The traditional celebration of 4th of July – the U.S. American Independence Day– provided a very unique platform for the opening of the new U.S. Embassy building in Berlin on Pariser Platz. For two days the “Berliners” and American citizens living and working in the city used this opportunity to commemorate the past decades of a very special friendship. Former President H. W. Bush joined Ambassador William R. Timken, Jr. and Sue Timken in a festive ceremony in the afternoon of July 4th for the ceremonial ribbon cutting. They then spoke together with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to thousands of visitors and distinguished guests from a podium that was flanked by a group of Airlift veterans, as a tribute to the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift. The ceremony and reception on Pariser Platz culminated in a fantastic firework illuminating the sky over the Brandenburg Gate and the new Embassy building only a few hundred feet away.

The two days of celebration had started Friday morning with a conference staged by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) focusing on economic and strategic aspects of the transatlantic partnership, and a reception held by the American Academy in the evening of July 3rd with special guests Henry A. Kissinger and Georg H. W. Bush. Saturday July 5th was entirely dedicated to a day-long festival on Pariser Platz and along the “Straße des 17. Juni” with a multitude of exhibitors offering special food, drinks and entertainment for the public – a truly enjoyable event for all Berliners and visitors.