October 3 - Day of German Unity
The Day of German Unity, Germany’s national holiday, marks the day in 1990 on which the German Democratic Republic (East) acceded to the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2009, Germany is also celebrating two significant anniversaries, the 60th anniversary of the Basic Law and the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. More than remembering the wall, fences and armed guards that separated East from West during the Cold War, the Day of German Unity is a time to celebrate the peaceful unification and a time to renew the commitment to using freedom to help shape our world.
"The freedom which we Germans gained with the Basic Law and the fall of the Berlin Wall is precious," Federal President Köhler states in his message on the Day of German Unity. "We want to use it as part of the international community to help shape our one world and to solve its problems."
Federal President's Message
Following the peaceful overthrow of the East German regime in 1989, in the summer of 1990 negotiations about the reunification treaty commenced in Berlin. Eventually, on October 3, 1990, East Germany acceded to the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Reunification
On the afternoon of October 3, 1990, after a night of joyous celebrating united Germany, Chancellor Helmut Kohl received a phone call from his friend and fellow statesman President George H. W. Bush in Washington.
Kohl Bush
On the occasion of the anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall we asked our readers, "where were you when the wall came down?" Read what Germany.info readers told us about their personal and moving memories of that historic event.
Wall Stories 2006