Future Center “German Unity”: “More needed than ever”

In Frankfurt (Oder) the disappointment is great, Saxony-Anhalt is happy: The future center “German Unity”, worth millions, is to be built in Halle on the recommendation of a jury.

There was great joy in Halle: The planned “Future Center for German Unity and European Transformation” is to be located in the city on the Saale. The incumbent SPD mayor, Egbert Geier, announced that the center should become a “living place in a city in the heart of Germany and Europe”. 30 years after reunification, it is “needed more than ever”. Saxony-Anhalt’s CDU Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff said Halle was the ideal location for the center. The scientific and cultural environment of the city meets the “highest standards”.

On Tuesday evening, after hours of deliberation, a jury set up by the federal government had agreed on the city in Saxony-Anhalt. The jury chair and SPD member of the Bundestag Katrin Budde shared the recommendation, which the federal cabinet now has to confirm. The decision is considered a formality, a press conference is already scheduled for Wednesday. Halle prevailed against competition from Eisenach, Jena, Leipzig and Frankfurt (Oder).

200 million euros planned for new construction

The future center is to become a social contact point for all of Germany and Europe. The Federal Government Commissioner for Eastern Europe, Carsten Schneider (SPD), calls it one of “the most important projects for strengthening German unity and cohesion in Europe in the coming years”. Around 200 million euros are available for the new building following an architectural competition. Every year, the federal government wants to give another 40 million for the operation. The latter is scheduled to begin in 2028.

In its application, Halle presented itself as a city of science and culture. In addition to good ICE and motorway connections and Leipzig-Halle Airport, a larger building plot can also be offered in the immediate vicinity of the city center. The hometown of former German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher was also a center of the GDR civil rights movement.

Disappointment in Frankfurt

The mayor of Frankfurt (Oder), the leftist René Wilke, spoke of an “undeserved defeat” on Tuesday evening. Nevertheless, Wilke congratulated Halle on the election and saw the Frankfurt city society strengthened by the application. According to reports, the decision ultimately fell between Halle and Frankfurt. The city on the Oder has long been considered the favorite for the bid, mainly because of its proximity to Poland and the early support of the state of Brandenburg as well as Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

In the end, the non-central location also spoke against Frankfurt. The “Zeit” also reported in advance about concerns that the future staff of the center should commute mainly from nearby Berlin.

Applicants also from Saxony and Thuringia

In Leipzig, too, as the city of the Peaceful Revolution of 1989, people saw themselves as predestined for the election. However, the competition did not provide for a branch office to be set up in the competitor city of Plauen. In the booming metropolis, the impact of the center on the city would possibly be less than elsewhere, it was said before the jury meeting.

Eisenach applied with the site of the former state-owned automobile factory, where the GDR cars of the “Wartburg” brand were produced until 1991. What has happened since then the city sold as a transformational experience. Unlike Jena, which advertised itself as a university town, Eisenach did not have the support of the Thuringian state government.

Thuringia’s prime minister, the Left Bodo Ramelow, was disappointed that Jena and Eisenach were left behind. With the decision for Halle, however, “the Halle-Jena-Leipzig metropolitan region will be further strengthened,” said Ramelow to the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland”. The Leipzig member of the Bundestag Paula Piechotta from the Greens made a similar statement.