2022-09-26 09:44:15
Every year on October 3rd, German Unity Day is celebrated in Germany. But what exactly is being celebrated? And is this a public holiday?
Read everything about the background and meaning of October 3rd here.
What is celebrated on October 3rd?
The accession of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1990 is celebrated. So the “reunification” of the previously divided Germany.
Four days before its 41st founding day, the GDR ceased to exist as a sovereign state and was absorbed into the Federal Republic.
The division of Germany since the end of the Second World War in 1945, with the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR in 1949, the construction of the Wall on August 13, 1961 and the fall of the Wall on November 9, 1989, has also been history since then.
Why is October 3rd German Unity Day?
The contract for this historic change took effect on October 3rd.
Hundreds of thousands celebrated reunification in Berlin from October 2nd to 3rd, 1990. Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker vowed at the time: “We want to complete the unity of Germany through free self-determination.”
At the celebration in Berlin on October 3, 1990, the following waved from the steps of the Reichstag building: v. li. Federal Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher (FDP), Hannelore Kohl, Chancellor Helmut Kohl (CDU) and Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker, next to him, half-hidden, Lothar de Maiziere, the last GDR Prime Minister
Photo: dpa
Is October 3rd a public holiday?
German Unity Day is a national holiday. Means: It applies to all of Germany.
Shops, schools and offices closed in Germany on October 3rd.
What was celebrated on German Unity Day until 1990?
Before 1990, German Unity Day only existed in West Germany. It was written with a small “d” and celebrated on June 17th.
The holiday commemorated the bloodily suppressed workers’ uprising in the GDR on June 17, 1953.
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