to get across lets hear what she said. Guarding the Brandenburg Gate the highest duty for Border Guards until november 9th. I cant take it anymore. And i just wanted for once in my life to go through the Brandenburg Gate to take a look around i just want some the other part of and. Ive never been over that and i. Have no fake on no grandmother no uncles like that do you understand that. I wanted to go through and come back with my head high like i love and yet still buy but if you keep going like this well never get there is that so hard to understand. That we have to push did. Shoot or deal with her as a person the Border Guards at the Brandenburg Gate seem to be waiting for orders only gradually did it become clear that it was all over. Simon quite the emotional look back there now 30 years later just walk us through whats planned the brain were gay this weekend. Yes on saturday evening the 9th of november thats the actual anniversary of the fall of the wall of course. Theyll be a big spectacular show here i think you can see the stage just on the other side of the gate behind me theyve been rehearsing the seating theyll be down youll barenboim with his orchestra and the d. J. West bam and no doubt many other acts the v. I. P. s will be here but lots of berliners lots of tourists all wanting to you know just celebrate that sense of freedom in the way the world has changed in 30 years simon young Political Correspondent he has that he gave for us tonight thank you very much. Well one of the darkest chapters in the history of former east germany is parents being forced to give up their youngsters for adoption because of regime consider them disloyal hundreds of such cases have been documented the reporter on your call met one woman who spent decades looking for her daughters. d when evers i mean its a few its despair she takes a walk in the forest during the past 35 years shes felt this way off. Those years i always had it in the back of my mind i have 2 children and how are they and whenever i saw people taking a walk with older children or a mother with her pram or playing with her child these things would trigger that feeling i mean who. Gave birth to 2 daughters in the former east germany in the 1980 s. But her joy was short lived if you use earlier she had tried to flee east germany but was caught and convicted reason enough for the Youth Welfare office to come to her house and take the children away. And in the 1st moment i stood there paralyzed then i ran out the door after them and yelled where you take you my daughter you give me back my child the officer turned around pointed a finger at me and said if you dont quite down now i will call the police and you will have to go to jail. They have given me 3 years probation so if i did anything i would go to prison i just stood there and asked myself whether i should protest or stay silent. And happy. Sasson of us another story. Something at sap initially gave up but after the garden wall came down she started gathering evidence in the 1990 s. She managed to connect with her older daughter but the years apart had created an estrangement too big to bridge and they broke off contact just one year ago her younger daughter suddenly made contact so be it saps was unable to cope. Its as if it were not the forgetting 1st phone card i will never forget that i think of the neighbors heard everything but i didnt care. I vamp and then on we talked on the phone every day and it kept growing from there then after more than 30 years of separation mother and daughter finally met. I. Have a history i thought my heart would burst. Before i couldnt handle the situation i was hugged and cuddles and i didnt know how to respond suddenly this person was standing there to what was related i think i only realized that part nature all of this action the latest theories did you immediately recognize whoa youre here again your childs. Biggest this. Now is have been its have can take walks in the forest with the youngest daughter and she has plans she will finally be able to need to her grandchildren and to make up for decades through lost time. Or if you wanted to send a letter to President Donald Trump there might be one sure fire way to get him to actually read it write your message on a wall thats in fact one group of germans doing sending an original piece of the berlin wall to the white house of course you cant put this letter in the mail it weighs nearly 3 tons so the wall sacrement was loaded onto a truck back in october beginning a long journey across the atlantic from berlin to washington but was painted with a message to trumpet recent parts quote for 20 years as wall separated east and west families and friends know wall lasts forever for decades the u. S. Played a major role in bringing this wall down. And one of the leaders of that project joins me now in studio philip who is a man the managing director of. The in english the open Society Initiative to talk about this unusual gift i guess youd say thanks for coming in what i want to know 1st of all is where exactly is this piece of wall right now i mean it is not going to be turning up in the mailbox at the white house right where it was the walls actually right now its in d. C. And we do a little test drive so were just passing the capital and theres actually already a lot of interest from people approaching us talking to us what is this what this is just a test run and so tomorrow we come back to washington d. C. And then are we going to deliver belongs to the white house to President Trump how exactly did you take this what nearly 3 ton piece of the wall how did you get it all the way from berlin and fortune we had to fly it in we wanted to ship it but there was no time that it was a very spontaneous idea so we took it to an airplane on an airplane flew to new york city it arrived yesterday in new york city and then we brought it with a truck or trailer to watching to see today i want to back up now as i can tell you where the idea came from for this project i mean the ideas that you want to do Something Else in an initiative a citizens in berlin for this big anniversary were celebrating 30 years where the wall came down and we wanted to have to really give a sign send a message to to the world pretty much because we believe in an open society and we think we have to defend it and we have to we have to really fight for an open society and we thought what what could be a good sign a good good project for that. So what exactly is the message youre trying to send here along with this wall i mean we heard a bit of whats written on there but whats the overall significance here i mean the overall significance is that if you want to have an open society you cannot afford to waltz its just a working democracy and waltzes doesnt go together and we know this from germany and the overall message is you the us the president s former president of the u. S. Helped us with overcoming walls tearing down this wall said Ronald Reagan in the eightys george bush helped us getting rid of the the wall and john f. Kennedy was in berlin saying its benign bellino showing solidarity with berlin sit ins ins so this is a long tradition and we want to remind president on this great tradition. Now of course the berlin wall as we know it was built to keep its own citizens in right in the end trumps a border wall is really meant to keep people out i mean so does your does the symbol really hold and i guess i mean youre absolutely right and we know that this is not 100 percent coherent but its really the general idea of walls like do walls fit into a democracy and there was say no you shouldnt have walls of course any bought us etc but that was dia to give a signal to show a sign a big sign and yeah but youre absolutely right it doesnt fit totally the comparison. How do you get this piece of the wall i mean its theres only a few bits left in berlin a lot of it was was cleared away pretty much immediately where do you find now these days a piece of the berlin wall it will be a surprise because its quite simple you just have to google it and we find an online store dealer and berlin who is selling pieces off the wall mostly smaller pieces but he had this big chunk of the berlin wall so we could just buy it from him how much it cost actually i dont really know and so the whole cost was transportation etc its like in the last 5 range digits so. I dont know exactly whats what the cost was of the wall piece now some might argue if your message is that the balls are not compatible with democracy you could have sent this piece of the berlin wall. Much shorter distance you could have sent it somewhere in the e. U. You could send it to hungary there are a lot of walls going up right in germanys own backyard you know there are 2 messages and thats and i want to emphasize the positive message in this present in this letter because 1st of all we want to send a big thank you to the u. S. By what i just explained like the long history of u. S. President s helping us to overcome the wall so it has this double meaning and quite frankly we dont have enough money to send to send walls to all. Lets say regimes or Political Parties may be. Enhancing the open society right now now this wall is in the u. S. How do you hope if this makes it to the white house i mean maybe a tall order how do you hope the president might respond i mean hopefully hell receive the letter and the president i would be great that would be a great sign also from the sides and a great. Son so hopefully he will accept that thats a hope do you think you have a chance of changing his mind when it comes to walls of course hes been campaigning on building a wall right there on the border with mexico no i dont think he will change and thats not the goal of this project to make this clear its a symbol and its also fun of course but also we want to we want to like communicate to the to the of the u. S. To u. S. Citizens not only to donald trump it is also like a present we we give to the people in us and maybe ideally this this piece of wall if its not accepted we want to give it to someone else in the u. S. Maybe make a competition out of it what relationship do you think berliners and germans overall have with the wall these days now 30 years after it came down. I would say like. A very. Pragmatic i would say and like we really try to celebrate this and of course theres life still some some a division between east and west so you can feel that but i also sense that especially today and tomorrow on the big Celebration Day people really come to believe and go to bundaberg aid and celebrate that we are unified and the message youd hope to send to trump if hes watching right now i mean i mean i hope. Youll accept our presence in the you read the letter and give us an answer maybe you want to treat about it that would really nice all right thank you very much philip who is a man with the open Society Initiative thank you. Thats all for the day the conversation continues online mostly about. Going. To the point of strong opinions from their positions International Perspectives its 30 years since the fall of the bowling balls germany is celebrating but the mood is changed with dismay many in eastern germany say theyve been left behind and feel like 2nd class citizens so whats going wrong find out going to the point. In 90 minutes on the w. To Sustainable Way the scope of the boss. Starts nov 14th on t. W. The be the go to the girl max chance. Good mine of stupids. With exclusive insights. Into must see concerning parts as cold turkey in europe. Place to be for curious minds. Do it yourself networkers look. So for subscribers dont miss out. He wanted to smash the berlin wall long before it finally found. A lazy also issued in new york state you know linda but hes actually better known as a legend of german rock music. Lets find. Is amazing my list it live. On its 21. 00. This week on t. W. Place. After the fall of the berlin november night p. W. Play. Play. This is deja vu news live from Berlin Germany marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall we go to the citys most symbolic landmark to Brandenburg Gate its the center of this weeks celebrations a giant installation carrying the hopes and dreams of 30000. 00 berliners written on tall earth rhythms also coming up americas top diplomat says nato must evolve or risk becoming obsolete mike failed met with the german chancellor during his. Commemoration of meat