On October 3, 1990, the Unification of Germany was officially signed. The process that led to the unification of “ the two Germanys” - the western FRG and the eastern GDR, however, it starts earlier.
Nearly four decades Germany was divided when, in June 1987, during a visit to walled West Berlin, then US President Ronald Reagan called: "Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!". This reminds me of "Deutsche Vele".
This message caused more excitement than hope that it could be heard. Although democratization and political opening had begun in most East Bloc countries neighboring the GDR at the time, East German leader Erich Honecker refused to follow Gorbachev's perestroika. In January 1989, he even threatened: "The wall will remain in 50 and 100 years, if the reasons for its existence are not removed."
Events rain one after another
In 1989, only three percent of West Germans believed they would live to see reunification. Just then, however, a wave of emigration and mass street demonstrations put the GDR state leadership under pressure. In early November, it was forced to adopt a regulation on limited freedom of travel. On the evening of November 9, 1989, Politburo member Günter Schabowski announced the decision to immediately open the borders, which was, however, misinterpreted: "We have decided to adopt a provision that allows every citizen of the GDR to freely cross the state borders and leave the country." ;
That same night, huge crowds of people stormed the Berlin Wall and without a single shot the GDR border regime collapsed. The fall of the wall represented a triumph for the people of the street protests in Leipzig, Berlin and Dresden, influenced by the successes of the Polish Solidarity movement, Hungarian reformers and, last but not least, Gorbachev's reforms. The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German Unification. Without the wall, the socialist state falls apart, and calls for a sovereign and democratic GDR are swept away by the people's strong desire for unification: "We are one people..."
In the first free elections for the people's house in the GDR, the Alliance for Germany, led by the East German CDU, which declares itself to join the Federal Republic quickly.
Helmut Kohl saw the star hour long ago
In the West, with the support of all factions in the Bundestag, Chancellor Kohl's Christian Democrat government is conducting feverish negotiations with the new East German government and, in parallel, with the countries that won World War II. The restoration of German unity is being prepared. Helmut Kohl:
"We Germans have learned from history. We are a people who love peace and freedom. And we will never again leave democracy completely defenseless in the hands of the enemies of peace and freedom."
In the summer of 1990, the West German mark was introduced as legal tender in the GDR, and in August the People's Chamber decided to join the Federal Republic. A little later, the Unification Treaty was signed, and on the night of October 3, 1990, all of Germany celebrated its Unification.