German reunification

German reunification (Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) took place on October 3, 1990, when the areas of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR, in English often called "East Germany") were incorporated into the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, or "West Germany"). After the GDR's first free elections on 18 March 1990, negotiations between the GDR and FRG culminated in a Unification Treaty, whilst negotiations between the GDR and FRG and the four occupying powers produced the so-called "Two Plus Four Treaty" granting full independence to a reunified German state. The reunified Germany remained a member of the European Community (later European Union) and NATO. The term "reunification" is used in contrast with the initial unification of Germany in 1871.

External links

• Germany's Eastern Burden: The Price of a Failed Reunification
• The lessons of German reunification
• The End of East Germany