We mourn the loss of a great statesman and a friend of Germany. It is due in no small part to his efforts that our country was reunited. In 1989, at a watershed moment when the blocs were tested and their decades-long confrontation began to crumble, he bravely seized the opportunity to end the Cold War. He, too, is an architect of German unity. He supported it without reservation from the very beginning – and that we shall never forget. George H.W. Bush stands out among United States presidents in that he was called upon to guide his country during a period of historic transformation.