Unit celebration: Merkel honors victims of the GDR dictatorship

Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) recalled the victims of the SED dictatorship in the GDR in her speech at the ceremony for the Day of German Unity in Kiel. "We should never forget it, even on a day of joy like today," said Merkel on Thursday. 30 years after the fall of the Wall, she described the events in the GDR in November 1989 as a "revolution in the spirit of freedom". The peaceful revolution was successful at that time, because people "did not want to be deprived of their consent any longer".

Federal President Daniel Günther warned in his speech against an abuse of the word "turnaround" in the political debate. "The people of the GDR were extremely brave when they took to the streets and won the reunification in a peaceful way," said Schleswig-Holstein's prime minister. "It is a mockery of the performance of these people, when parties today use this courage for party political purposes by talking about the turn of 2.0." He alluded to the AfD, which had last used slogans like "Wende 2.0" in election campaigns in East Germany.

The turnaround as historical life achievement of the East Germans remains singular and inseparably connected with the end of the GDR. "We want to remember this courage of 1989 today and at the same time call for something more courageous," said Günther. People should not be overwhelmed by fear of the future and driven by fear makers into extremes.

Many political celebrities

With the ceremony in Kiel, the central celebrations for the 29th anniversary of German unity will be officially celebrated. Among them are Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble, Chancellor Angela Merkel, Schleswig-Holstein's Prime Minister Daniel Günther as Federal Council President and the President of the Federal Constitutional Court, Andreas Voßkuhle.

Merkel and Günther had already pointed out before the official beginning of the celebration that there was still much to do in all progress. Günther said on the sidelines of the opening of a citizens' party celebration on Wednesday, there should be no break between East and West. "Some of the discussions that are going on at the moment have not been that way in recent years." Politics must get the issue of uniform living conditions under control: "There is no break through Germany in East and West, but we have this challenge throughout Germany."

Minister of Homeland Horst Seehofer (CSU) was confident that within ten years the structural differences will be eliminated. "We are counting on a decade until we have equal living conditions throughout Germany, not only for the new federal states, but also for structurally weak regions in other parts of Germany," he told Bild am Sonntag.

More all-German answers

The Federal Commissioner for the Stasi documents, Roland Jahn, wishes a stronger emphasis on the similarities. "We should tackle the problems on the whole German and not again and again project East-West opposites," said the former East German civil rights activist of the "Passauer Neue Presse". "What is problematic today often has nothing to do with East and West, it's about social issues, about differences between city and countryside, between different regions."

According to a survey, only half of Germans perceive Germany as a united country. 50 percent of the 501 respondents see Germany as a unified country, 47 percent not, as the Emnid survey for the "BamS" revealed.

This time, Schleswig-Holstein is organizing the central celebrations for the Day of German Unity, because this year it holds the Federal Council Presidency. On Thursday afternoon, Günther will hand over the baton symbolically to his Brandenburg colleague Dietmar Woidke (SPD).

Since Wednesday noon, a two-day civil party has been running in Kiel with a colorful program. On an area mile all 16 federal states introduce themselves. Bundestag, Bundesrat and Federal Government present themselves. To protect the civil party and the top politicians, a large number of police and private security services is present.