Completing German Unity

On 3 November 1949, only four years after the end of the war and the collapse of the National Socialist dictatorship, a once more freely elected parliament, the German Bundestag, decided by an overwhelming majority that:

"The supreme organs of the Federation shall move their seat to the capital of Germany, Berlin, as soon as general, free, equal, secret and direct elections have been held in the whole of Berlin and in the Soviet zone of occupation."

Only forty years later, with the fall of the Berlin Wall, did the event occur which no one in the world had expected. Over those four decades, the German Bundestag not only reaffirmed on countless occasions its commitment to Berlin as the former and future capital of Germany; its Members also took every opportunity to demonstrate parliamentary presence in the city. They did so despite massive Soviet threats and, frequently, also to the displeasure of the Western protecting powers who as a result were constantly faced with Soviet demands and pressures in the Allied Control Council.

By deciding, on 20 June 1991, that Berlin would once again be the capital of Germany and become the seat of the all-German parliament, the German Bundestag kept the promise it had constantly reiterated, and neber retracted, over those four decades.

Prof. Rita Süssmuth
Former President of the German Bundestag

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