Something to Remind Me (Germany)
Moscow, 12 September 1990
Germany couldn't keep his hands from shaking. He could hardly believe this was real; that Russia, America, England, and France would actually renounce all rights they still held in his place after they had occupied it in the aftermath of World War II.
At first, Russia had hesitated; then, England and France had feared he would become too strong and pose a threat for them once more. America had been the only one who had supported him all the time during the negotiations.
Germany didn't think about strength. All he wanted was being free—being with his brother again. He sneaked a glance at Gilbert, who signed the final settlement resolutely in his neat handwriting. Germany so hoped they would be reunited.
Then, it was his turn to take the pen. He was the final person to sign the treaty, and he had to make a conscious effort to keep his handwriting legible.
In the brief moment in which no one looked, he caused the pen vanish into his sleeve. Was it so wrong to want at least this as a concrete reminder of the moment on which he built all his hopes?
Notes
Hans-Dietrich Genscher (1927-2016), who was German foreign minister in 1990, once admitted in a TV documentary that he nicked the pen with which the Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany (the so-called "Two Plus Four Agreement") was signed. In this treaty, the U.S., the U.K., the Soviet Union and France gave Germany full sovereignty and paved the way for Germany's reunification.
Genscher will probably remain forever the man on the balcony of the Embassy of Germany in Prague on 30 September 1989, who told the East German refugees on the premises that their departure… was granted, probably. But no one ever heard the rest of his sentence because it was drowned in cheers.
He died yesterday (31 March 2016).