Editing German Unity Day (section)

{{short description|National Day of Germany}}
{{more citations needed|date=October 2017}}<!--3 sections have no references-->
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox holiday
| holiday_name  = German Unity Day
| type          = National
| image         = Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-1990-1003-400,_Berlin,_deutsche_Vereinigung,_vor_dem_Reichstag.jpg
| imagesize     = 260px
| caption       = The flag of unity at midnight of 3 October 1990 in front of the [[Reichstag building|Reichstag]]
| official_name = {{langx|de|Tag der Deutschen Einheit}}
| nickname      = 
| observedby    = {{DEU}}
| litcolor      = 
| longtype      = 
| significance  = Commemorates the [[German Reunification]] in 1990
| date          = 3 October
| scheduling    = 3 October 2025
| duration      = 1 year
| frequency     = Annual
| celebrations  = 
| observances   = 
| relatedto     = 
}}

'''German Unity Day''' ({{langx|de|Tag der Deutschen Einheit}}, {{IPA|de|ˈtaːk deːɐ̯ ˈdɔʏtʃn̩ ˈʔaɪnhaɪt|pron|audio=De-Tag der Deutschen Einheit.ogg}}) is the [[National Day|national day]] of [[Germany]], celebrated on 3 October as a public holiday.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.buzer.de/s1.htm?g=Einigungsvertrag&a=2 |title=www.buzer.de – Article 3 of the Treaty of German Reunification ("Einigungsvertrag") |access-date=3 October 2014 |archive-date=23 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923224034/http://www.buzer.de/s1.htm?g=Einigungsvertrag&a=2 |url-status=live }}</ref> It commemorates [[German Reunification]] in 1990 when the German Democratic Republic ([[East Germany]]) joined the Federal Republic of Germany ([[West Germany]]), so that for the first time since 1945 there existed a single German state.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/953868.stm|title=Germans mark decade of unity|publisher=BBC|language=English|date=3 October 2000|accessdate=16 August 2024|archive-date=16 August 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240816150711/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/953868.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> German Unity Day on 3 October has been the [[Public holidays in Germany|German national holiday]] since 1990, when the reunification was formally completed.

An alternative choice to commemorate the reunification could have been the day the [[Berlin Wall]] came down: 9 November 1989, which coincided with the anniversary of the [[German Revolution of 1918–1919|proclamation of the German Republic]] in 1918, and the defeat of [[Beer Hall Putsch|Hitler's first coup]] in 1923. However, 9 November was also the anniversary of the first large-scale Nazi-led [[pogrom]]s against [[Jews]] in 1938 (''[[Kristallnacht]]''), so the day was considered racist as a national holiday<ref>Kosmidou, Eleftheria Rania (2012). ''European Civil War Films: Memory, Conflict, and Nostalgia''.  pp. 9–10. {{ISBN|1136250646}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dw.de/schicksalstag-der-deutschen/a-1389975 |title=Deutsche Welle (dw.de) (09.11.2004). ''Schicksalstag der Deutschen''. |access-date=3 October 2014 |archive-date=5 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150505222902/http://www.dw.de/schicksalstag-der-deutschen/a-1389975 |url-status=live }}</ref> (see [[9 November in German history]]). Therefore, 3 October 1990, the day of the formal reunification, was chosen instead. It replaced the "German Unity Day" on 17 June, the national holiday of the [[West Germany|Federal Republic of Germany]] from 1954.