Merkel to mark 20th anniversary of German reunification treaty

Aug 31, 2010, 11:00 GMT

Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel will Tuesday mark the moment 20 years ago when the treaty was signed bringing about East and West German reunification.

On August 31, 1990, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic of Germany (East Germany) signed a hastily-agreed treaty which effectively absorbed the communist East German state, under a new capital, Berlin.

At the time, officials were eager to disband the East German state before its 41st anniversary, on October 7, 1990.

Merkel herself grew up in East Germany, although she was born in the West.

The rapid negotiations downplayed criticism within East and West Germany at the notion of effectively annexing East Germany - despite the separate political, economic and social developments of the previous 40 years.

The treaty, drafted less than a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, followed a series of agreements covering economic, social and currency unification between East and West Germany.

Signed by the West German interior minister at the time, Wolfgang Schaeuble, and East German secretary of state Guenther Krause, the treaty paved the way for German reunification on October 3, 1990.

Tuesday's celebration in Berlin will be attended by dignitaries including the last East German prime minister, Lothar de Maiziere, and the West German foreign minister at the time of reunification, Hans-Dietrich Genscher.