A division that was created in fire and incredible human suffering was closed this week with a champagne toast and a visible display of friendship. Germany, ripped apart following its self-destruction in World War II, became one again Wednesday with the consent of the allied nations that ended Adolf Hitler’s reign of terror.

German reunification, which U.S. Secretary of State James Baker III declared a “rendezvous with history” and the “end of a 45-year journey,” is not an end but a beginning for both the new Germany and modern Europe.

The reuniting of East and West is cause for celebration in Berlin, but for the cities of Warsaw, Prague, Paris and Moscow, half a century has not erased the physical and emotional scars of blitzkrieg and occupation. Looking to the future from these capitals, with the continent in political disarray, the prospect of dealing with a German economic colossus is intimidating, even frightening.

This was the appropriate time for German reunification. Given the disintegration of the Soviet Empire, the momentum for one Germany was inevitable. With the wall coming down, there was no reason and no force to keep East and West Germany apart.

Germany and Europe now share a common challenge, and that is to prove unfounded the fears attending reunification. This can be accomplished by aggressively encouraging the development of a European Germany and by deliberately avoiding the evolution of a German Europe.