Today’s DOTD - Drink Of The Day - is a German Vacation cocktail, inspired by the reunification of Germany, which became official on this day in 1990!
After the mass crossings through the Berlin Wall in 1989, East Germany held its first free elections on March18, 1990. Negotiations then took place between communist East Germany AKA the German Democratic Republic (GDR), and democratic West Germany AKA the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). The negotiations were relatively brief, and culminated in a Unification Treaty, which on this day in 1990, became the official unification of Germany.
The story of the separation of Germany begins with the end of World War II. The Allies, Britain, France, the U.S., and the Soviet Union, divided Germany into four occupation zones, with the city of Berlin also being divided into four zones. But the three Western nations & the Soviet Union had distinctly different ideas about how to rebuild Germany - which led to the Berlin Wall, the physical manifestation of what Winston Churchill had dubbed “the Iron Curtain.”
Construction of the Berlin Wall began on August 13, 1961, and although ideological reasons were given, in practice, the wall was built to prevent a mass exodus from East to West, as East Germans became desperate to escape the communist regime and its failing economy for the more prosperous, less corrupt capitalist system of West Germany. For of 30 years, East German police had shoot-to-kill orders to prevent anyone from escaping.
On November 9, 1989, as the Cold War began to thaw across Eastern Europe, an East German Communist Party spokesman announced a series of new policies regarding border crossings. When pressed on when the changes would take place, he said “As far as I know... effective immediately, without delay.” East Berliners flocked to border checkpoints, some chanting “Tor auf!” (“Open the gate!”). No one in authority was prepared to issue the order to open fire on the crowds, so within hours, the guards allowed the crowds through, leading to the historic dismantling & fall of the Berlin Wall - and that led to the reunification of Germany.
Ingredients
Here’s what you’re going to need for this drink:
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