Happy Birthday to Me

Happy Birthday

I was born on September 21, 1983 in the city of Landstuhl in Germany. Most people who think of Germany concentrate on the sad historical events of the 1930s and 1940s. The subsequent decades were all influenced by those events. In 1983, Germany was still separated by the Berlin Wall. Landstuhl was in West Germany. The division of the country, which ended in 1989, had a pronounced effect on me as will any child who grows up in a politically turbulent atmosphere. Besides the continued division of West and East Germany, there were individual events that affected the culture in which I was born. 1983 was an important year from Germany both for its citizens and for the nation's position as a potential world power. Internationally, Germany made an important endeavor to regain political power by finalizing the Solemn Declaration of the European Union. The political atmosphere was altered by the 10th German federal election which was held in March of 1983. Within the nation, the citizens experienced several incidences of violent crime. One such incident was a horrible school shooting that occurred in Eppstein-Vockehnhausen, Germany in June of 1983. These three events each effected the political and sociological culture of Germany when I was growing up, extending even to my relatively small hometown of Landstuhl.

The Solemn Declaration of the European Union was a document signed by ten heads of state and government on the 19th of June in 1983 in Stuttgart, Germany. Two years earlier, a proposal had been launched to further integrate and unify the European nations by creating a single overseeing body which would have representatives from all participating European countries (European 1983). The purpose of the European Union was to ensure financial and political sustainability throughout the continent. It was also designed to mediate political discrepancies and to aid ally nations in times of economic or other forms of crises. This document laid the foundation for what is now the European Union, in which most of the countries of Europe belong. The document was based upon important historical treaties like the Treaties of Paris and Rome. The idea was to take all the best ideas of the aforementioned documents and create a system where the freedoms and civil rights of all European citizens would be better protected by this larger ruling body. Now the majority of Europe belongs to the European Union; even forgoing most individual countries monetary forms to adopt the Euro which is accepted currency in Union countries. Germany, once at war with the world at large, was now creating documentation and pledges to unify the world. The culture I grew up in was atoning for past wrongs and trying to create a united front against the people who would turn the world into a graveyard.

Within Germany itself, the entire country was in a political upheaval because of an important election. The election, the 10th German federal election was held to determine who would become members of the Bundestag which is the equivalent of Congress or Parliament (Der 2011). The preceding October, Helmut Kohl was elected as Chancellor and the results of the Bundestag election would determine how much support he had from other members of the government. One of the major questions of the election was over the armament issue and the NATO Double-Track Decision. After the election, several independent parties were able to gain seats in the Bundestag. This was a first for the modern German government which had primarily been a two-party electoral system. Although still in the minority, these alternative parties allowed new ideas to be introduced to the government's attention.

One of the most horrific tragedies of the last thirty years was the Epstein school shooting that was perpetrated on June 3, 1983. In Eppstein-Vockenhausen, Germany, a 34-year-old Czech refugee named Karel Charva went to a school and murdered five people and injured several others. Three of the dead were students, one was a teacher, and one was a police officer. Fourteen other people were injured as well (Around 1983). An additional thirty to sixty students had to be hospitalized because they had gone into a state of shock after witnessing the harrowing events. After the shooting, Charva committed suicide. It was ascertained later that the man had driven around for quite some time looking for an open school as many were closed for a holiday on June 3rd. Therefore, there was no particular reason to target this particular school for his violent actions. This situation was the second such school shooting in Germany and reinforced the dangers of the world to German parents.