Event Calendar

*** HOLIDAY ***
Tag der Deutschen Einheit
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German Unity Day / Tag der Deutschen Einheit is the German national holiday, celebrated annually on the 3rd of October as a public holiday.

It commemorates German reunification in 1990 when the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) joined the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), so that for the first time since 1945 there existed a single German state. German Unity Day on October 3 has been the German National Holiday since 1990, when the reunification was formally completed.

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Did you know:

The motive for setting the date of 3 October as the possible Day of Unity was decided by the Volkskammer, the East German parliament, on the impending economic and political collapse of the GDR. The Helsinki Conference was set for 2 October, at which the foreign ministers would be informed of the results of the Two-plus-Four talks.

At the beginning of July, the governments of both German states decided on the schedule: State elections in the GDR would be held on 14 October, and a Bundestag election for the entire country on 2 December.

The decision on the date was finally made on 22 August by the GDR's Minister-President, Lothar de Maizière, at a special session of the Volkskammer, which began at 9 p.m. After a heated debate, the President of the Volkskammer, Sabine Bergmann-Pohl, announced the results at 2:30 a.m. on 23 August:

The Volkskammer decides on the accession of the GDR to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany according to Article 23 of the Basic Laws effective as of 3 October 1990. In the matter Nr. 201 there have been 363 votes. There were no invalid votes. 294 deputies have voted 'yes.' (Strong applause from CDU/DA, DSU, FDP, partly SPD and the deputies standing up in their seats.) 62 deputies have voted 'no', and 7 people abstained. This is a historic event. Ladies and Gentlemen, I believe that we have not made an easy decision, but today we have acted within our responsibilities of the voting rights of the citizens of the GDR. I thank everybody that this result was made possible by a consensus across party lines."

Gregor Gysi, Chairman of the SED-PDS, was visibly moved and made a personal statement: "Madame President! The Parliament has no more and no less decided on the downfall of the German Democratic Republic as of 3 October 1990".