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| Angelika/Mike Schilli |
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Angelika The currency union comes into effect: In Germany and other EU countries, people will now be paying in euros. In February, the American Senate acquits US President Bill Clinton of the charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in the Monica Lewinsky affair. In April, the Bundestag holds its opening session in the renovated Reichstag in Berlin. Two teenagers from Columbine High School in Littleton near Denver enter their school with guns and kill 12 students and a teacher. In the summer, Steffi Graf retires from professional tennis. Germany is once again governed from Berlin, 10 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The autumn brings Günter Grass the Nobel Prize for Literature. The year 1999 ends, and the feared Y2K computer problem does not occur. Angelika completes earthquake training. We buy our car, "Perlman." Michael runs for the first time the "Bay-to-Breakers" city race. Angelika starts working as an assistant in the darkroom at UC Berkeley Extension.
At the beginning of the year, the CDU donation scandal involving Helmut Kohl and their hidden accounts is in full swing. In February, "Snoopy" and "Peanuts" creator Charles M. Schulz dies in California. American researchers completely decode the human genome. In May, the World Expo "Man-Nature-Technology - a new world is emerging" opens its doors in Hanover. In the summer, agreements for the compensation of Nazi forced laborers are signed. Germany introduces a new work visa, called Green Card. November brings the world an unprecedented US election thriller. Only after more than a month and some legal wrangling over which votes can be counted, when, how, and how often, is the new American president determined: George W. Bush defeats Democrat Al Gore. Meanwhile, Friedrich Merz debates the German leading culture. The first cow tests positive for BSE on German soil. Our visa needs to be extended.
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