That was an outstanding program. Completely devoid of liberal vs. conservative politics. An objective account from eyewitnesses, telling their stories, without spin.

Too bad that this is now so rare: Old fashioned, objective reporting. Kudos.

Just goes to show that once in a while, truth and good storytelling triumphed all else.
 

Kudos on a wonderful program.

Many are not aware that one of the reasons Helmut Kohl was so confident he could move quickly toward reunification (before the rest of the world got cold feet and threw roadblocks at him) was that the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) had had for many years a government office whose sole mission it was to plan for reunification if the opportunity ever presented itself. Years ahead of time this office had developed contingency plans that identified the key challenges and offered blueprints for the process, and they worked constantly to update those plans. There literally were rooms full of shelves full of binders of planning documents outlining what they thought it would involve.

I know this because in 1985 I attended a briefing explaining the work of this office, delivered by its chief, who repeatedly interjected that none of them believed it was likely to actually happen in the foreseeable future. Of course, nothing ever goes quite according to plan, but I must believe that rapid reunification could never have happened without that kind of advance thinking, and perhaps would not have been attempted. I also believe that if not done so rapidly, reunification might never have happened at all, which I have always believed was part of Kohl's motivation for rapid action.

I have been surprised over the years to see no mention of the role of this contingency planning in any historical coverage of the reunification of Germany.

Again, thank you for a wonderful production. Great television!