The most important public holiday

Germany celebrates the reunification of East and West on 3 October.

On 29 September 1990, the decision made by the then People’s Parliament of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) came into force, bringing the GDR into the territory governed by the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany. A week later, East Germany was officially part of the Federal Republic of Germany. Ever since then, 3 October has been marked as Day of German Unity.

Less than a year from the Fall of the Berlin Wall until Reunification

The Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989, ending its 28-year division of East and West Berlin. The opening of the border followed months of protests by citizens of the GDR, a period which has gone down in history as the peaceful revolution. The Fall of the Berlin Wall cleared the way towards German unity just under a year later.

Hamburg hosts the official celebrations for Day of German Unity 2023.

Each year a different city and federal state are handed the task of coming up with a new way of celebrating the Day of German Unity. Hamburg is organising the 33rd anniversary celebrations. Hamburg is a city state and one of Germany’s 16 federal states. The unity celebrations in Hamburg are taking place under the banner of “Opening Horizons”.

East Germany: full of attractive economic areas

The past three decades have seen a considerable increase in East Germany’s economic power. Many global businesses already now have manufacturing operations there or are investing in new sites. These include the carmaker Tesla in Grünheide in Brandenburg, the US chip manufacturer Intel in Magdeburg, and the Taiwanese semiconductor giant TSMC in Dresden. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz summed up the developments of recent years by saying, “In many regards, the East of Germany is now one of the country’s most attractive regions economically.”

Future Centre looks towards transformation processes in East Germany

Plans are in place to create a Future Centre for German Unity and European Transformation in the East German city of Halle an der Saale by 2028. It is aimed at putting the spotlight on East Germany’s economic transformation and drawing attention to the experiences and achievements of the people living in the region. At the same time, the Centre will look forward, too, making what the Federal Government believes will be “a major contribution to strengthening democracy and the cohesion of Germany and Europe.”