Wadephul to Deliver UN Speech from Inside a Replica of the Bundestag, Rebuilt in Central Park by German Army Engineers

German Foreign Minister Wadephul will address the UN General Assembly on Tuesday from inside a full-scale replica of the Bundestag plenary chamber that German army engineers have spent eleven days constructing in Central Park, complete with the eagle, the oak doors and a working bell system that has already been tested at three in the morning.

The replica, which seats every member of the German diplomatic corps, has been declared a permanent outpost of the Foreign Ministry. Diplomats have been ordered to occupy their assigned seats for the entire duration of the speech, and a rotating shift of junior staff will remain seated around the clock so that the chamber is never empty, even when the minister is asleep.

«We felt the General Assembly deserved to hear the speech from a room that understands us,» a ministry spokesperson said. «The park was available. The engineers were available. The seats were not.»

New York authorities have rerouted traffic around the park's east side, where a temporary flagpole has been raised to fly the German flag at the exact height of the UN headquarters flag. A queue of diplomats waiting to enter the replica now stretches past the zoo, and the ministry has printed a timetable instructing each delegation when to applaud, when to stand and when to look thoughtfully at the ceiling.

Wadephul is expected to deliver the same speech he would have given inside the UN building, but louder, because the replica has no roof.

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