On 3 October, Germany marks the 36th anniversary of its reunification. In 1990, the German Democratic Republic acceded to the Federal Republic, ending a 41-year division and restoring Berlin as the capital of a united country. The day is a national holiday, but it also prompts reflection on how far the country has come—and how far it still has to go.
In Brandenburg, the state's Christian Democratic Union leader, Steeven Bretz, paid tribute to former Chancellor Helmut Kohl at the Glienicke Bridge in Potsdam, where the inner-German border once ran. "We owe him a great deal, above all the fact that unity succeeded," Bretz said on Instagram. "The fact that we are able to celebrate unity is, I believe, a gift of history." The bridge, which links Berlin and Potsdam, was destroyed in the final year of the Second World War, rebuilt, and reopened in 1949 as the "Bridge of Unity." During the Cold War, it became famous as a site for exchanging captured spies between East and West.
Kohl, who served as chancellor from 1982 to 1998, is remembered as the "chancellor of unity." In a televised address on the eve of reunification, he said: "In a few hours a dream will come true. After more than forty bitter years of division, Germany, our fatherland, is reunited." He also urged Germans to remember those who suffered under division: "Families were cruelly torn apart. Political prisoners were locked away in jails. People died at the Wall." He thanked the East Germans who fought for freedom, the former victorious powers, and the freedom movements across Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe.
How united is Germany today?
The federal government's 2026 report on eastern Germany, prepared by the Commissioner for Eastern Germany, finds that East and West Germans now assess their living conditions similarly in many respects. Yet significant disparities remain. Eastern Germans are still underrepresented in senior positions in top federal authorities, although their share has risen from 13.9 to 16.3 percent since 2022.
Wealth inequality is stark. According to the Federal Statistical Office, in 2025, 95 percent of the total value of taxable asset transfers—inheritances and gifts—accrued to West Germany. This reflects the economic upheaval that followed reunification. A study by the Rockwool Foundation Berlin, made available to Reuters, found that only 17 percent of former GDR citizens kept their jobs after the system changed. Many companies in the east lost their markets or were shut down in the 1990s, while young and well-qualified workers moved west. As a result, some regions still lack both population and corporate headquarters.
The federal government is trying to reduce these disparities, focusing support on structurally weak regions. But the legacy of the 1990s is deep. Dresden, for example, has seen many young people leave for western Germany or abroad, a trend that continues to shape the east's demographic and economic landscape.
Why Germany was divided
After the Second World War, the four victorious powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, and France—divided defeated Germany into four occupation zones. As the Cold War took hold, a conflict over the country's political and economic future emerged. In 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) was established in the west, and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in the east.
Both states were granted sovereignty in 1955—West Germany by the Allies, East Germany by the Soviet Union—but the non-German powers retained special rights. Those rights ended with reunification, the foreign-policy conditions for which were laid down in the Two Plus Four Treaty. In that treaty, the FRG and GDR recognised the Oder-Neisse line as the border with Poland.
Why 3 October, not 9 November
The Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989, and that date was initially considered for the national holiday. However, because it coincided with the Reich Pogrom Night of 1938, the decision went against it. Instead, the choice fell on 3 October 1990, the day the Unification Treaty was implemented. The treaty, signed on 31 August 1990 by FRG Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble and GDR State Secretary Günther Krause, both of the CDU, designated 3 October as the "Day of German Unity" and a public holiday. It replaced 17 June, which commemorated the 1953 popular uprising in the GDR and remains a national day of remembrance.
As Germany celebrates this anniversary, the challenges of unity are still visible. The east-west divide in wealth and representation persists, even as daily life converges. The country's ongoing efforts to address these imbalances—through investment in structurally weak regions and efforts to boost eastern representation—are crucial for the future of a truly united Germany. The path since 1990 has been remarkable, but the work of unity is far from complete.
