{"id":7790,"date":"2016-10-03T08:00:26","date_gmt":"2016-10-03T08:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=7790"},"modified":"2016-10-02T12:08:54","modified_gmt":"2016-10-02T12:08:54","slug":"the-most-important-day-in-the-year-for-germany-tag-der-deutschen-einheit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/the-most-important-day-in-the-year-for-germany-tag-der-deutschen-einheit\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Important Day in the Year for Germany: Tag der deutschen Einheit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many countries have a national day, on which they celebrate or remember an important day in the history of the country. This can be an independence day, for example. The Germans do not have an independence day. Instead, they have a Day of German Unity. And it is celebrated today, October 3rd!<\/p>\n

What is meant by Deutsche Einheit<\/em>?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"Freiheit<\/a>

Freiheit<\/em> (Freedom). The Germans were finally free again from any other regime, and east and west could live together again. (Image by Harald Henkel at Flickr.com under license CC BY ND 2.0)<\/p><\/div>\n

Deutsche Einheit\u00a0<\/em>(German Unity) refers to the Wiedervereinigung<\/em>\u00a0(reunification) of East and West Germany in 1990, a year after\u00a0the Berlin Wall came down together with the\u00a0DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik <\/em>(GDR (German Democratic Republic)).\u00a0So\u00a0on this day, the unification of Germany as a whole is celebrated. In 1949, the western allies decided to found the\u00a0Bundesrepublik Deutschland\u00a0<\/em>(Federal Republic of Germany), also known as West Germany. In the following decades, this reunification was worked towards, and finally achieved 40 years later. East Germany joined\u00a0West Germany, and so also today, Germany is known as the\u00a0Bundesrepublik Deutschland<\/em>.\u00a0The merging did not go\u00a0reibungslos\u00a0<\/em>(smoothly), and differences persist even today.\u00a0\u00a0Click here to read a post that explains more about the Wiedervereinigung <\/em>and its implications.<\/a><\/p>\n

Don’t get confused: Tag der d<\/span>eutschen Einheit<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

When you refer to the Tag der Deutschen Einheit (October 3rd, the one we are talking about here), be careful!\u00a0Don’t confuse the\u00a0Tag der deutschen Einheit\u00a0<\/em>(with a small d<\/em>)\u00a0and\u00a0Tag der Deutschen Einheit\u00a0<\/em>(with a capital\u00a0D<\/em>). The former refers to another day and another event. Grammatically, it makes more sense with a small\u00a0d<\/em>, but\u00a0the\u00a0Tag der deutschen Einheit\u00a0<\/em>simply came first.<\/p>\n

So, what is the\u00a0Tag der deutschen Einheit<\/em>? It refers to June 17th, 1953. Around this day, East Germans protested against the\u00a0DDR<\/em> regime, because their needs were neglected and many were against the quick establishment of socialism. This\u00a0Aufstand vom 17. Juni\u00a0<\/em>(Uprising\u00a0of June 17th) was bloodily crushed by Soviet Army. As a display of solidarity with the people, and as an action toward reunification, West Germany (i.e. the\u00a0Bundesrepublik Deutschland<\/em>) made the 17th of June its National Day, and called it\u00a0Tag der deutschen Einheit<\/em>. This bloody event is still remembered today on June 17th.<\/p>\n

Watch the video below to learn more about the 17th of June.<\/p>\n