October 3rd
Posted: October 3rd, 2013, 11:49 am
Today is the national day here in Germany. It is called the German Unity Day ("Tag der Deutschen Einheit"). On this day we celebrate the reunion of East and West Germany which was in 1990.
Some of you might know that on November 9th in 1989 the Wall came down and everyone in East Germany could now travel outside the GDR without any problems anymore and with it it also was the end of the GDR.
Starting in September 1989 many people demonstrated all over East Germany to change the regulations for traveling outside the GDR. Many East Germans were trying to leave the GDR by traveling to Hungary via Czechoslovakia. The "Government" had to react and so they changed the regulations for private traveling. In a press conference Günther Schabowski (the party boss in East Berlin and the spokesman for the SED) was handed a note that allowed people in East Germany to leave the GDR without any problems. Those regulations were to take effect the next day (November 10th) so that there was enough time to fill in the border guards. The problem was that Günther Schabowski wasn't informed that this were to take effect the following day. So after being asked a couple of times by the reporters on the press conferences he stated that this new regulation would take effect in the same minutes without delay.
So with this press conferences the fall of the Wall started and with it the reunion of East and West Germany began and was finished in 1990.
Some of you might know that on November 9th in 1989 the Wall came down and everyone in East Germany could now travel outside the GDR without any problems anymore and with it it also was the end of the GDR.
Starting in September 1989 many people demonstrated all over East Germany to change the regulations for traveling outside the GDR. Many East Germans were trying to leave the GDR by traveling to Hungary via Czechoslovakia. The "Government" had to react and so they changed the regulations for private traveling. In a press conference Günther Schabowski (the party boss in East Berlin and the spokesman for the SED) was handed a note that allowed people in East Germany to leave the GDR without any problems. Those regulations were to take effect the next day (November 10th) so that there was enough time to fill in the border guards. The problem was that Günther Schabowski wasn't informed that this were to take effect the following day. So after being asked a couple of times by the reporters on the press conferences he stated that this new regulation would take effect in the same minutes without delay.
So with this press conferences the fall of the Wall started and with it the reunion of East and West Germany began and was finished in 1990.