(de-news.net) – Germany’s 36th Unity Day celebrations in Bremen have highlighted both the achievements of reunification and the divisions that remain more than three decades later. Political and civic leaders focused on democratic cohesion, political polarization, persistent east-west income disparities, regional representation and the legacy of the former East German dictatorship. Discussions also addressed national identity, with Green Party leader Franziska Brantner linking the black-red-gold flag to freedom, historical awareness and Germany’s European orientation.
Bremen currently holds the presidency of the Bundesrat, and the city is hosting Germany’s central celebrations for the 36th anniversary of reunification this year. More than 550 events are being held in central Bremen and along the Weser as part of the associated civic festival, which began Friday and continues through Sunday.
The main commemorations opened with an ecumenical service at Bremen Cathedral, where Catholic Bishop Dominicus Meier of Osnabrück and Protestant Church President Bernd Kuschnerus used their sermons to address the continuing challenges of social cohesion. Both church leaders cautioned against marginalizing vulnerable people or allowing existing divisions to deepen. They emphasized perseverance during difficult periods and argued that citizens also had a responsibility to resist political polarization if German unity was to remain meaningful. Under the service’s theme, “Many Gifts – One Spirit,” prayers focused on democracy, social solidarity, and people experiencing poverty or loneliness.
Steinmeier urges reflection on democratic strains and political polarization
A later ceremony at the Glocke performance hall brought together Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Bundestag President Julia Klöckner, Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Bremen Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte. President Steinmeier used the occasion to warn that growing extremism, political hostility and manipulation on the internet were placing both Germany’s democracy and its internal cohesion under pressure. While acknowledging that a substantial proportion of voters had expressed distrust in the country’s political system, he stressed that citizens with voting rights were entitled to make their own decisions and that every vote had to be taken seriously. He nevertheless said the support for extremist parties raised concerns about attitudes toward fundamental rights, particularly where appeals to protect one’s own rights were accompanied by a willingness to place the rights of others at risk.
Steinmeier also called for a candid examination of what federal and state governments had failed to accomplish over the roughly three and a half decades since reunification. He emphasized that political alienation was not confined to either eastern or western Germany, arguing that the challenge affected the country as a whole. He also urged Germans to remember the optimism that accompanied the fall of the Berlin Wall and to recognize the achievements made since 1990, saying the experience of overcoming Germany’s division should not disappear from public memory.
Hubertus Kaube, co-publisher of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, interpreted Steinmeier’s speech as an attempt to confront what he characterized as a broader climate of political intransigence. In his assessment, the president had directly addressed a culture of persistent denunciation and called for an end to continual mutual criticism. Kaube attributed part of the political divide to extremist parties’ reliance on maximal demands to distinguish themselves. Democratic politics, he argued, instead depends on compromise, while uncompromising positions are easier for parties to maintain when they are in opposition rather than responsible for governing.
Former Bundestag President Wolfgang Thierse on unification day approached the issue from a different perspective, calling for greater acceptance of regional differences. Comparing relations between eastern and western Germans with a marriage, he argued that disagreements and periods of crisis did not necessarily contradict the existence of a functioning relationship. Regional disparities, he suggested, could also be understood as part of a broader form of national normality, provided that differences between individual states were accepted rather than treated as evidence of a fundamental national divide.
Eastern Germany calls for greater economic integration
The economic relationship between eastern and western Germany formed another major theme of this year’s Unity Day discussions. The CDU Economic Council called for stronger coordination of the eastern states’ economic resources and argued that eastern Germany should move beyond its traditional role as a catch-up region and develop into a growth region. Wolfgang Steiger, the council’s secretary-general, proposed closer cooperation among Berlin, Magdeburg, Halle, Leipzig and Dresden in infrastructure planning and economic development. The idea was to view the cities and their surrounding research and industrial locations more closely as an interconnected economic area. Steiger also called for faster and more reliable transport connections among economic centers, arguing that stronger regional networks could extend the benefits of growth to structurally weaker areas.
Federal Commissioner for Eastern Germany Elisabeth Kaiser (SPD) also highlighted continuing differences while focusing particularly on the representation of eastern Germans in senior positions. She argued that people from the former East Germany remained insufficiently represented in leading roles across politics, business and society. Against that background, Kaiser said the time had come for another East German to become federal president, pointing to the absence of an East German among the country’s current political leadership. At the same time, she stressed that eastern Germany had undergone substantial economic and institutional development, describing it as an innovation and research center and an important bridge to Eastern Europe. Her comments nevertheless reflected the continuing debate over disparities in income and wealth and the extent to which the institutional consequences of reunification had been fully overcome.
Official income statistics show that substantial differences between eastern and western Germany persist. In 2025, households in Berlin and the five eastern states had average disposable net income of 42,259 euros, compared with 49,506 euros in western Germany – a gap of 7,247 euros. The difference had been 7,080 euros in 2024, 6,979 euros in 2023 and 7,027 euros in 2022. The disparities also varied significantly among states. Saxony-Anhalt recorded the lowest average household net income at 38,284 euros, followed by Saxony at 39,500 euros, while Bavaria had the highest at 53,067 euros, followed by Baden-Württemberg at 51,923 euros. The difference between the highest and lowest state averages was 14,783 euros. BSW representatives cited the figures in arguing that comparable living conditions had not yet been achieved across Germany.
National identity debate moves from history to belonging
For Evelyn Zupke, the Bundestag’s Commissioner for Victims of the SED Dictatorship, the continuing process of reunification also involves how Germany addresses the legacy of the former East German regime. She described German unity as an ongoing process rather than a final destination and emphasized that it did not require citizens to have identical family histories, biographies or personal experiences. Such differences, she argued, could instead constitute an element of Germany’s social diversity. Zupke also stressed that victims of the former East German dictatorship live throughout the country rather than exclusively in the eastern states.
Since 2025, a nationwide hardship fund has provided financial assistance to rehabilitated victims of the SED dictatorship who are experiencing economic hardship. Since Nov. 9, 2025, approximately 1 million euros has been distributed to around 300 beneficiaries. In addition, roughly 37,000 people continue to receive the so-called victims’ pension, which is available to people who were politically imprisoned in the former GDR for more than 90 days. The figures illustrate how the consequences of the former dictatorship remain part of Germany’s present-day social and political landscape more than three decades after reunification.
Green Party leader Franziska Brantner used the anniversary to make a broader argument about the meaning of Germany’s national symbols. She called for greater public identification with the black-red-gold flag and argued that it should not be associated exclusively with voices on the political right. Instead, she presented the flag as representing a Germany that recognizes its history, has learned from it and seeks to organize its future around freedom. She also connected the national flag with the European flag, portraying reunified Germany as an open country firmly embedded in Europe. Brantner further argued that people arriving in Germany should be able to understand the country’s national symbols as an expression of freedom and the ability to live according to one’s identity. Her comments placed the question of national identity within the broader context of a reunified Germany’s relationship with Europe and its changing society.
