German reunification (German: Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process in which the German Democratic Republic (GDR/East Germany) joined the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG/West Germany), and Berlin was united into a single city-state. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die Wende (The Turning Point.). The end of the unification process is officially referred to as the German unity (German: Deutsche Einheit), celebrated on 3 October (German Unity Day).

The East German regime started to falter in the summer of 1989, when Hungary opened a hole in the Iron Curtain. It caused an exodus of thousands of East Germans fleeing to West Germany and Austria via Hungary. The Peaceful Revolution, a series of protests by East Germans, led to the GDR's first free elections on 18 March 1990, and to the negotiations between the GDR and FRG that culminated in a Unification Treaty, whilst negotiations between the GDR and FRG and the four occupying powers produced the so-called "Two Plus Four Treaty" (Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany) granting full sovereignty to a unified German state, whose two halves had previously still been bound by a number of limitations stemming from its post-WWII-status as an occupied nation. The united Germany remained a member of the European Community (later the European Union) and of NATO.

The Judiciary of Germany is independent of the executive and the legislative branches. Germany has a civil or statute law system that is based on Roman law with some references to Germanic law. The Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court), located in Karlsruhe, is the German Supreme Court responsible for constitutional matters, with power of judicial review. It acts as the highest legal authority and ensures that legislative and judicial practice conforms to the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (Basic Law). It acts independently of the other state bodies, but cannot act on its own behalf.

Germany's supreme court system, called Oberste Gerichtshöfe des Bundes, is specialised. For civil and criminal cases, the highest court of appeal is the Federal Court of Justice, located in Karlsruhe and Leipzig. The courtroom style is inquisitorial. Other Federal Courts are the Federal Labour Court in Erfurt, the Federal Social Court in Kassel, the Federal Finance Court in Munich and the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig.

Criminal law and private law are codified on the national level in the Strafgesetzbuch and the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch respectively. The German penal system is aimed towards rehabilitation of the criminal; its secondary goal is the protection of the general public. To achieve the latter, a convicted criminal can be put in preventive detention (Sicherungsverwahrung) in addition to the regular sentence if he is considered to be a threat to the general public. The Völkerstrafgesetzbuch regulates the consequences of crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes. It gives German courts universal jurisdiction if prosecution by a court of the country where the crime was committed, or by an international court, is not possible.

Law enforcement in Germany is constitutionally solely vested in the states, which is one of the main features of the German political system. Therefore, unlike France, Italy, the United States, Canada or many other countries, Germany has no federal police force comparable to the Carabinieri, Police Nationale, FBI or RCMP. Police has always been a responsibility of the German states and was continued after 1871 when the country was unified. The constitution of the Weimar Republic 1919 eventually did provide for the possibility to create a national police force, should the necessity arise, but it was only in the Nazi era, that a national secret police force (Gestapo) was created and the state police forces were unified under a central leadership. The police became a tool of the centralized state and the Nazi party. Following the defeat of 1945, Germany was divided; in 1949 the three western zones were turned into the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), the eastern zone became the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). Each country pursued a different path concerning law enforcement.

In light of the gross misuse of power by the centralized Nazi state the new constitution of the West Germany provided for a strict separation of powers, placing law enforcement firmly into the hands of the states. The only policing allowed on the federal level was border control (Bundesgrenzschutz including coast guard), controlled by the Ministry of Interior and originally organized along paramilitary lines, the Federal Criminal Police Office and the Police of the parliament.

East Germany created a new centralized police force under the Ministry of Interior, the paramilitary Volkspolizei. It also established a border police, initially an independent force, then integrated into the army and then reorganized as an independent military organization.

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The territory of Germany covers 357,021 square kilometers (137,847 sq mi) and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 81.8 million inhabitants in January 2010, it has the largest population among member states of the European Union, and it is also home to the third-largest number of international migrants worldwide.

A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, has been known and documented before AD 100. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire, which lasted until 1806. During the 16th century, northern Germany became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. As a modern nation-state, the country was first unified amidst the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. In 1949, after World War II, Germany was divided into two separate states - East Germany and West Germany as well as into two further entities of special status, Berlin and the Saar - along the lines of Allied occupation. Germany was reunified in 1990. West Germany was a founding member of the European Community (EC) in 1957, which became the European Union in 1993. It is part of the Schengen zone and adopted the European currency, the euro, in 1999.

Germany is a federal parliamentary republic of sixteen states (Länder). The capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, G8, G20, OECD, and the WTO. It is a major power with the world's fourth largest economy by nominal GDP and the fifth largest in purchasing power parity. It is the second largest exporter and third largest importer of goods. In absolute terms, Germany allocates the second biggest annual budget of development aid in the world, while its military expenditure ranked sixth. The country has developed a high standard of living and established a comprehensive system of social security. It holds a key position in European affairs and maintains a multitude of close partnerships on a global level. Germany is recognised as a scientific and technological leader in several fields.

The Day of German Unity (German: Tag der Deutschen Einheit) is the national day of Germany, celebrated on 3 October as a public holiday. It commemorates the anniversary of German reunification in 1990.

An alternative choice would have been the day the Berlin Wall came down—9 November 1989, which coincided with the anniversary of the proclamation of the German Republic in 1918 and the defeat of Hitler's first coup in 1923. However, 9 November was also the anniversary of the first large-scale Nazi-led pogroms against Jews in 1938 (Kristallnacht), so the day was considered inappropriate as a national holiday. Therefore, 3 October 1990, the day of formal reunification, was chosen instead.

Before reunification, in West Germany the "Day of German Unity" was 17 June, remembering the failed Uprising of 1953 in East Germany against the Stalinist government. The revolt was crushed with Soviet aid; the exact number of fatalities is unknown, but estimated at somewhere above 100. In East Germany, the national holiday was 7 October, the "Day of the Republic" (Tag der Republik), commemorating the founding of the German Democratic Republic in 1949.

Celebrations
The Day of German Unity is celebrated each year with an ceremonial act and a citizens' festival (Bürgerfest) in a certain city. The celebrations are traditionally hosted by the German state which presides over the Bundesrat in the respective year:

• 1990 in Berlin, Capital of Germany
• 1991 in Hamburg, Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg
• 1992 in Schwerin, State Capital of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
• 1993 in Saarbrücken, State Capital of Saarland
• 1994 in Bremen, State Capital of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen
• 1995 in Düsseldorf, State Capital of North Rhine-Westphalia
• 1996 in Munich, State Capital of Bavaria
• 1997 in Stuttgart, State Capital of Baden-Württemberg
• 1998 in Hannover, State Capital of Lower Saxony
• 1999 in Wiesbaden, State Capital of Hesse
• 2000 in Dresden, State Capital of Saxony
• 2001 in Mainz, State Capital of Rhineland-Palatinate
• 2002 in Berlin, Capital of Germany
• 2003 in Magdeburg, State Capital of Saxony-Anhalt
• 2004 in Erfurt, State Capital of Thuringia
• 2005 in Potsdam, State Capital of Brandenburg
• 2006 in Kiel, State Capital of Schleswig-Holstein
• 2007 in Schwerin, State Capital of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
• 2008 in Hamburg, Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg
• 2009 in Saarbrücken, State Capital of Saarland
• 2010 in Bremen, State Capital of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen

In addition, various celebrations are held in the federal capital Berlin, mainly based on the Straße des 17. Juni and around the Brandenburg Gate. Furthermore, the Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich, which traditionally runs until the first Sunday in October, now runs until 3 October if the Sunday in question falls on the first or second day of
October.

The Capital of Germany is the city state of Berlin. It is the seat of the President of Germany, whose official residence is Schloss Bellevue. The Bundesrat ("federal council") is the representation of the Federal States (Bundesländer) of Germany and has its seat at the former Prussian Herrenhaus (House of Lords). Though most of the ministries are seated in Berlin, some of them, as well as some minor departments, are seated in Bonn, the former capital of West Germany.

Pre-1871
Up until 1871, Germany was not a unified nation state, and had no capital city. Already the Medieval Holy Roman Empire of which parts evolved into modern Germany had had no capital, considering itself rather as a confederation of varied territories of which some were German while others were not.

After the Congress of Vienna created the formal German Confederation in 1815, a Federal Assembly convened at the Free City of Frankfurt, representing not the people of the individual German Lands but their sovereigns. Subsequently, Frankfurt briefly became the official German capital during the short-lived Revolutions of 1848 in the German states.

Since 1871
It was only during the 1871 Unification of Germany that the unified nation state of the German Empire first was assigned an official capital. With Prussia as the dominant part of the unified Germany, its capital Berlin was chosen, and remained so until the end of World War II. However, for a period of a few months following the First World War, the national assembly met in Weimar instead due to civil war ravaging Berlin. In 1945, Germany was occupied by the Allies as the outcome of WWII, and Berlin only remained a capital de jure.

In 1949, with sovereignty regained the country split up into West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany), with the capital of Bonn, and East Germany (German Democratic Republic), with the capital of East Berlin. In 1990, the unified Berlin became the capital of the unified Federal Republic of Germany per the unification treaty, while Bonn remained the seat of government until 1999.