German Reunification facts

While investigating facts about German Unification and German Reunification Day, I found out little known, but curios details like:

The leaders of the UK, France, Italy, and the Netherlands were among those who opposed German reunification in 1989-1990; the Italian prime minister said, "I love Germany so much that I prefer to see two of them." The Irish and US governments were among the few to support reunification.

how much did german reunification cost?

East Germany lives on - as a tiny island off Cuba. In 1972, Fidel Castro gifted the island to East Germany. The island was not addressed in the 1990 reunification, and as such is still technically East German territory, even though the nation no longer exists.

What events led to german reunification?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what problems have emerged as a result of german reunification. Here are 18 of the best facts about German Reunification 1990 and German Reunification Problems I managed to collect.

what happened to east german leaders after reunification?

1. East German streets during the Soviet Era had a friendly "man-in-hat" pedestrian signal. When East Germany collapsed, the capitalist reunification threatened to get rid of them, only to have the previous easterners fight to have them back.

2. Unlike Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher was opposed to German reunification, fearing it would pose risks to European security. Shortly before it fell, she pleaded with Michael Gorbachev to not tear down the Berlin Wall.

3. Margaret Thacher opposed German reunification, and even allegedly said 'We beat the Germans twice, and now they're back'

4. The Dresden Frauenkirche church was destroyed in World War II; the ruins were left for 50 years as a war memorial; the church was rebuilt starting in 1994, after German reunification; reconstruction of the exterior was completed in 2004, and the interior in 2005.

5. Shortly before German reunification, the most popular crime series in West and East Germany respectively produced one of the first ever crossover episodes, where the heroes of both shows had to team up to solve a case in the turmoil that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall

6. Austrians had a voting ballot from 10 April 1938 with the exact question: Do you agree with the reunification of Austria with the German Reich and do you vote for the party of our leader Adolf Hitler? Yes or No. And the circle for Adolf was 200% bigger than for No...

7. Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher bitterly opposed Germany's reunification, allegedly remarking, "We beat the Germans twice, and now they're back," after the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.

8. Kurt Masur, who conducted Beethoven's 9th at the celebration of the German reunification in 1990, also intervened in anti-government demonstrations in communist East Germany, negotiating an end to a confrontation that could have resulted in security forces attacking the protesters.

9. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wanted the Soviet Union to keep its troops to East Germany to prevent German reunification

10. Both UK PM Margaret Thatcher and French President Francois Mitterrand opposed German reunification. In December 1989 Thatcher warned fellow European Community leaders at a Strasbourg summit that the German chancellor attended, "We defeated the Germans twice! And now they're back!"

Why was there a need for german reunification?

You can easily fact check why did the process of german reunification by examining the linked well-known sources.

The German national football team's top two scorers since reunification are Polish immigrants

Germans still pay a 5.5% tax called "Solidarity surcharge", which funds the East/West Germany reunification efforts. - source

Soviet/Russian troops did not leave German soil until 1994 (4 years after reunification). When they did it was with a parade. - source

Sandmännchen, "Germany's cutest communist". The East German version of the stop-motion cartoon puppet outlived the West German one after reunification, and still appears in reruns.

The famous german phrase at the Berlin-Wall-protests "Wir sind ein Volk" (=we are one people), was not primarily meant to be about the reunification of west and east Germany, but about east-german people shouting at the wall-guards to not shoot their own people when they want to pass the wall - source

German unification?

Much of the world opposed German reunification