German Unity Day

German Unity Day is the <a href="/facts/National_Day/PruwNVr7">National Day</a> of <a href="/facts/Germany/paluuWBX">Germany</a>, celebrated on 3 October as a public holiday. It commemorates <a href="/facts/German_Reunification/1c7F6WoR">German Reunification</a> in 1990 when the German Democratic Republic (<a href="/facts/East_Germany/PwI902Q6">East Germany</a>) joined the Federal Republic of Germany (<a href="/facts/West_Germany/oCydk787">West Germany</a>), so that for the first time since 1945 there existed a single German state. German Unity Day on 3 October has been the <a href="/facts/Public_holidays_in_Germany/wHL2WgWA">German National Holiday</a> since 1990, when the reunification was formally completed.
An alternative choice to commemorate the reunification could have been the day the <a href="/facts/Berlin_Wall/WhKAVUE4">Berlin Wall</a> came down: 9 November 1989, which coincided with the anniversary of the <a href="/facts/German_Revolution_of_1918%E2%80%931919/PtYaRGEA">proclamation of the German Republic</a> in 1918, and the defeat of <a href="/facts/Beer_Hall_Putsch/GopJ1vWp">Hitler's first coup</a> in 1923. However, 9 November was also the anniversary of the first large-scale Nazi-led <a href="/facts/Pogrom/RFDMb1df">pogroms</a> against <a href="/facts/Jews/T9Y4wE6A">Jews</a> in 1938 (<a href="/facts/Kristallnacht/U9ovTHbK">Kristallnacht</a>), so the day was considered racist as a national holiday (see <a href="/facts/9_November_in_German_history/0F7AMlg6">9 November in German history</a>). Therefore, 3 October 1990, the day of the formal reunification, was chosen instead. It replaced the "German Unity Day" on 17 June, the national holiday of the <a href="/facts/West_Germany/oCydk787">Federal Republic of Germany</a> from 1954.

German Unity Day open-in-new

German Unity Day