Happy German Unity Day!

On Nov. 9, 1989, buckling under the pressure of a collapsing regime, the communist government of the German Democratic Republic lifted all travel restrictions previously placed on East Germans.

From 1945, when the Soviets took control of Germany's five eastern states and the eastern half of the city-state of Berlin in the fallout of World War II, to 1961, the border between East and West Germany was relatively soft, resulting in many East Germans emigrating to the West in pursuit of better wages and fleeing political oppression. But on Aug. 13, 1961, East German troops sealed the border and construction began on the Berlin Wall. For the next 28 years, it was virtually impossible for ordinary East German citizens to travel west of the Iron Curtain. At least 136 people were killed attempting it.

So, when the announcement was made on Nov. 9, 1989, that East Germans could now cross the border at their whim and leisure, it was understandably epic. In Berlin Westerners and Easterners flooded to the wall that divided the city and tore it apart in their efforts to embrace each other.

Nearly one year later, on Oct. 3, 1990, the Federal Republic of Germany (a.k.a. West Germany) formally welcomed back their Eastern brothers and sisters, reuniting a nation that had been severed for 45 years.

Germans refer to those events as "die Wende", or "the turning point", and since that day have dubbed every Oct. 3 "der Tag der deutschen Einheit", or "the Day of German Unity".

And that, dear readers, is why we over here in Germany don't have to go to work today. So I don't want to hear any whining. You want a day off? Reunite a nation and peacefully play a major role in the fall of a massive, corrupt regime and then we'll talk.



JEM