July 4, 2004: On the 50th anniversary of Germany's 3-2 victory over Hungary to win the World Cup soccer championship on July 4, 1954, the "Deutschlandfunk", Germany's national domestic radio station, broadcast the audio of the original game with its commentary by legendary sport reporter Herbert Zimmermann. The program began at exactly the same time as the original broadcast – 4:53 p.m.

"It was a game, but it was more than just a game," remarked outgoing German federal President Johannes Rau in mid-June 2004 at a commemorative friendship game between the German and Hungarian national teams. "The miracle of Bern" (the game was played in Bern, Switzerland) is still considered to be the greatest sporting event in German history. Prior to the final the Hungarian team had not lost a game in more than 4 years. In the preliminary round of the tournament they had already defeated the Germans 8-3, and no one thought the Germans had any chance of winning the championship.

Germany's surprise victory gave the German people what is considered today to be an incredible boost in their self-confidence. One of Herbert Zimmermann's fellow broadcasters remarked later that the victory allowed the Germans "to walk upright once again." Today's president of Germany's national soccer federation, Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder, commented on the effect the victory had on Germany's international standing: "It felt like we had been accepted back into the community of nations. It felt like we were being treated with respect again, and that felt good."

According to political scientist Arthur Heinrich and historian Joachim C. Fest, the real starting point for the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) was the 1954 World Cup victory, which gave the Germans a sense of national identity again. The "miracle of Bern" provided an emotional and psychological counterpart to the German post-war "Wirtschaftswunder" [economic miracle].

The defeat was not without consequences for the defeated Hungarians, either. Communist authorities questioned players about the loss. Torture was even threatened as some players were accused of having collaborated with opponents of the Hungarian government. Relatives of team members lost their jobs. Some even see the seeds of the 1956 revolt against the Communist regime being sown in a climate of dissatisfaction over Hungary's loss to Germany in the 1954 World Cup final game.

In recent months a movie titled "The miracle of Bern" and a book by the same name have been part of nostalgic reminiscing over the positive effect that Germany's 1954 World Cup victory had on the country. Some wonder whether the German people aren't in fact longing for another miracle of the same sort to boost self-confidence in a time of continued high unemployment and ongoing economic malaise.