Today was German Unity Day. I know this because I had to look up why all my German colleagues were taking the rest of the week off.

Germany Unity Day commemorates the formal reunification of Germany on October 3, 1990.

Since I work for a German company I have traveled to Germany many times since the late 90’s.

I have been in Berlin and saw the remains of part of the wall that divided Germany there. The wall started to come down about a year before formal reunification.

In Berlin they have preserved some of the graffiti covered wall segments as a memory. There are also segments of the wall in other places in the world. I first saw wall segments at the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas before I first visited Germany.

They have preserved some sections of the wall in Berlin and you can walk along them and learn about their history.

In other places the wall location is simply marked with a row of bricks as a memory.

As I look back through the years I can remember seeing changes in what was East Germany. The city that I visit the most has had major changes with buildings being renovated and many investments in business and housing. It has also been interesting to watch the changing culture as the generations age.

It has now been 29 years since reunification in Germany, so it is even more important today for them to take time to remember their time of separation. When I first visited Germany it was still fresh in their memories.

Steven