Tariq Saeedi
Germany marked its Day of Unity on 3 October, the 36th anniversary of reunification. It remains one of the most remarkable political achievements of the modern era. Two states, divided by a fortified frontier and opposed ideologies, were peacefully joined into one nation, something many contemporary observers thought impossible.
It is worth setting aside the political rhetoric and saluting Germany and its people for it.
The credit begins in the East. In 1989, ordinary East Germans, marching in Leipzig and in cities across the country, brought down a regime without bloodshed. International conditions mattered too: Hungary’s opening of its border, Soviet restraint under Mikhail Gorbachev, and the Two Plus Four Treaty that settled the question with the wartime Allies.
But the courage that set the process in motion belonged to the people of the German Democratic Republic.
What followed was an extraordinary national effort.
The Federal Republic, with one of the world’s strongest economies, committed enormous financial and administrative resources to the East. Roads and railways were rebuilt, a dated telecommunications network was replaced, and the social safety net was extended. The task rested on institutional strengths long associated with Germany: precision, long-term planning, administrative discipline and a strong work ethic, qualities of civic culture rather than anything inborn.
The achievement was not free of cost, and honest tribute acknowledges this.
A simple rule of geopolitics holds: the longer a division lasts, the harder it is to heal. Over four decades, two economic systems, two political cultures and two ways of thinking about everyday life hardened on either side of the frontier. Bridging them meant the closure of state enterprises, sudden industrial dislocation, high unemployment in the East, and a generational effort to reconcile different experiences and expectations.
Some of those invisible walls take longer to dismantle than concrete ones. Differences in income, wealth and economic opportunity between East and West persist today, and many Germans still feel them.
That Germany absorbed these shocks without losing its democratic stability or social cohesion speaks to the resilience of its citizens. There were hard years, and at the turn of the century Germany was widely regarded as Europe’s economic laggard. Yet the country adjusted, reformed and recovered, and it emerged as the anchor of the European Union.
Today a unified Germany shows that deep political, economic and psychological divides can be bridged when a society has the will and the patience to do so. It is also a reminder that unity is not an event but a continuing task. We salute the German people for the resolve, generosity and perseverance that have carried it this far. /// nCa, 4 October 2026