On Oct. 3 the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) ceased to exist when the five Länder (states) which had been re-established on its territory in July 1990 became part of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, hitherto referred to as West Germany).
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This unification of Germany took place as provided for under Article 23 of the FRG Basic Law or constitution and in the state treaty on unification signed on Aug. 31, 1990.
Simultaneously a four-power declaration signed on Oct. 1, 1990, in New York by France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States conferred full sovereignty on the new unified Germany (pending formal ratification of the Treaty on the Final Settlement with respect to Germany signed on Sept. 12- -18; 37834).
At midnight on Oct. 2-3 the FRG flag was raised at a ceremony held outside the Reichstag (the former German parliament) in Berlin. Helmut Kohl, the Federal Chancellor, described the day as "one of the happiest moments of my life" and declared that "Germany is our fatherland, the united Europe our future". Lothar de Maizière, the outgoing East German Prime Minister, stated: "We are one people, we become one state. It is an hour of great joy. It is the end of some illusions. It is a farewell without tears."
Peaceful celebrations followed on the streets of Berlin and in many other German cities and towns. There were some counter-demonstrations, however, notably in Berlin, where up to 10,000 people protested against unification and 150-250 anarchists were reportedly arrested. No service was held at the Nikolai Kirche in Leipzig, where the city's massive weekly demonstrations had started in the autumn of 1989, and instead a notice was pinned up outside the church saying: "With 2,000,000 unemployed we see little cause for celebrating". (As announced shortly after unification, unemployment at end-September stood at 444,825 or 5 per cent of the workforce, compared with 272,000 in July. A further 1,770,000 were on short-time work, i.e. in most cases not working.)
Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet President, said that unification "occurs at the watershed of two epochs". A joint European Community statement described unification as heralding "a new age for Germany and all of Europe". It continued: "A people which has so enriched our common civilization is recovering its rightful place in Europe and in the world." Krzystof Skubiszewski, the Polish Foreign Minister, declared: "Unification of Germany will become, we hope, a powerful factor of European stability and unification." In Israel, however, a statement made during a ceremony at the Yad Vashem national shrine to Jewish victims of the Nazi holocaust declared: "We are filled with deep anxiety since it was a united Germany, under the Nazi rule, which brought upon the Jewish people the most horrendous tragedy of this generation."
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