30 years of German unity

In 2019 and 2020, the 30th anniversaries of the Peaceful Revolution, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and German reunification will be celebrated. To mark these occasions, the Federal Government has appointed a commission titled “30 Years of the Peaceful Revolution and German Reunification” to not only honor these important milestones in German history but also to raise awareness that German reunification is a process that is not yet complete. In addition, the commission is tasked with submitting proposals for the further shaping of the unification process, its critical reflection, and its public commemoration in the coming years.

The commission is chaired by former Minister-President Matthias Platzeck; the vice chair is Member of the Bundestag Christian Hirte, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the Federal Government officer for the New Federal States. Since April 2019, Prof. Dr. Raj Kollmorgen (Faculty of Social Sciences, TRAWOS Institute at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences) has also been a member of the 22-person government commission.

By mid-August 2019, the commission had already submitted recommendations for action regarding the design of the components of the anniversary concept and is currently working, with the support of an administrative office based at the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building, and Community, to planning for the year 2020 and preparing the reflection and evaluation process.