On November 9, the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Mikhail Gorbachev was proclaimed "Man of the Century". The Berlin-based Cinema for Peace foundation organized a "Heroes" gala in the ballroom of the Hotel Adlon where the 83 year old winner of the Nobel Peace Prize was celebrated with eulogies and repeated standing ovations. Among the invited guests, mostly politicians and artists, was a representative of the HFPA who congratulated the honoree on behalf of the journalists. In his opening statement Cinema for Peace founder Jaka Bizilj answered the question: What has cinema to do with politics? "After watching the disaster movie 28 Days After (US President) Ronald Reagan stated the film made him see the nuclear armament in a new light. And Mikhail Gorbachev famously spoke about how deeply impressed he was by movies and news reels showing the liberation movements within the GDR. Moving pictures clearly helped change world history. “ Former Foreign Minister of France, Roland Dumas, called "my friend Mikhail’s cool head" as the reason for a "revolution in which not a single shot was fired". The former Prime Minister of Hungary, Miklos Nemeth, praised the negotiating skills of the ex-Kremlin chief. Golden Globe nominee Adrien Brody, who had traveled to Berlin with his father, Elliot Brody, thanked President Gorbachev on behalf of all people benefiting from the wisdom of political leaders such as the guest of honor. Klaus Meine, lead singer of the German heavy metal band Scorpions, sang "Wind of Change", the hit song that became an unofficial anthem of the reunification of Germany. The evening was moderated by US journalist Jim Clancy (CNN). Honored as "silent" heroes were Stanislaw Petrov, who saved mankind from a nuclear war: A false alarm showed US nuclear missiles approaching the Soviet Union. Petrov defied his command by not pressing the red button to activate a nuclear retaliation. Also honored: Harald Jäger, the East German police officer who independently opened the wall and the Hungarian Patrol Officer Arpad Bella, who allowed the first hundreds of East Germans to escape through the Iron Curtain. In his acceptance speech, Gorbachev warned against a reoccurance of the Cold War: "A true peace in Europe is not possible without a solid trust between the European nations—- and that includes Russia.“

Elmar Biebl