German Unity Day

This day is celebrated every year on 3 October. Many businesses and shops are closed, and children enjoy a day off school. A large official ceremony is held in the capital of one of the federal states, attended by important figures from across the country. German Unity Day commemorates 3 October 1990. Until then, there were two states in our country. The western part was the Federal Republic of Germany, with its capital in Bonn. In the east was the German Democratic Republic (GDR), whose capital was East Berlin. The division of the country was a result of the Second World War, which Hitler started and which ended in 1945 with Germany’s total collapse. Many large cities and industrial facilities had been completely destroyed. Germany lost the territories east of the Oder and Neisse rivers. Twelve million people had to leave their homes in Silesia and East Prussia and find new places to live and work. The rest of Germany, along with its old capital, Berlin, was initially divided into four sectors. These sectors were administered by American, British, French and Soviet soldiers. The three Western powers formed the Federal Republic from their sectors, while the Soviet Union established the GDR. The two German states did not have a good relationship. The GDR saw itself as a socialist state of workers and farmers, governed above all by the Socialist Unity Party (SED). The Federal Republic considered itself a free country where individual rights and the right to own property took precedence. Because many people were leaving the GDR for the Federal Republic, the SED leadership decided to build heavily guarded border installations. West Berlin was surrounded by a wall. From the Federal Republic, the city could only be reached by plane or via one of three motorways. Trains travelling from West Germany to Berlin did not stop in the GDR. In autumn 1989, more and more people in the GDR protested against the lack of freedom, the SED’s domination and surveillance by the State Security authorities (Stasi). Their peaceful revolution eventually led to the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and the border installations. The leading politicians in both states ultimately managed to reunite the GDR and the Federal Republic as one country. This reunification took place on 3 October 1990. Since then, our country has been called the Federal Republic of Germany. Five new federal states were created in the former GDR: Saxony, Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. West and East Berlin also became one city again, and it was once more designated the capital of the whole country.