A short history of German reunification

Process of political reunification starts

Enlarge image (© dpa / picture-alliance) On 28 November Chancellor Helmut Kohl presented his ten-point plan for overcoming the division of Germany. The plan foresaw a gradual approximation of the two parts of Germany involving a longer period of confederation before ending in reunification. The precondition for this was political and economic reforms in the GDR. Kohl called for a restructuring of the planned economy system in the direction of market economy as well as free, equal and secret-ballot elections in connection with the abolition of the bloc party system under the domination of the SED. The latter demand was fulfilled on 1 December by the People’s Chamber when it struck the leading role of the SED from the constitution. Two days later the SED Central Committee and Politburo resigned definitively.

On 7 December 1989 fourteen parties, political groups, and organisations came together at what was called the Central Round Table. The Central Round Table was part of a system of public controls until the first democratic elections could be held. It saw its task as providing an element of democracy by submitting proposals on how to overcome the existing crisis of government. It demanded involvement in key political and economic decisions taken by the government and the People’s Chamber and called for abolition of the "Stasi", the state security police, a demand whose importance became evident on 15 January 1990 when the people stormed Stasi headquarters on Berlin’s Normannenstrasse. Despite this ransacking it was possible to save a major part of the Stasi files, which has made it possible for them to be examined and evaluated by the Gauck Authority created for this purpose.

In late January the Round Table decided to hold the People’s Chamber election, originally scheduled for 6 May, on 18 March 1990. Mikhail Gorbachev said during a visit to Moscow by GDR Prime Minister Hans Modrow that, in principle, no one doubted German unity. The condition, however, would be the neutrality of a united Germany.

With the approval of the People’s Chamber the "Government of National Responsibility" was constituted on 5 February in which eight representatives of the Round Table were appointed as ministers without portfolio. The free election to the People’s Chamber was won by an electoral alliance, the "Alliance for Germany". A lawyer by the name of Lothar de Mazière (CDU) became Prime Minister of the Grand Coalition that was formed.

Enlarge image (© dpa - Bildarchiv) Exactly two months later, on 18 May 1990, the Preparatory Treaty for the Monetary, Economic and Social Union between the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany was signed. With this treaty the GDR transferred its financial and monetary policy sovereignty to the West German Federal Republic which, in return, granted subsidies for the GDR government budget and, at the same time, subsidised the GDR’s pension and social security systems.

East German Mark abolished
This created a framework for political unification. Economic and monetary union between the GDR and the Federal Republic went into effect on 1 July. The East German mark was abolished. Along with the West German mark the GDR adopted the main elements of economic and social legislation in the Federal Republic so that by then, along with the political restructuring that had already taken place, major differences between the two German political systems had been formally eliminated. In actual fact the effects of these differences were not overcome. Narrowing the differences in standards of living in eastern and western Germany continues to be an objective of German domestic policy.

On 2 August 1990 West German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble and East German State Secretary Günther Krause agreed on a draft Unification Treaty. They also signed the All-German Election Treaty. It set 2 December 1990 as the date for the first all-German election. In a special session held on 23 August the People’s Chamber set the 3rd of October as the date for official accession of the GDR to the Federal Republic. This date took the place of the previous German national holiday, the 17th of June, commemorating the GDR workers' revolt in 1953. The Unification Treaty was signed in East Berlin on 31 August. All internal problems relating to German unification were definitively settled in this treaty.

Integration into foreign policy
Enlarge image October 2, 1990 joy over unity (© dpa - Fotoreport) United Germany’s integration in the foreign policy context was regulated under a separate treaty signed by the two German states and the four allied powers who defeated Germany in the Second World War. After around four months of intensive negotiations the Two-Plus-Four Treaty was signed on 12 September. As the third pillar of German unification it clarified foreign and security policy questions regarding united Germany, including with regard to alliance membership. Germany’s renunciation of production and possession of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons was written into the treaty. Germany also recognised its present borders as definitive, including the Oder-Neisse border with Poland. This formally ended the post-war era. For Germany the Two-Plus-Four Treaty had the character of a peace treaty with its World War II adversaries. It was the precondition for regaining full political sovereignty.

The Unification Treaty between the GDR and the Federal Republic went into effect on 29 September 1990, creating the legal prerequisites for reunification. The process of reunification was formally completed a week later, on 3 October 1990, with the official accession of the GDR to the Federal Republic. The 3 October is now Germany’s national holiday.