No. 114/2022

immigration. As a foreigner one felt signalled out. Now we found a country that is not only open but also welcomes and benefits from diversity. Diversity abounds, and at least in what we could perceive, mostly nobody minds. I guess the strengthening of the European Community has been crucial for this change. But also, your supporting actions for people in need from countries at war, though surely difficult in its implementation, must be highly recognized. In 1993, the Berlin Wall was mostly intact, as was also the imaginary line that divided the country in two. Contrasting cities and the expression in people’s faces reflected this rift. Now I felt that the Germans have been able to deal with the immense challenge of reunification in quite an amazing way. Divisions have now clearly dimmed. The first woman German Chancellor in fact grew up in the East! Countries dissolve, fractions multiply, societies divide into extremes, and in that landscape, you seem to have been able to confront the differences, somehow to unify. Another change we observed was in the way Germans perceive children. This has to do with the improved place of women in German society. In the 1990s, kindergartens were scarce; we were told that women interrupted their profession to bring up their kids. Babies were not welcomed in bars or restaurants, while dogs were. Now that simply does not seem to be the case. Change can be seen around the critical issue of climate change and our planet’s sustainability, which are now widely present in many ways, from the increase in “Bio” shops, the weekly farmers’ markets, the Fridays for Future gatherings at the Brandenburger Tor. We saw the changes walking the streets (that seem to change from one year to the next, too). This time it was during the Covid pandemic, but I should say that it did not cause so much of a problem. Germans are very practical and thus one could keep on living almost normally. As compared to Argentina, I found rules in some respects were less strict, but the crucial difference is that Germans comply with them. I know that nothing is perfect! But the changes we perceived bring hope for the future, despite the appalling 2021 1994 CHILDREN The way Germans perceive children has changed in the last 25 years. In the 1990s, posters encouraged parents to spend time with them. 32 HUMBOLDT KOSMOS 114/2022 FOCUS ON GERMANY