German reunification: together into the great unknown - archive, October 1990
Midnight heralds the rebirth of Germany
By David Gow in Berlin
3 October 1990
Germany, an economic and political colossus in the heart of Europe, was reborn today on the stroke of midnight as a single country after more than 45 years of division.
More than a million people witnessed the historic end of two separate German states as the Federal Republic’s black, red and gold flag, complete with rampant eagle, was brought in by 20 young people from both parts of Berlin and raised on a special flagstaff in front of the Reichstag, dedicated To The German People.
The Liberty Bell pealed throughout Berlin and President Richard von Weizsäcker proclaimed: “In free self-determination we have completed the unity and freedom of Germany. We want to serve world peace in a united Europe.”
Fireworks soared over the nearby Brandenburg Gate, until recently split from the West by the now demolished Berlin Wall, and lit up the sky in cities across the new country of 77 million people.
In an earlier ceremony, tinged with some sadness, the postwar division of Europe finally came to an end as the East German flag, with its old communist insignia, was lowered for the last time and the state formed in 1949 passed into oblivion to the sound of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and rock
