Germany reunified after the Cold War
On this day · 3 October 1990
At the stroke of midnight on October 3, 1990, East Germany dissolved into the Federal Republic, ending 45 years of division.
On October 3, 1990, the German Democratic Republic ceased to exist and its states joined the Federal Republic of Germany, restoring a single German state for the first time since 1945. The moment came less than a year after the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989.
Unity was engineered through diplomacy as much as celebration. The Two Plus Four Agreement, signed on September 12, 1990, by the two Germanys and the four wartime Allies—the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union—cleared the way by settling the question of sovereignty. A separate Unification Treaty then set October 3 as the effective date.
At midnight, the black-red-gold flag was raised over the Brandenburg Gate before a crowd Chancellor Helmut Kohl described as a million strong, gathered where the Wall had stood. East and West Berlin merged into one city.
For many observers, German reunification marked the practical end of the Cold War.
October 3 has been the national holiday, the Day of German Unity, ever since.
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